Milling keyways in a long shaft?

[cwoll]

So your saying clamp the vblock holding the shaft with the vices. I will try that. I'm concerned that the clamped vblocks holding the shaft is not as good a hold as clamping the shaft directly with the vices. I'm just going to have to set it up and see how it feels.

Clarence

(01-17-2014, 02:11 AM)Gunney Wrote: An easy and fairly accurate way is to set the shaft up for milling using v-block clamps at either end of the table. Mill the ones you can reach. Remove the v-block that will be moved off the table, but leave the other one clamped to the shaft, moving it to the other end of the table, and place the removed one back at the other end. Mill the ones you can now reach and repeat the procedure. As long as your v-blocks are a matched pair, and at least one of them is always clamped securely to the shaft when it is repositioned, it is a simple job.

Patrick

(01-17-2014, 01:18 AM)cwoll Wrote: I have a 8ft long 2inch shaft to machine some keyways in all along the shaft. The keyways need to be aligned. What is the best way to make sure the keyways stay aligned when moving the shaft in the vice?

Thanks
Clarence