abrasive grit on machine ways

List –

I got a copy of Moore Tool Co.’s “Foundations of Mechanical Accuracy” a few
weeks ago, and as I’m perusing it, I am absolutely astounded by the methods
they used and developed to achieve incredible accuracies. Among other
things, they describe how they achieve .0001” accuracy over 18” for their
leadscrews. What baffles me is that they show several pictures of fancy
custom grinding, honing, and lapping machines for the job, and in almost all
cases the machines ways are not even protected from the abrasive grit
(machines are shown in operation). What’s up? Is this common and
acceptable practice? How did they get away with this? For a company that
is concerned about temperature differences between floor and ceiling, as
well the thermal effects of a human touching a machine base affecting
accuracy, I am surprised to see this. For anyone who has the book, I’m
referring to pgs 189, 190, 234 (first edition).

Carlos Guillermo
VERVE Engineering & Design



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]