Mill head tramming

This is a subject that has probably been done to death, however I thought I ought to measure what my SX2.7 actually is. In the X plane over a 10" span there is a difference of 0.0016", and in the Y plane over a 5" span (the full depth of the table) there is a difference of 0.0008". I recognise that the head is not exactly perpendicular, however are the measured diferences going to make that much odds for the type of general engineering I'm likely to do and also realising that removing the differences is likely to be very time consuming and potentially not greatly improveable.

Regards

Martin

If you think of error over the diameter of a typical cutter they are very small and no worth worrying about I'd have thought. Might start to make a visible difference with a fly cutter or face mill but hot so much as to generally affect the accuracy of what you make.

Should not make too much difference, if you do want to play with it then shims under the column base are the way to do it.

Difficult to find shim stock thin enough to correct that sort of error though. His figures seem good enough for me.

Russell

That's how I did the SX2.7 I have in the workshop, 0.0002" over 5" span will do for me.

I know mine needs adjusting, just havnt done it yet. Wouldnt I be right in thinking that before any adjustments are made between the column and base the table gibs need to be adjusted to be pretty well spot on or as close as..? Any badly adjusted gibs could have the table high or low or not horizontal from one end to the other or am I wrong..?

You aren't wrong.

And before tramming, lock all the axes that you aren't actually reading too.

And I suggest that you do any checks with the table in the central position. Especially if your table is on the long side.

Cheers, Tim

Given its a lightweight machine it's quite possible it will deflect as much as you're showing when making a cut.

I'd leave it alone, you could make it worse.

Thanks very much for your thoughts, the consensus is that within the limitations of the machine it's probably adequate and doing nothing is the preferred option, I wholeheartedly agree. I drew deeply on the trigonometry of over 50 years ago and have calculated I would need a shim of 0.0012" to correct it, this is almost baking foil, and as Vic has pointed out might well make it worse. Leave well alone if your ahead is just plain sensible. Thanks for the help.

Martin

Edited By Martin Shaw 1 on 07/01/2019 11:54:42

For those sort of readings... 'If it aint broke don't fix it'

George.

Martin, I think if I had a reading of 0.0016" over ten inches and 0.0008" over 5 inches on a new machine straight out of the box I would have considered it spot on or as near as. To be honest I wouldnt have expected that it would be good to know if Jason had similar figures with his.

Ron

Adjusted the 3 gibs on the mill this morning its had a fair bit of use in the weeks I have had it so it was worth doing. Trammed the mill and it wasnt good but I expected that, 0.0035" in X and even worse 0.005" in Y. Shimmed the column with cut pieces of feeler gauge, it only took 2 pieces one on each rear corner as the column was leaning backwards. I found that you calculate what should correct the error but in reality it doesnt work like that or at least it didnt for me and it took a bit of trying different thickness of shim to get it right.

Good now, 0.0012" over 8 inches in X and 0.00025" over 5 inches in Y.

.

Is that a typo, Ron ?

... or did you get a spectacularly good result ?

MichaelG.

Does that make my 0.0002" over 5" even more spectacular

.

No, Jason

I was just asking Ron a straight question, based on the apparently massive improvement made by simple means at the hand of a relative newcomer.

MichaelG.

Michael, thats what the dial gauge is telling me, its almost spot on and I checked it 3 times. Dont know if I have just been lucky but why shouldnt it be that good..?

Ron

.

Thanks, Ron

As I said ... it was just a straight question.

You improved from 5 thou to 2.5 tenths of a thou, with some simple shimming.

Well done you.

MichaelG.