OK! well now that Christmas is past and I'm done playing Santa with the mill it's time to get on with the upgrades! First step...disassembly. This was nearly a day long project itself.
And in case the previous pictures didn't give it away she's getting a full set of linear rails!
So a little bit of clearance was needed on the saddle. I only took about a 1/16" off of one side to get it to fit. Sure is nice to have another mill to help along the way:
In an effort to keep everything mostly square right out of the gate i'm using the original dovetails to align the master rail. A combination of precision ground barstock and height gauges are used to ensure the master rail runs parallel to the dovetail.
After drilling and tapping the first hole manually I made this trick drill bushing to make sure all the other holes are concentric with the rail holes. Works like a charm, and I'm super happy I took the time to make it. The slave rail was then installed by using the new saddle plate and bearings to set the distance and parallelism.
Foreshadowing what's to come
but not yet...Major clearance issues with the table and the bearings! I tried to capture it the best I could but the table is hovering about a 1/8" away from the rail
clearance was needed! Also...the point of no return!! Also...thank goodness for power feeds!!!