Thin Parallels?

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

Good morning,

I’ve been looking for some thin Parallels, about 2mm or 1/16″ thick.  The only ones I’ve come across are magnetic ones.  I can see the benefit, in that they will stay in place, but can see them being a pain when it comes to clearing away steel and cast iron swarf.

Has anyone used magnetic parallels, and are they a nuisance to use?

Are there any non-magnetic ones out there?  I’d ideally like them to be less than around 30mm tall to fit my ARC versatile vice.  Taller than that are unlikely to see any use.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Use ordinary mild-steel strip, truing the edges if necessary.

To stop them falling over in the vice, put a couple of compression-springs between them, or as others have suggested, a block of sponge-rubber or similar.

There is no reason why you can’t use other materials such as aluminium or brass, but they will wear more rapidly.

I have a pair of parallels made simply from aluminium flat about 1/4″ thick, by drilling two blind holes in each to locate a pair of light springs from the pret-a-porter Spring Collection.

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

I don’t know if you could use Arc’s thin wavy parallels? The tallest is 23mm, see here:

https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Measurement/Parallels-Angle-Blocks-Test-Bars/Precision-Wavy-Parallel-8pc-Metric-Set

Arc also have thin parallels, tallest is 20mm.

Thor

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

I repurposed a defunct digital caliper some years ago after seeing the tip in the MEW “reader’s tips” page.  Remove the sliding part and, using a Dremel with either diamond, or cutting disc, remove the fixed portion.  Cut the remaining parallel piece of stainless steel in half, and voila, one pair of thin, cheap, non-magnetic parallels.

John

 

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I’ve  a set of the wavy ones Thor links to and use them quite often when working with thin material, not only do they close up more than the magnetic ones you mention but they don’t fall over due to the shape which is something you will get with thin non magnetic ones.

You can stack them one on the other by alternating the wave pattern to get right to the top of  a vice, again something I do quite often.

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

Thank you Nigel, I like the idea of using sponge rubber to support thin parallels.  Home made parallels may be a solution if I can get or make them parallel enough.

Thor.  I’ve considered wavy parallels, but am cautious about positioning them so as not to drill or mill into them.

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Just Google ‘thin parallels’, there are loads of choices. Is 1/32″ thin enough?

Tony

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

Thank you Tony, I’ve seen those, but fear they maybe just too thin at less than a millimetre.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Bosun when using a thin parallel the work is usually less than say a standard 1/8″ parallel otherwise there is little point in using a thin one. If you are drilling 1/8″ or thinner material simply remove the parallel, I do it most of the time with normal thickness ones too and my engines seem to run OK so why leave them in if it does not affect the quality of the parts..

You also don’t really need two of them as they are about 5mm wide before they start to compress so again using two and foam or a spring to keep them upright really defeats the purpose of using a thin one which is able to compress  down to about 20thou

 

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Bo’sun, I’ve a set of these,

https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Measurement/Parallels-Angle-Blocks-Test-Bars/Economy-Thin-Parallels-Set

Which are good for most of what I do, and I like them as they are not too long, and yes you can use springs etc. to keep them apart.

Regards Nick.

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

If you want standard rather than wavy parallels, the boxed twenty-pair metric set sold by Arc, Amadeal and others contains four pairs that are 2mm thick, in 5, 10, 15, 20mm heights.

Presumably you know that if you’re not drilling through the full thickness of the material you’re working on, you can put even wafer thin pieces upright on a thicker parallel and then close the vice on to a 123 block et al. stacked to be above the height of the parallel the workpiece is resting on.

Joe Pie has a vid on it somewhere illustrating what I mean.

Edit: Here you are (from about 3 min. 40 seconds in).

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

Thanks All, some good suggestions.  Plenty to consider.

Bill, clearly I hadn’t looked closely enough at the range of sizes in that ARC set.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, quite a few good tips in Joe’s vid Bill, I like the spring he made from a piece of pallet strapping, If you find that your parallels are too thick, and you may run into them while drilling close to the edges of your work, you can always put some packing stripes between the jaw/jaws and the work, to make sure the parallels are clear, as shown below.

I’ve a number of these flat springs that have never been used, from my old job, which are just under 0.9mm thick, which I’ve used in the above example. I’ve used a couple of springs taken out of hand washing liquid soap dispensers, to keep the parallels pressed against the vice jaws.

Regards Nick.

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

Yet another use for pallet strapping.  Glad I saved some from a recent delivery.

[dodmoleParticipant @dodmole]

A piece of old clock spring works for me, more than parallel enough for my accuracy.

 

[Author]

Posts