Author Topic: Tapered gibs.  (Read 10313 times)

Offline websterz

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Tapered gibs.
« on: April 14, 2009, 09:03:25 PM »
I started work on the tapered gibs for my 7x12 today. I am making the gibs out of ali-bronze. It is some beautiful stuff to mill and flycut but it does NOT like slitting saws. I ended up using my 4 1/2" grinder with a slicing disc to cut off strips to work with in the mill. I got sidetracked doing a buddy's taxes and had to stop for the night. I will finish up and post pics tomorrow.  :dremel:
"In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird.  Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal."
 :med:

bogstandard

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Re: Tapered gibs.
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2009, 09:11:11 PM »
W,

I cut mine on a old 3 wheel vertical bandsaw, and just like milling, it cuts like a hot knife thru butter. Maybe you had the slitting saw going a bit too slow (or what I have done myself before now, the teeth facing the wrong way).

It will be good to see how you get around the problems that crop up.

John

Offline websterz

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Re: Tapered gibs.
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2009, 09:16:54 PM »
W,

I cut mine on a old 3 wheel vertical bandsaw, and just like milling, it cuts like a hot knife thru butter. Maybe you had the slitting saw going a bit too slow (or what I have done myself before now, the teeth facing the wrong way).

It will be good to see how you get around the problems that crop up.

John


I tried various speeds and feeds, different saws, it just didn't want to be cut that way.  :bang: I DID notice a bit of rise and fall, maybe my saw arbor isn't as good as I think it is. I made it myself...can't imagine it not running true.  :lol:

As for the problems that will creep into the project, I will strive to get past them in true madmodder fashion!  :mmr:

"In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird.  Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal."
 :med:

bogstandard

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Re: Tapered gibs.
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2009, 09:33:59 PM »
Yep, been there myself, annoying when it doesn't go to expected plan.

Thin saw blades do wobble a bit sometimes, until the cut gets started, so you are not alone.

Quote
As for the problems that will creep into the project, I will strive to get past them in true madmodder fashion!

And your attitude is spot on.

I like seeing follow on articles. Maybe I had the worst one in the world to do, and just watch, yours will go smooth as silk.

Best of luck on your project.

Bogs

Offline websterz

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Re: Tapered gibs.
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2009, 11:01:13 PM »
Smooth as silk? Ummm...no. :bang:

It is so easy to get mixed up when you forget to mark your parts. I ended up scrapping the first set, they just finally got too thin to use. I took the rest of last night off to think about it and decided maybe a taper fixture wasn't such a bad idea (for me) after all. Things went better after that...except my adjusting screws will be on the chuck side of the carriage. Not a big deal really. Although I am at a loss to explain how I did that. I thought I was being careful. I would just swap parts around but that would require more machining. I slid the gibs in place with fingertip pressure and the carriage locked itself down solid as a rock. I had to tap the gibs back out with a bit of al-you-men-e-um  :)

My thinnest feeler gauge is .001 and it doesn't even begin to fit between the gibs and the underside of the ways. I checked the bedway at two inch intervals and found less than .001" difference and that was right on the tailstock end. I guess they have improved the quality control department at Seig in the past couple of years.  Tomorrow I will put the old gibs back on long enough to make up a proper set of adjusting screws and then I will trim and swap everything out and toss the old gibs in the rainy day material box. Oh yeah...I have to mill clearance for the drive gear too. While I have the carriage off I will fit a set of wipers and felts and add oiler ports to it. That will take this little lathe a LOOOOONG way towards being truly useable.

I expect the power supply for my mills' power feed unit to arrive in the mail from Canada tomorrow. All I will have left to do then is build the enclosure to keep the nasties out. Next I can put on the counter weight and longer Z axis rack. Then it's back to the lathe for a full tailstock rebuild. Being laid off from work was the best thing that ever happened to me...so much extra time to build my shop up.  :thumbup:
"In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird.  Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal."
 :med:

bogstandard

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Re: Tapered gibs.
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2009, 11:14:51 PM »
W,

Glad it is starting to work out well. If it all works at the end of it, you have made no mistakes, just modified the design to suit yourself and the machine.

