Re: Modifing X-Y vice
Posted by
Jeff Demand
on 2003-09-01 18:20:47 UTC
Hi Chuck,
I too was worried about breaking the casting by clamping the split nut -
but I was at the point of fixing the backlash or replacing the screw. I had
also twice done similar cast iron nut modifications without problems. You
found the reference to Sven's design which I used for my X axis.. For
reducing drag on the dovetails (to facilitate the use of availible small
steppers) clean off the grease and oil, colour mating surfaces with magic
marker, layout dye or prussian blue and slide parts back and forth. Gently
remove high points with a large flat file or by scraping (another research
topic) and repeat til you have aprox. 50% high spots evenly spaced or get
excessivly bored. I also attempted to insure everything remained parallel.
Just go slow... its hard to put metal back on ;-) Lapping with fine valve
grinding compound (400 to 600 mesh) is an indignity for fine machines but
seemed acceptable in this case. Simulated accelerated wear makes for a
smoother fit, but be sure to remove all of the grit when done!
Jeff
-
Demand Designs
Analog/Digital Modeling & Goldsmithing
http://www.aztec-net.com/~jdemand
-
I too was worried about breaking the casting by clamping the split nut -
but I was at the point of fixing the backlash or replacing the screw. I had
also twice done similar cast iron nut modifications without problems. You
found the reference to Sven's design which I used for my X axis.. For
reducing drag on the dovetails (to facilitate the use of availible small
steppers) clean off the grease and oil, colour mating surfaces with magic
marker, layout dye or prussian blue and slide parts back and forth. Gently
remove high points with a large flat file or by scraping (another research
topic) and repeat til you have aprox. 50% high spots evenly spaced or get
excessivly bored. I also attempted to insure everything remained parallel.
Just go slow... its hard to put metal back on ;-) Lapping with fine valve
grinding compound (400 to 600 mesh) is an indignity for fine machines but
seemed acceptable in this case. Simulated accelerated wear makes for a
smoother fit, but be sure to remove all of the grit when done!
Jeff
-
Demand Designs
Analog/Digital Modeling & Goldsmithing
http://www.aztec-net.com/~jdemand
-