[Rich05]

I have the gibs pretty shoved down in there, the head moves allot if I mess with the handles on the ways, basically its not tight

the finish on my parts sucks, which tell me the head is not straight and not tight, its all over the place, steel is really hard to mill. I am using nice end mills and not moving too fast.

can somoene post a nice walk though on how to fix this up?? Sorry I have had the mill for 5 years but this is not something I have managed to tackle, but I need to step up to nicer parts and seems this needs to be addressed.

Thanks!

edit, this is my guess on how to fix it?

1- put in a block in the gibs and really tighten it down , since right now the gibs are maxed out ( by gibs?? I mean the bolt that tightens the wedge in the ways? ?

2 - tram the head ( first mess with the bolts that hold the mill to to the mill base?? then the bolt that handles the swing /pivot of the head??, I have an expensive cylinder that is for tramming the head used it once.. Surely I will screw this up. I have broken allot of endmills over the years and done allot of dumb stuff, the head cant be that well aligned now.

3 - tighten down the handles slightly??

4 - lots of oil??

sorry this is all I can think of, any suggestions appreciated!!

[Runner4404spd]

In terms of the gibbs, i would cut yourself a secion of shim stock that will allow you get your adjustment back on teh gibbs.

tramming the head left to right should be done, but i would do it after you tram the column. get your cylinder and indicator and run the whole head up and down measuring deflection against the cylinder square. then loosen the head bolts and add shims accordingly. now tighten the column to the base and recheck tram. keep adding or removing shims until you are happy with the tram.

the head tilt can be ajusted but loosening the 3 bolts that hold the head. now retighten them but only snug. now check to tram left to right on the x axis table.

now check the front to back positions against the table as well. for this youmay have to add shims under the head and between the slide.

[Rich05]

thanks much I have been putting this off for so long. what should i use for shim material? is there a material product just for that? or do i wedge some junk in there?

[Cruiser]

Shim Stock !
If I remember right, A .007 to .009 shim will extend the gib near 1/4" and a piece of tape measure along the NON friction surface will do nicely in many cases. Don't use a shim stock that can corrode.

[QSIMDO]

I just wanted to post that I shimmed the gib on my machine (manual) and what a huge difference.

I'd been squaring and tramming mine and I was SO sick of the "stick/slide" syndrome I sacrificed a Stanley 25' tape for some shim stock, popped it in and Bob's your aunties husband!

Always thought my gib was tight...locked it down in use...but it always took about a 1/4 turn on the lock handles to tighten up.

NOW! Fraction of a turn to tight, NO stick/slip and the machine cuts better!

Thanks Cruiser, I owe you a cool one!