Any advice on levelling my G0519 welcome

[Falcon67]

I did some checking and messing with it last night. I'm pretty sure the table isn't completely flat. With the table centered, I can level it in Y on the right, middle and be off a little on the left side - per the machinist level. I've tried various torque on the base to table bolts and that moves it a little, but not much. Have not done anything in X yet other than a rough set.

Knowing that a mill doesn't really have to be level to work, I'm thinking about these steps for doing the best with what it may be:
1) center table in X and Y, or Y center on spindle at least
2) torque base to table bolts to all the same torque reading - say 45 ft/lbs (don't think it matters)
3) use the "corner level" method - place level at 45 angle across table center, level using the feet pointed at by the level, switch to the other 45, level those feet, throw hands up, yell "TIME!"
4) tram head to table, shimming column as necessary to get Y as close as I can
5) deal with the other irregularities that are bound to be there, like variations as table travels.

It ain't no knee mill, but I'd like to get as good out of it as may be possible. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[wrmiller]

Hey Chris,

When you say table, are you referring to the machine's table or the table the machine is mounted on?

What I did when mounting my machine on a 40" tool box lower was to get the tool box fairly level, then I put shims between the machine base and the steel plate the mill is sitting on (3/4" plywood with a 3/8" steel plate on top of that) to get the machine's table as level as possible by just measuring along X and Y right under the head (table centered on saddle, saddle centered on mill base).

Once that was done I then trammed the head to the column, then the column to the mill table (the latter by shimming under the column).

Not sure if I'm answering the right questions, but hope this helps.

Bill

 

[Falcon67]

Thanks. I would be leveling the mill table. It's bolted to a stand. I should add that the G0519 is one of the many "RF-45" square column mill/drill units. Old pic before adding the new adjusting feet. I would be leveling the mill table using the feet on the stand, then working from there.



New adjusting feet:

 

[wrmiller]

Very nice!

I have a very similar machine sitting in a Denver Roadrunner warehouse at the moment and hopefully it will show up at my house tomorrow.

It will be sitting on a table very similar to yours that has adjustable feet. For the new machine I will simply bolt the machine to it's stand, use the leveling feet of the stand to level the machine's table, then tram the head to the machine's table.

If this doesn't sound right to you more experienced types, please let me/us know before I start setting up my mill. )

Bill

 

[tmarks11]

Chuck a noga indicator in the spindle with a DTI (dial test indicator), and run the table full extents X and Y, and see how much the table-to-spindle height varies. That is the important measurement. From what you said already it sounds like you might have a slight cupping of the table; the DTI will tell us if it is significant or not.

Than swing the table to check the tram. That means swing the dial indicator 360 degrees around, checking to see what the variation is at the 90 degree positions of the swing. That will tell you if the column or the head is out of vertical with the table.

 

[Falcon67]

Close as it's gonna get. I used a torque wrench and some .006 and .007 shims to set the head within .001 to the table. That's at a head height as far up as the indicol and test indicator would reach. After 2 more hours slapping the head back and forth in the x, I stopped at .002. Dont think I can dial x any closer until I fab one of those gizmos for pushing the head with a fine thread bolt. I can live with it.

 

[wrmiller]

Close as it's gonna get. I used a torque wrench and some .006 and .007 shims to set the head within .001 to the table. That's at a head height as far up as the indicol and test indicator would reach. After 2 more hours slapping the head back and forth in the x, I stopped at .002. Dont think I can dial x any closer until I fab one of those gizmos for pushing the head with a fine thread bolt. I can live with it.

Those little "gizmos" for tramming the head in X are one of the first mods I made to my little mill. They make it SO much easier.