Re. Centering the vice on the table. My boss had a long table Bridgeport and he kept a vice on one end and a rotary table on the other end so that they balanced. This had a number of advantages. You seldom had to realign the vice. You had less time spent changing from a rotary table application and a straight clamping application. The wear on the screw and nut was more evenly distributed.
How many times can you hone the vise bottom before you need to be concerned about the it going out of Kurt's table-to-vise bed spec? Also, do you need to tighten your mounting hardware to a specific torque?
No specific torque just very tight with a wrench. Most everyone just does a hand tight and then a light tap on the wrench with a #2 lead hammer. No cheater bars or anything as it's possible to warp your table over time. You can hone for years before regrinding the vice. I used to refurbish the Kurts on the rare occasion that they needed it and that would be after tons of use..generally years of use. I would surface grind the bottom and inside working surface as well as kiss the unmovable jaw seatback to square. Really didn't take hardly much to tweek them back as the surfaces are flame hardened. The Bridgeport table is what you need to be carefull of as it's cast iron so just use the fine side of a stone and just enough stoning to do the job.
Something to keep in mind is that you aren’t going wild with the stone, in fact after a light swipe or two if you don’t feel any drag on the stone there’s no reason to continue stoning the table or vise.
