[bbru62]

Hello, so I finally decided to grow up and upgrade to a big boy mill (Brother TC-22A) and put my Tormach in the corner to only be used to do op zero work and the occasional odd job stuff. I primarily work with aluminum castings which can vary +/= 0.035in, with the Tormach this was a pain but I overcame this by using a probe to find the the center line of the part. I don't have an ATC for the Tormach so I have neglected a few probes and mangled one pretty bad, but with my Brother mill I FINALLY have an ATC but rather than probing I would like to mechanically center the part as it will save me memory space and the embarrassment of possibly destroying a nice probe. With that said do you guys having any recommendations on any self centering vises? I am trying not to break the bank but also don't want to cheap out, so I am looking for a mid-range vise. Currently I am looking at an an RHS 120mm centering vise, but I know nothing of this brand and concerned it is not rigid enough. I also have been looking at dual station vises but are they repeatable if I remove the fixed center jaw? Can someone point me in the right direction?

[motogomi]

I found that a scroll type manual lathe chuck - 3 or 4 jaws - works very well to centralize castings. I would typically use the 4 jaw with aluminum soft jaws contoured to fit the casting.
My $0.02 (US)