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Mini-lathe question

Using ball bearings in gibs

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Dunc17/09/2009 14:14:21
139 forum posts
I read David Lewis' star letter in issue 154 (Mini-lathe improvements, page 44).
 
He stated that he placed 2mm diameter steel balls between the adjustment screw & the gib.
 
I am interested in a major improvement for little input but how does one retain the two gib strips and all the balls in place while the slide is slid (sorry!) home?
Peter G. Shaw17/09/2009 14:43:39
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1531 forum posts
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I too am interested in this idea, but thought that if the adjusting screws were greater than the balls, then it should be possible to get the slide into place approximately, then insert the balls via the adjustment holes followed by the adjusting screws themselves.
 
Another thought was that perhaps the idea of using the dowel as suggested by Ken Wilson (Scribe a Line Issue 155) might also help in holding the gibstrip in place whilst the balls etc are inserted.
 
I think that whatever happens, we will have to accept that there will necessarily be a certain amount of fiddling around every time we dismantle the slide for cleaning.
 
Regards,
 
Peter G. Shaw
mgj17/09/2009 15:25:29
1017 forum posts
14 photos
And/or a dimple to stop the ball wandering. Or a little crushable copper slug in front of the screw.
 
Or since one puts a wipe of vaseline between strip and body to hold it during assembly anyway,  why not shove dob of it, (or grease) in the screwhole and pop the ball in. That'll hold it - just like getting a nut to stick on screwdriver long enough to get a thread to take  in confined spaces.
 

Edited By meyrick griffith-jones on 17/09/2009 15:30:25

Peter G. Shaw17/09/2009 19:57:18
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1531 forum posts
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Hi Meyrick,
 
Good idea. Thanks.
 
Peter
Circlip18/09/2009 12:09:37
1723 forum posts
OK chilblanes, yer all NEARLY there. The way Emco Maier did it was to put a slot top to bottom of the gib strip where the end of the adjusting screw would impinge on it. Needs to be about two thirds the width of the ball Dia. and about 20 thou (0.5mm) deep so that in the event of the gibs being soft or the operator has a mad tightening session, the face isn't bruised.
 
  Re-assemble the cross-slide and gib assy., put the ball through the adjusting screw hole and if you want to be really clever, put a drill centre in the end of the said adjusting screw to locate the ball.
 
  The above method (Clever B-----ds) stops bruising the gib but also stops the ball running off centre and jamming the slide.
 
 Only thing to remember (Don't arsk) is that this has been carried out, so that when you strip the slide down at some future point on a Sunday afternoon when the Engineering supply shops are shut you're not sifting through swarf and the Black hole that mysteriously appears in the workshop looking for the little sod.
 
   Regards Ian.

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