[degreaser]

When I drilled the seats for my new gibs, I tried as closely as possible to line the hole up with the seat so as to apply force only in the horizontal direction. This force would then be only met with forces normal to the base and dovetail and would help ensure a good gib contact with the rest of the base. I drilled them deep enough so that the tip of the dog screw was fully engaged.

You could try to fill it with a mig weld. It may warp though. Or maybe you could flip it over and drill new seats.

[TroyO]

I hit it with the mig. Because of my extensive welding knowledge :bs: you can hardly tell where I did it... you know, if you were blind. And stricken with an inability to feel anything. (I've got a mig welder I have never ever used... first time I ever touched it, LOL.)

Anyway... it's fuctional... filled it in enough to redrill without sliding in to the original holes.

I re-filed, it hadn't messed it up much.

Then I put the gib in backwards and proceeded to mark the wrong side of it with the screws. Ohhh well, we will call those "Oil pockets" from now on.

So, then I flipped it the right way, marked the right right side and hand drilled new seats... as close to 90 to the set screws as I could.

But.... lookie at this! The gib is now in the right place, and at the right angle to the dovetail. (Before it was in contact at the top but the bottom was being held away from the dovetail.) yay! I think this gonna work!

It is making me glad I am going brass on the X and Y gibs... it won't be any more work than trying to "fix" such crappy stock ones.

[TroyO]

I used valve grinding compound, and got the nice grey "I've been ground" finish over about 90% of what touches now.

What does a good, accurate gib feel like? LOL.... this thing goes from sliding smooth to dead locked with just finger torque... not sure if that's a good thing or not? It seems to slide with no noticible side play at that verrry narrow sweet spot though.

Anyway... just about done for the night. I'll do some clean up to make sure I don't grit-contaminate anything and throw it together with some oil and see what she does.

[thudson]

I did a nice mirror finish on my Y-axis gibs, and only lightly polished the ways. My limited understanding is that the grooves in the ways hold lubricant and you don't want mirrors on mirrors (highly technical terms there LOL).

Anyway, with a bit of fiddling, my Y-axis has zero play, no twist, and very even pressure across the entire travel. Maybe beginners luck, but a gazillion times better than when I started.

My X-axis gib is shiny, but only on two half-inch spots on each end. My impression is that the gib wasn't adjusted evenly and on that slow boat from China it warped.

Or maybe they were out of lead and melamine that day.

I must be a sucker for torture, I bought the 7x(10 eighths of an inch) lathe today. Maybe the red goo is addictive.

I've been trying to put together a tooling purchase from LMS. The starter package for the lathe looks good, but the starter package for R8 mini mills looks like it has a lot of stuff that would get little use if you plan on CNCing the lathe. I don't think I'll need a vise with a swivel base. I am debating the collet set, I eventually want a Tormach style quick change and ATC. I've never used 1-2-3 blocks before.

Either way, I feel like I am making a tuition payment for someones kid at LMS, as well as buying a nice dinner for someone at UPS. Don't mind the LMS tuition so much, just don't want to add any beer money to that.

[TroyO]

It's pretty darn smooth now... I'm happy with it.

No play, anywhere along the travel. It gets just a little stiffer as it reaches the top of the column..... but not much.

No perceptable wiggle whatsoever and I can slide the casting along with just the weight of the column keeping it from moving.

My hands are now grey... LOL. Ohh well.

Next, lapping the mating surfaces of the two pieces that make up the head. Then, assembly and some precision measurement combined with some neanderthalic adjustment. (I wish there was a better way than measuring .0001 then hitting with a hammer... LOL.)

[TroyO]

Whoo! That feels good.. I'm dialed in to within .0005 @ 6" in both directions. I think I will lock away the allen wrenches and put a museum rope around it so no one touches it.... got LUUUUCKKY! LOL.

I'm better aligned then the runout is in my spindle (.001)... I'll take it.

It took about 6 times removing, shimming, removing, shimming etc. Aluminum tape was too much, 2 layers of thin AL foil not quite enough... ended up with 2.5 layers of AL foil at the bottom of the head which finally got it just right. (2 cover the bottom row of the casting, one covers half the bottom row. It was just a touch over until I tightened it down, which matched my theory.

It took me another 4 times on/off the column to tighten it withough horking it up.... tighten a little, put it back on and check.. remove, tighten, recheck (tap harder) and so on.

Next question..... LOL, how to touch up the runout in the spindle? ;P

[HellPhish]

<snip>

Next question..... LOL, how to touch up the runout in the spindle? ;P

very carefully. i really dunno, im jus reading through this thread to prepare for an SX2. so far so good troy