I tried to mill a 12" x 12" - 1/4" aluminum plate last night on the Bridgeport. The vice did not open enough to hold the plate. I tried other mounting methods but in the end the results were not that great. However I did learn something today. Apparently on Kurt-style vices, the jaws can be relocated to the outside of the vice to allow clamping of larger pieces. Does anyone know if the ones we have can do this?
I don’t know the answer to your question, but I seriously doubt that even if true it would work for clamping a 12" wide piece.
For something that large you really need to use some method other than a typical vice. For instance strap clamps if you can hold down along the edges.
If that will not work, then you need to think about a sacrificial sub plate, and perhaps drilling and screwing the work piece to the sub plate from the bottom in an area(s) that will later be removed.
Finally, if none of that will work you could make a temporary vice along these lines which will work:
Which can be made from some square bar stock (aluminum or steel) where the three jaws (2 fixed, 1 movable) are bolted directly to the bed of the mill. Trued to the spindle. Parallels used to raise the work piece off of the bed. And then your operation performed.
Yes, they can…