Hey Guys,
I've actually been making pretty good progress with the lathe in the past month or so; will have some photos and possibly a video posted soon ( might be casting again soon yay ).
I did have a question, as the adjustment of the carriage and cross slide box slides have made me wonder about Gingery's method of using shims to give the box slides as close a fit as possible.
For me shims have become a major time consumer, though it seems like once I get them right I won't have to make any adjustments for a while - which is probably the main benefit of using shims, however in researching some of the mini lathes on the market, it seems like most have some type of slide plate that rests above the clamp and has adjustment gibs to bring it in close contact with the ways. This definitely sounds appealing to me, as I wouldn't have to worry about making any additional shims when I need to compensate for wear - I was wondering if I could simply buy some thin brass stock and drill holes in the clamp pads for 3 set screws each to have a similar setup?
At any rate I was curious what everyone thought on this, or if anyone had given prior thought to modifying the slides such that they have slide plates with gibs?
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While I have you also I had another question with regard to the cross slide feedscrew assembly. The casting where the feed screw goes through the cross slide casting and is secured with set screw collars isn't perfectly square, and thus there is a delay before the screw moves the carriage when cranking it one way ( slight gab at part of the angle on the inside, the outside edge seems fairly square to the feedscrew ). This seems like it would be a big issue if I was to convert to CNC, or even add a graduated dial for my own reference - ie: if I stopped and wanted to back off by .01 or something, I'd have to back off until the carriage started to move and then note the dial position before proceeding.
Anyways, what I'm thinking I will do to fix that that is either to file the casting square on the inside, or it seemed like an easier approach would be to enlarge the 1/4" hole to accept a sleeve bearing ( would need it to be pushed in snuggly with no play ) and then have the set screw collars on either side of that in close contact. Seems like brass or bronze would be a better wear surface than the aluminum casting as well.
I also noticed some mountable bearings I thought might work however the casting would have to be perfectly square for them to work, same with go with a flanged sleeve bearing. Was curious what your thoughts were on this - if my idea will work fine or if there are any other alternatives that would work better before I modify my cross slide.
Thanks,
Morgan
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