Originally Posted by Cruiser  If your getting .02" movement when cinching the side snubs then you are not running the gibs tight enough. If you have steel balls or use the end of the bolt or set screw in the side snubs then you are also deforming your gibs. There may be plastic or nylon plugs in the snubs, then you won't deform the gib but you will destroy the plugs if overtightened. |
Interesting. I was considering using soft tip set screws, but I thought it probably didn't matter since the screws that IH packages with the machine are standard cup tip. However, I replaced the screws that came with the machine with oval tips. Could that deformation while tightening the side snubs cause the table to move slightly?
I'm running the gibs pretty tight, but I'm worried about my x-axis powerfeed. Any tighter, and the powerfeed audibly changes-- I've already had one powerfeed die on me, which Gene@IH kindly and promptly replaced.
Originally Posted by Cruiser In the (any) manual machine there is going to be slop in the screw and nut assy as well the drive end at crank. It is very difficult if not impossible to get rid of this slop. |
Oh yes, but it sure feels nicer when most of the slop is eliminated. The one place slop is really a problem for me is in the quill, which is still a real pain. This being a CNC forum, I realize that many people here lock the quill and never unlock it, just using the z-axis. Unfortunately that doesn't work so well for my manual machine :/
Originally Posted by Cruiser A trick to getting slippery slides and gibs is to take some Moly eng assy lube, which has a very high content of molybdenum disulphide, and rub it against all the slides till you can see the moly turning the iron dark. You don't want to leave the grease behind, you want to permeate the surface with the moly, then oil the slide ways and run the machine to the other extent of travel and do that part of machine. you can apply it to any iron to iron surface and it will decrease the friction and allow tighter running. I washed my iron with a strong solvent before rubbing in on my machine and it did make a huge difference, just don't leave the grease behind to attract and hold chips and fines. |
Nice trick! What kind of solvent did you use? Acetone, or perhaps brake cleaner? I've used brake cleaner on a towel immediately followed by an oiled towel (otherwise rust forms lickidy-split) for some engine parts.
Originally Posted by Runner4404spd also one thing i noticed on my machine is that the gibbs were too narrow to fit and wedge properly. so i added a .005 shim on one axis and a .010 shim on the other axis. this allowed the gibb to fit tighter and then the gibb adjustment screw didn't bottom on it thread. so now i could actually run the gibbs tighter and not have to use the axis locking screws as adjusting points. |
I'm having a bit of trouble visualizing where you shimmed. Was it on the length of the gib?