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Holding swamped barrel in vise

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577SXS:
I have been trying to come up with a good way to hold swamped barrels in my milling vise. I've always used shims on either side of small part of barrel to center that part of barrel in vise and haven't been very happy with doing it that way. I just made two aluminum blocks with a pivot point in the center to follow the taper of the barrel. Was simple to make and works great. I used 1"X2" aluminum bar stock and clamped them together in vise then drilled a 1/2" hole between the two blocks. I then made two 1/2" steel pins to put in half holes for the pivot.

Jim Kibler:
For manual milling I use a similar aluminum block.  Mine is just shaped on the backside rather than having a pin, though.  I don’t understand why you would want to clamp with two of these?  One side should be firmly against the fixed jaw.  Two point contact in clamping isn’t too rigid or secure.

Bill Raby:
I use a cheap, crummy drill press vise that I got at Menards for about $15. The moveable jaw is very loose and sloppy. It does not stay square to the fixed jaw. In effect it works like what you have in the photo but with one fixed jaw. When tightened down it works good to securely hold a swamped or tapered barrel. I hope this makes sense.

577SXS:
Jim, the reason I clamp with two is I can get bore parallel to vise jaws. If I use one solid jaw of vise the bore will be at an angle. I want my dovetails perpendicular to the bore.

Jim Kibler:
I just rotate my vise.  Maybe your vise is fixed?

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