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Dore Westbury adjustments

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david lockwood12/06/2011 20:34:46
41 forum posts
Hello all I have a Dore Westbury milling machine which I am mostly happy with, the one little rankle is that the head can only be trammed in one plane and it is out in the fixed plane, the y movement. I have been doing some fly cutting and this causes the work to be out of parallell by .05 mm over 25 mm, this is not a problem on this particular job but possibly it could become one in the future
 
I am supposing that the mill would have to be disassembled and either shimmed or scraped to make any adjustments. The problem is the mill is glued and bolted then painted, so can the glue be dissolved in any way?
 
I could not say what type of glue has been used.
I expect it is not worth the trouble but if any one has any thoughts on the matter they would be appreciated.
 
Regards David
David Clark 112/06/2011 21:29:09
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3357 forum posts
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10 articles
Hi There
I doubt the glue would be a problem.
I fit does not come apart, I would drill and tap some holes through the base,bolt a plate on, drill some blind holes through the base and just into the top casting and use jacking screws to separate them.
Once separate and cleaned up, I would bolt the base back at 90 degree to the original position.
That may well correct the error.
If you wanted to fit a digial readout, slide type now would be the ideal time to do it.
I could tell you how if interested.
Been there done that.
regards David
elanman13/06/2011 18:50:08
47 forum posts
4 photos
David,
I have a Westbury and had the same problem after I had made it. MES (the makers) supplied Loctite 601 for fixing the parts together. The head had to be separated from the cross tube by heating (remove bearings etc) till it could be parted. It's 601 you will not jack them apart!!! The problem is caused by the fact that the fit of the parts allows clearance for the glue and thus they can fit together out of square. Once you have them apart clean everything up ready for re-assembley. You also need to check that the T piece on top of the column is square, if not this needs removing as well.
But you first need to check that the base of the column is square with the bore as mine was not. True this up then fit to base. Then re-assemble head assembley and mount face plate on to spindle. Bolt face plate to table and adjust column height until cross tube can be fitted. Check it's square with table with DTI. Remove cross tube apply glue and re-fit, leave to set.
I should also say that the order in which you tighten the column to base clamping screws also has an effect on it's squareness with the table.
Hope this helps,
Cheers
John
David Clark 113/06/2011 19:24:14
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3357 forum posts
112 photos
10 articles
Hi There
My column support was not glued to the base and I never had a problem with it.
regards david
 
david lockwood15/06/2011 23:46:12
41 forum posts

Thanks for the advice both of you I hadn't thought that the head could be repositioned. I was under the impression that it was made as close as possible and then adjusted by shimming the base.>>

>>

so if it is possible to check the squareness of the head, T piece and column base separately then how would I go about checking which part is out of square as tramming the head only tells me that something is out but not which component >>

>>

I could put a brass pinch screw through the nut which is used to set the height on the main column which because of the particular design of the nut and thread , would not affect the operation of the mechanism but I could tighten the screw to lock the nut and swing the assembly without loosing the height adjustment.>>

>>

Possibly I could swing the whole head and column with a dial test indicator in a chuck but I could only do this over a small arc and may not get an indication of squareness .>>

>>

How would other people check which part was out of square?>>

>>

I could put an indicator on the milling table in a stand and run the table up and down with the indicator against the cross bar similar, to checking against a test bar in the lathe,>>

David Clark 116/06/2011 09:37:24
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3357 forum posts
112 photos
10 articles
Hi There
The head can be swivelled clockwise or anticlockwise when looking at the front of the machine.
Put a test indicator in the collet or chuck and bring it down so it just touches on the table.
You know have two planes, front to back and left to right.
Turn the test indicator being careful as you pass over any tee slots.
The indicator should read the same at all four positions, left, right - front and back.
If it is out, you can correct it in the left/right orientation by tilting the head.
If it is out in the front/back orientation then the colukn is out of square and needs attention.
 
A quick method to get it reasonably sqaure is if you have a Myford lathe faceplate screw that on to the nose and bring it down in contact with the machine table, loosen the head, put a littl pressure on the quill so the faceplate is completly in contact with the table and tighten up the head.
If the column is wrong, the simple action of moving it 90 degrees could be enough to get it correct.
I hope this is clear, if not ask again.
regards David
David Clark 116/06/2011 09:37:26
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3357 forum posts
112 photos
10 articles
Hi There
The head can be swivelled clockwise or anticlockwise when looking at the front of the machine.
Put a test indicator in the collet or chuck and bring it down so it just touches on the table.
You know have two planes, front to back and left to right.
Turn the test indicator being careful as you pass over any tee slots.
The indicator should read the same at all four positions, left, right - front and back.
If it is out, you can correct it in the left/right orientation by tilting the head.
If it is out in the front/back orientation then the colukn is out of square and needs attention.
 
A quick method to get it reasonably sqaure is if you have a Myford lathe faceplate screw that on to the nose and bring it down in contact with the machine table, loosen the head, put a littl pressure on the quill so the faceplate is completly in contact with the table and tighten up the head.
If the column is wrong, the simple action of moving the base (unbolt turn and bolt back up) 90 degrees could be enough to get it correct.
I hope this is clear, if not ask again.
regards David

Edited By David Clark 1 on 16/06/2011 10:00:26

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