Material For 626 Way Cover

The rubber sheet which covers the Y axis screw behind the table my new mill is pretty stiff and unwieldy It doesn't take well to being crushed up when the knee is high and close to the column and I have already managed to put a rip in it when it caught on the back of the vice. Can anyone suggest a lighter more flexible material - is leather a possibility?

Thanks, William.

I suspect that anything water / oil / coolant proof would suffice; as you say leather, plastic table cloth type material, thinner rubber sheeting etc.

George.

The way cover on my Warco VMC mill (aka Chester 626) suffered the same splitting as yours, William. It was swiftly replaced with a concertina type from ArcEurotrade, as shown here.

I was able to use the existing tapped holes and the job was completed in a few minutes. It is far more flexible than the original and in over four years has resisted all the swarf and general gunk that the machine and I have thrown at it.

John

Edited By John Hinkley on 05/10/2020 13:59:35

Thanks for the suggestions and thanks to you John for the photos of your mill mods. Mine came with DRO installed but the X axis scale is on the back of the table where I'm sure it robs me of an inch or so of travel so I plan to move it to the front as you have. Did you manage to retain the carriage lock screws somehow on your set up?

William.

William,

Yes, the axis lock screws were all retained in their original positions. It's inevitable that the installation of an aftermarket dro system will rob you of some travel, no matter where you put it. I decided that mounting the x-axis scale on the front was the best compromise for me. As you can see from my album, I removed the power feed stop bar to be able to use the rotary table and never bothered to put it back.

John

Hi William

I destroyed the original rubber cover within the first 30 minutes or so of using the machine. it has been replaced by a piece of leathercloth which I find to be very effective and have only replaced once in the last 10 years (due to be replaced again in the near future). I have only covered the top of the knee and left the vertical column uncovered as i find that i use this space for a magnetic clock stand on occasions. Replacement of the original thick rubber sheet has given me an increase ib Y-axis travel.

On the subject of the X-axis DRO scale, I have mounted this on the front of the table, using the original slot intended for the table stops. I have made a new stop-bar and stops which fit outside the scale. You will find some pictures and a brief description included in a post by 'Steve Talbot 1' under the subject heading 'Using DROs' posted 30/05/2011. I also wrote this up for MEW, and it was published in issue 196.

Hope that this helps

Roger

I use silicon baking sheet,it's about 18 pounds from a kitchen store or supermarket.

Frank