Reply To: Issue mounting vice flat
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Dave : This could be due to the apron not exactly perpendicular to the underside of the bench (including any spacers in use) or the vice back-jaw is not perpendicular to its undercarriage. Likely a little of both.
Loosen the lag bolts/coach screws at the bottom a tiny bit so that the back-jaw can be pushed towards the apron to close the gap. Then tighten the back-jaw screws that go into the apron. Once the jaw sits tightly against the apron, tighten the lag bolts at the underside. A 1 mm gap is small and this should fix it — if not you may need to add a shim to the bottom spacer through which the lag bolts go through. If it doesn’t budge, check the apron face is flat, there are no humps on the back of the vice jaw itself etc.
I would aim to have no gaps between the jaw and the apron even if that means some shimming on the underside. But 1mm gap may not affect anything as, in this setup, clamping pressure is applied to the metal back-jaw, not the apron.