Quote
Being laid off from work was the best thing that ever happened to me...so much extra time to build my shop up.

I have been off work now for nearly five years, if it wasn't for my workshop to keep me occupied, I would have been banging my head against the wall in fits of depression well before now.
There is nothing worse than lounging around at home with nothing to do. Keep your mind active and hope your body can keep up.

Bogs

Offline websterz

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Re: Tapered gibs.
« Reply #6 on: April 17, 2009, 03:46:26 PM »
Well, I had to un-modify the project as having the screws to the chuck side just doesn't work.   :doh:

I swapped the holders front to back and was able to trim the gibs just enough to nudge them to a good fit. While I had the carriage off I added a .003" shim to my carriage lock so it's a bit more agressive. I also drilled and tapped 8 8-32 holes for adding felts and wipers later. I shimmed the rack gear down for better engagement with the feed gear in the apron and put a washer behind the carriage handle to clear up some of the slop. I stoned the ways ever so gingerly, cleaned it all off with WD-40, added a good coat of way oil and reassembled the carriage.

This lathe is NOT the same machine that was sitting on my bench yesterday! The toy feel is gone and it now feels like a precision machine!! I took .050" facing cuts with and without the carriage lock engaged...no movement either way. I parted off a piece of 1/2" mild steel as fast as I could hand feed and the lathe just smiled. On turning cuts I took progressively deeper passes up to .050" in steel which this machine never liked doing before. My main stock and trade with this lathe are parts made from 5/8" 4140 annealed. I have to part off sections .080" thick. I think the work will be a LOT more pleasant now!

If you have a mini-lathe and haven't fitted tapered gibs to it I highly reccommend it as your next project!!!

Thanks for the inspiration and the most helpful post on fixing Darren's lathe.!  :mmr:
« Last Edit: April 17, 2009, 03:57:31 PM by websterz »
"In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird.  Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal."
 :med:

bogstandard

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Re: Tapered gibs.
« Reply #7 on: April 17, 2009, 03:59:29 PM »
I am so pleased for you W,

My help or not, you went ahead and finally succeeded, and came out with a great result.

Well done.

Bogs

Offline Bernd

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Re: Tapered gibs.
« Reply #8 on: April 17, 2009, 04:02:04 PM »
W,

All right. I'm going to do that to my Grizzly 9 X 19. That's my next big project.

Glad it all worked out for you. Makes maching so much better having a machine do it's thing. :thumbup:

Bernd
Route of the Black Diamonds

Offline sbwhart

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Re: Tapered gibs.
« Reply #9 on: April 17, 2009, 04:30:54 PM »
W

Pleased the work went well  :clap: :clap: :clap: have fun with your lathe.  :D

Stew
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Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Tapered gibs.
« Reply #10 on: April 17, 2009, 04:38:35 PM »
W...

Glad it worked out BUT  :worthless:

Eric
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We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.

Offline Darren

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Re: Tapered gibs.
« Reply #11 on: April 17, 2009, 06:37:09 PM »
It certainly is  :worthless:

I have to say, since I let Bogs loose on my mini lathe it now feels like a real machine and not the toy it was...

But then mine was a really bad example of what the Chinese can do..... :med:
You will find it a distinct help… if you know and look as if you know what you are doing. (IRS training manual)

Offline Warrenm

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Re: Tapered gibs.
« Reply #12 on: April 18, 2009, 06:28:50 PM »
This might seem a dumb question but what are "tapered gibs" :scratch:
Warren

bogstandard

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Re: Tapered gibs.
« Reply #13 on: April 18, 2009, 07:31:03 PM »
Warren,

Welcome.

No such thing as a dumb question. We all have to ask at times.

Maybe if you have a look at this link shown on a post of mine will explain it for you.

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=627.msg3898#msg3898

If it doesn't, then just come back and ask for a better explanation.

Bogs

Offline Warrenm

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Re: Tapered gibs.
« Reply #14 on: April 19, 2009, 07:02:41 PM »
It's all clear now,I should have done a search :doh:
Warren