[ZipSnipe]

Most of the pics I have seen the top of dovetails seemed to be ground but the actual angle parts seemed to be mill cut or fly cut.

Am I wrong?

[ZipSnipe]

Anyone?

[allinmach]

Most of the pics I have seen the top of dovetails seemed to be ground but the actual angle parts seemed to be mill cut or fly cut.

Am I wrong?

If you mean the contact area of the dovetails , i will tell you that Novakon has all of the dovetails handscraped -this is a time cost work , but you can get much better result from it ), Tormach is using PTFE for all of the ways . I am not sure of Syil though .

I know these 3 are the leading suppliers of China mills .

[ZipSnipe]

Guess I am really trying to find out if I can get away with just the dovetail cutter finish on a milling table. Figured if those Seig x2/x3's are just dovetail cut then I could do the same. But I will have access to a surface grinder, its just I might not have access to a wheel to shape into a dovetail shape.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

A clean, milled surface should work fine. Worst case you have to scrape it in - should not be a big deal if it's milled well to start with.

Regards,
Ray L.

[allinmach]

I think handscraping is a high level of process regarding to machining . It can make very precision parts, such as dovetails , slides etc , and the bearing bushing which are impossilble to get the best result just from the grinding machine .
Another point is that the scrapped dovetail accomplishes better stock of lubrication oil .

[port_huon]

On my X2 they're definitely not surface ground, looks more like someone used a file on them.
Fixing this is on the to do list along with new gib strips.

[ZipSnipe]

Thanx Geoff, thats the answer I was looking for.

I plan on adding an X3 long table from LMS to my table I have . It is a 1/4 inch wider than mine and I will need to shave the dovetails. My old boss said I could come in and use the Bridgeport on it. But I might be pushing my luck to ask to use the surface grinder, which incurs shaping one of his $100 grinding wheels.