tramming (X2)

[isaac338]

I know this subject has been beaten to death in various places, but I have a few specific questions about tramming.

How do you deal with the column moving as you tighten the nut on the back? Mine seems to move unpredictably, from .005" to .015" or more when I tighten it. It might depend somewhat on how loose the nut is to begin with.

I can get it within a half thou with the nut loosened, but it goes all out of whack as soon as I tighten it.

Thanks for any advice.

[Geof]

Try having the nut fairly tight while you are doing the tramming; this way sometimes you can minimize or eliminate any further movement at the final tightening.

It does make it a bit more difficult to adjust things because you might have to tap the column with a plastic hammer to move it, and the taps may have to be quite firm. This means you should remove the dial gauge for the tapping because they don't like being shocked.

If you still get movement at the final tightening try tramming it in slightly off so that the final tightening moves it into the true position.

[Tubeguy54]

I found it helpful to mount the mill on 2x2 box tubing, put an angle plate on the back to replace the springy big washer. The angle was fitted with adjustment screws to set the vertical angle while tightening down the nut. Links to photos on yahoo group below.
http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/Gri...os/browse/87ac

Hope crosslinking to another group isn't too improper, too much fuss to load em here at the moment.