08-25-2012, 03:15 AM
But don't rule out the wavy style, I was bought a set for Christmas one year and while I appreciated the gesture I thought they were a bit useless, 4years on, I have used them a load of times and they often have saved me where few options were available. So while they are not suitable for heavy work and you will need others they might be able to do everything a 1/32" set will do without being limited to just that single size.
Also, one of the old tricks for supporting work on the very edges is to use "stacked" parallels for example;
If you need to drill within 1/8" of the edge of some work but don't have any parallels thin enough to support the edge instead use 9/16" wide parallels on bottom then sit 1/2" parallels. On top of these clamping the work between the 1/2" pair this way you can safely work within 1/8" of the supported edge and don't have to deal with flimsy or very thin parallels that I find tend to fall over when loading up the work.
If you do need to use really thin parallels and they do keep toppling over, a little dab of grease works wonders to hold them onto the vise jaws, never get the grease on the top or bottom as this will hold swarf reducing accuracy, just a dab on the side face and then squish it up against the vise jaws
Also, one of the old tricks for supporting work on the very edges is to use "stacked" parallels for example;
If you need to drill within 1/8" of the edge of some work but don't have any parallels thin enough to support the edge instead use 9/16" wide parallels on bottom then sit 1/2" parallels. On top of these clamping the work between the 1/2" pair this way you can safely work within 1/8" of the supported edge and don't have to deal with flimsy or very thin parallels that I find tend to fall over when loading up the work.
If you do need to use really thin parallels and they do keep toppling over, a little dab of grease works wonders to hold them onto the vise jaws, never get the grease on the top or bottom as this will hold swarf reducing accuracy, just a dab on the side face and then squish it up against the vise jaws
Whatever it is, do it today, Tomorrow may not be an option and regret outlasts fatigue.