# Soft Jaws



## thestelster (Feb 12, 2022)

In continuation from my last post about sawing aluminium with my new-to-me used horizontal band saw, I started working on the pieces for the soft jaws.

 Face milling all the surfaces.


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## thestelster (Feb 12, 2022)

I ganged all three pieces together to mill the tongue and groove sections.


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## thestelster (Feb 12, 2022)

I needed a space to the rear of the jaws to accommodate the bolt handle of a rifle.


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## thestelster (Feb 12, 2022)

What a mess!!  Drilled and counterbored for the mounting bolts.  The jaws are too deep, so I had the drill them from both ends.  Then machined the angled faces.


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## thestelster (Feb 12, 2022)

Installed the soft jaws on the chuck, and put a backing piece on the master jaws to provide tension.


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## thestelster (Feb 12, 2022)

Machined the opening by using end mills held in the chuck of the tail stock.  Went up to 5/8" end mill, then used the boring bar to open it to 0.693" (the diameter of the rifle bolt).


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## thestelster (Feb 12, 2022)

Opened up the chuck, removed the backing piece, deburred, and cleaned the surfaces, chucked the rifle bolt, and measured run out and parallelism.  

All is good, but won't know if this will work until I machine the bolt face, and lugs.


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