I’m getting a slight curl on parts when clamping in a Kurt-style vise on the Bridgeport; a sweep with the dial shows the movable jaw lifting about 0.002" when I bear down. Beyond tapping down on parallels and a paper shim at the fixed jaw, what old-school fixes have worked for you — stone the bed, small spacer at the back, or change the clamping order?
I’d pull the moving jaw, clean and lightly stone the ways and the jaw’s underside, then snug while pushing down on the jaw cap — tiny burrs there are usually the 0.002 culprit. Step jaws to “clamp low” help the seesaw effect; @OP are you on a swivel base?
After cleaning like @hscott77 said, the biggest change for me was ditching the swivel base and bolting the Kurt straight to the table — on my Bridgeport it cut jaw rise from about 0.002" to nothing; if you have to keep the swivel, put a tiny top-toe on the soft jaws. Are you on a swivel base?
Soft jaws with a shallow step so the part contacts “below centerline” will preload it down and wipe out that about 0.002" rise. If you don’t want to cut jaws, a narrow shim only at the top of the movable jaw (not the fixed) does the same trick. Are you clamping near the screw or way out at the toe?
Quick trick: slip a short 1/8" dowel behind the moving jaw, up near the top, snug to preload the slide down, pull the pin, then finish torque — that “back pin” move usually erases about 0.002 like a tiny crowbar. If it works, make it permanent with a setscrew pin behind the jaw instead of fussing with shims; do you have clearance back there?
On my Bridgeport, the quickest fix was a thin shim under the rear mounting ear of the Kurt — about 0.0015" — to cancel a about 0.002" rise; , that curl drove me nuts. It’s cheap and reversible, but it will shift if you relocate the vise or change how hard you crank, so I still ‘stone the bed’ lightly and keep the sliding side spotless like @hscott77 noted. What torque are you putting on the handle?