It Is Coming Together

This has taken far longer than it should. 

I mentioned that I needed a bracket to go over the drill press vise to hold a 1/2" stop rod for the Tapmatic and I did not want to go Neanderthal and drill a hole in the vise itself.  I did that on the old one and it was sometimes less than perfectly positioned.   So I am building a bridge that holds the stop bar in position over the end of the clamp handle part:

Yes it is not symmetrical for the hole.  Neither is the vise.  I wanted the stop rod to go as far down as possible.   The 1/4"-20 thumbscrew is probably not truly necessary; a 1/2" drill bit made a hole so tight that the first time I needed to tap it out.  (Perhaps debris from tapping the hole for the thumbscrew.)  But on the old vise the stop rod was not a terribly tight fit and on occasion it would leave its assigned seating, although never fast enough to scare me.  This will just be increased confidence of that.

I still need to drill holes for thumbscrews on the sides to lock it in position on the vise.  It is already just a few hundredths of an inch away from a press fit.  I want to move easily so that is the final step.  I am expending a lot of mental energy trying to  destroy gun bans in Oregon, California, Illinois, and New York so I have to pace myself.  (Do not feel sorry for me.  I am getting well-paid for my expertise.)