HPDE Suitability For Gibs

[pzzamakr1980]

I was curious how well making a gib out of HDPE or Delrin or its ilk would work for an X3 machine. The plastic is a lot more slippery than the standard gibs so you could tighten it down a bit more to eliminate slop and it would still slide well and not bind. Any thoughts. Thx

[Geof]

Delrin it is much more rigid than HDPE so it could be best, but how does it tighten down? Is it a taper gib or is the adjustment by means of a lot of set screws? With setscrew adjustment you may need to have a strip of steel bewteen the Delrin and the setscrews otherwise all that happens is the setscrew eventually chews a depression in the plastic and things get loose.

[pzzamakr1980]

Thank you Geof, I didnt think of the steel plate but I will incorporate that into the design. And Delrin it is

[tsalaf]

UHMWPE is much better for jobs requiring low friction than either HDPE or Delrin.

[sansbury]

Originally Posted by tsalaf UHMWPE is much better for jobs requiring low friction than either HDPE or Delrin.

You are right than UHMW has higher lubricity than either material, but it is also significantly softer, which makes it very problematic for precision purposes. Simply machining the gib strips could be quite "fun" as UHMW has a nasty tendency to grab at tools, and it is so slippery it is hard to clamp without squeezing so hard that you deform the workpiece.

If I had to use plastic I'd use Delrin, though, I'd try brass first over any plastic. It is an improvement over the standard steel strips in terms of friction but still has plenty of compressive strength and won't wear anywhere near as fast as delrin-meets-cast iron. Lapping the gibs and ways is another way to reduce friction if you don't mind a little elbow grease.

[Oldmanandhistoy]

Hi,

Have you seen Turcite B ® also known as Halar® ?

http://www.midlands-slideway-grinding.com/products.html

John

[The Blight]

I just spent 3 hours touching up the z axis on my X2. After that I started on the x axis, and when I was done lapping and scraping I took a look at the gib. Apearantly they have saved some money on not making proper groovs for the set screws on the gib. Seems like they just took some screws and torqued them down until they made dents in it. Because of this the gib is not lying flat against the slide, and so it has very little contact with the surface. This in turn gives a lot of slop. I might even end up making new gibs from brass. Will have to see if I can correct this error.

I once made a drawing of a steel gib for my mill with a delrin insert. Never got around to make it though

[cjdavis618]

I've watching this thread with interest. I did a quick search and found this place in the US that carries this as well. Also give basic instructions on how to use and install it.

http://www.mtsandtg.com/specialty/products