Delrin Anticlastic Stake

[Caroline]

Hi
I have recently bought a Delrin Anticlastic Stake, but am having trouble keeping it secure in my vice. It tends to tip downwards on the end that I am working on and I wondered how I should best set it up to keep it in place. However tight I do it up, it still slips out of place. My vice is old, so I have tried a friends vice and the same thing happened in that one. Is there a foolproof way of securing it, or a certain piece of equipment that works best? At the moment I am unable to use it as it won't stay still for long enough and I have to keep tightening it up, only for it to work loose after a few hits with the hammer.
Any suggestions from people who work with this tool effectively would be gratefully received. I am so looking forward to using it properly!
Thanks
Caroline

[ps_bond]

Hi Caroline -

Sorry about the delay in replying to your PM, I'm having a tinker with mine to see what works best with mine to cut them slipping. I'm using a 6" machinists vice with aluminium soft jaws fitted, I don't lean on it all that hard and it stays put as well as my steel stakes... Hit them hard enough and they all move & need repositioning. Given Delrin is a slippy material at the best of times, I'm going to scuff mine up with some coarse sandpaper and see if that changes things; the other idea I was going to try was some gaffer tape. Putting paper in seems to make it more prone to slipping for me!

[mizgeorge]

I use a bit of scrap hide to grip mine and keep it in place. Otherwise, tightly wrapping an elastic band round each jaw of the vice helps a lot.

[caroleallen]

I use a steel stake which has a hole in it, so I simply screw it down into my bench. Maybe that's something you could incorporate into your stakes Peter.

[ps_bond]

Scuffed the sides of mine with some 36 grit paper this morning; it seems to help a bit.

Funnily enough Carole, while I was doing that I remembered seeing *somewhere* someone using Delrin stakes with 2 holes in them so they could slot short lengths of brass rod through them to stop them pivoting. I'd have thought that somewhere just below the midline would be useful - I'll need to give it a go.

[Caroline]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions - I will see what I can do to stop it pivoting!
I'm glad it is not only me who has this difficulty.....
Hope to get it working soon!
Caroline

[ps_bond]

Right - I drilled my stake last night and fitted it with a couple of brass rods. I have to say, I'm not altogether convinced - I found it restrictive on being able to position the stake (as the brass rods sit on top of the vice jaws) and if I only tightened my vice to the point where the stake could slip (rather than my usual) the rods made a very effective pivot point. The holes don't affect the strength of the stake in real terms, so you might find it worth a try - clamp the stake as you'd normally use it to find a good point for drilling.

[Caroline]

Just tried using the stake with the elastic bands yesterday and I must say they did help a lot as mizgeorge suggested. Thanks for the helpful tip!
Thanks Peter for the information regarding drilling holes through it and using brass rods too, hopefully I won't have to do that, but it is useful to know how it works.
Must get making things now!!
Thank you all
Caroline