On Friday 02 September 2016 00:45:42 Andy Pugh wrote: > > On 2 Sep 2016, at 01:07, Gene Heskett <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > one problem, the SOB is made out of aluminum! > > > > So, what the heck do I do about that? > > How about using it? It appears to have lasted this long and the lathe > saddle gib doesn't work very hard. Maybe it is original and Sheldon > knew something you don't?
This is the crossfeed gib, about 18" long due to the rear extension for the taper attachment. Of no use to me, but if I saw it off, that will remove the spacing web, and I may as well just remove the whole extension. That would leave the crossfeed sled only about 6" long, and in any event I'll need to come up with a swarf cover for the x screw. The saddle itself has only a couple of flat tabs on the front rail, not even as much metal as the ones I took off the little monster, and a full width flat bar with a stack of shim stock on the back rail. All 3 of those are worn at least 20 thou, so I am inclined to make new ones, although the rear one could be turned over. There is no reason I couldn't make the front one full length now, that 3/4" long left front one would be worn out again by the time I miss morning roll call. The one of the right front corner is the saddle lock, but is worn enough its not very effective, and the locking screw needs a wrench handle extender for leverage, its quite hard to turn until loosened around 3 turns. Both front ones are also pinned for anti-rotation. They have that home made look to them. The ends bear marks from a hacksaw. If the left front was ever adjusted by shim, there aren't any in it now. To me, the left front is the most important of the lot as it should not allow the saddle to rise under heavy cutting loads. From the wear, its obviously done a lot of resistance already. As for a saddle lock, the Z screw came yesterday, and I'm thinking it will be its own lock when that motor is at resting current. Without the lock and the rack, there is room for a wider, stronger full width bar like on the rear, and the thought of locating some more brass stock and making a tapered gib setup for both front and rear is tempting. But I'd need a longer jig than the one I made for the little monster. About twice as long. That I have in the form of a 1" thick, 2" wide, 12 or 13 inches long bar, a cutoff I bought off the floor of another machine shop. That would make a good jig. But we'll try flat stock first. Is there a plausible reason I should make the gib strips out of brass? Steel, in this size category ( a foot long ) makes more sense. Brasses tendency to warp and wind when machining caused me 2 days to stress relieve it in the oven and about 3 days work to straighten and drawfile the little monsters strips into usability. Made 2x more difficult by discovering the damned file I was using for flat reference wasn't, it was twisted about 1/16" over its length! Some mornings it doesn't pay to gnaw thru the straps... I need to buy a couple more, but they'll be checked against a flat surface before they head for the cash register... Thanks Andy. Cheers, Gene Heskett -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
