Best material for gib strips

Which material is best for gib strips of slides?

Martin

I have used ground steel stock and have had no problems thus far.

Andrew.

From similar past posts gaugeplate seems to be a good choice.

Emgee

In my working life in machine tool design taper gibs were always made of a metal softer than the ways. Hardened ways used cast iron gibs, cast iron ways used cast iron or brass gibs. Wear will occur to the softer metal over time. At a minimum use like materials for slow moving surfaces. Also consider the aspect of galling if too soft a material is used and galvanic action of dissimilar metals although this is unlikely unless water based cutting fluids are used.

South Bend 9" and 10K lathes used steel gibs. It looks like cold rolled flat with the edges bevelled.

Many thanks for comments and opinions.

Seems that best approach is to use perhaps cast iron gibs as Howardt suggests and if for whatever reason this cannot be done some gauge plate steel will do, particularly if slide is rarely used.

Martin

I replaced the abortion of a gib strip on my WM250V-F compound slide soon after I bought it. I used brass plate to make new gib, as the compound slide is a casting, & not used often the different materials shouldn't be a problem ... Original gib strip... ​



New brass gib strip ...



... works just fine, also replaced one of the adjusters with a locking screw...



George.