My new home made Bowling Ball Engraving ball

[DiamondCactus]

After seeing a few others post some pics of theirs I had to make one as I do not have the money for a fancy one. Very easy I would totally suggest trying this for anyone on a budget. Goodwill is your friend. I made this for under $10

 

[mitch]

pretty color, too!

 

[Mike Fennell]

Very clever. I like the little jaw set. I picked up one like it at a local hobby store to use with very small items.

My first vise was a bowling ball cut in half with a machinist's vise attached via lag bolts.

If you cut the ball much shorter ( I haven't calculated the precise dimensions, but Ellis Sawyer has) , you could make a low-profile ball-vise which would allow you to tilt the ball in any direction without moving the work out of the field of view of the microscope. Much handier, if you are using a microscope.

Mike Fennell

 

[mitch]

Mike made a good point- if you cut the ball closer to, actually even below the centerline, you can put the jaws (and more importantly- what you're holding in them) at roughly the center of the sphere. that way as you rotate & tip the vise, the piece you're working on doesn't move much at all.

here are a couple centering vises that might work with this arrangement:
http://www.grizzly.com/products/2-Mini-Self-Centering-Vise/T10254
http://www.grizzly.com/products/Precision-Self-Centering-Vise/H7576

 

[DakotaDocMartin]

If a person was trying to really get by on the cheap, this vise might fit the bill as it's only $16. You could hot glue or screw your work to a piece of wood and clamp that in the vise.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Drill-Press-Vise-3-/G5750

 

[Mike Fennell]

Actually, you want to cut it well below the center-line of the ball so that the top of the vise will be at the center-line of the ball after it is installed.

In other words, you will be discarding at least 2/3 of the ball. With the top of the vise at or below the center-line of the ball, when you tilt the ball, the vise does not swing in an arc, but remains under the microscope. Basically you want the top of the vise about where the center of the ball was before you cut it.

Look on the web for "low profile graver vise" for illustrations. I will try to upload a photo.

 

[DiamondCactus]

Thanks all, This one is just the practice one, I got a very beautiful Brown one I will build next.

 

[Mike Fennell]

Here is a photo of a low-profile vise. As you can see it is about 1/4 to 1/3 of the sphere, so that the top of the jaws are at the center of the sphere.

Good luck with the brown one. If you cut carefully you could get two vises from one ball.

Mike Fennell

 

[monk]

i used one for quite some time. after having stolen sufficient grocery money, i got the magnablock from grs. i ended shipping the bowlingball vise to a marine over in iraq. some time ago he posted a couple of fotos of cartridge cases he had engraved for his gunny.

 

[ouporblowup]

thats great i was just looking for budget vises as im only a beginner and this looks like itll work!

ooo

 

[DiamondCactus]

works great.

 

[monk]

well, it will work. having said that, understand that you don't really want to shove your graver into the design. ideally, you rotate the ball so the design moves toward a more or less stationary graver. i see your ball has grooves near the top. that will make it easier to turn the ball. if that was my ball, i'd extend the grooves somewhat farther down the side of the ball. it's important to have a sure grip with a smooth rotation without any jerkiness or hangups. you also want to get the restance to be comfortable. the restance to turning the ball can be adjusted by lining the socket with paper, leather, or whatever to get this to a "just right" amount of resistance . wont cost a dime to experiment till it's just the way you like it.

 

[DiamondCactus]

Monk, it is funny you should say that about the grooves moving father down, last night I came to that conclusion as well. The cake pan seems to have just the right resistance for me. You guys have given me a great idea for my next one. I hope to have it done this weekend, well at least most of it.

 

[Mike Fennell]

The cake pan is clever. For my first ballvise I used a lawnmower tire

 

[monk]

my best "socket" was a 6" pvc pipe flange obtained from the local junkyard. the red thingy is a plate holder for doing large, flat plates. the welded pipe stand was my first in a series of ball vise stands. very convenient to roll out of the way when not in use. i can send you several fotos of possible ways to adapt your ball to a variety of uses. if interested
jayismonk450@gmail.com please, no pm's