CT129 Accuracy Question

CT129guy

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Jul 13, 2017
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Hi All, I am new to this site. I have a Craftex CT129 with an upgraded R8 spindle. I am very much still learning. I have a question about what others may have been experiencing in terms of table accuracy. I put a 0.01mm accuracy dial indicator on (I have done from the spindle and from the base to rule out some movement) and run the table full Y direction and the table is very good. Much less than 0.01mm deviation over the whole Y travel. When I do the X axis however I see 0.09mm to 0.1mm different from left to right. That is some 3.5-4 thousandths over the maximum travel over the 11 or so inches of travel. I checked the gibs and everything to make sure it was not looseness or something. It is a very consistent and gradual increase from 0.0 mm on the left (bed all the way to the right) to 0.09-0.10mm on the right (bed all the way to the left). I measured the bed to way thickness on each end of the table and the difference is pretty much what I measure with the indicator. So it seems the bed is not ground to all that accurate a tolerance. I suspect i pretty much have to live with it and have been working around it (shimming vice with a bit aluminum foil and shimming parts I put right on bed as required). I was just curious what others are seeing with their small mills. Is this within an expected tolerance or is it way the heck out. Thank you.
 
More than 15 years ago I bought a busy bee knee mill and it was very good. Just sold it for an upgrade to a bigger mill. The new Busy Bee mills and lathes seem to be bought from the lowest bidder. I hope you can make it good.
 
I used to own a b048 8X30 knee mill with power feed. It had 7 X 23" of travel and used a 1.5HP motor.

I now have a 9X49 First (bridgeport clone) mill made in Taiwan in 1991, needing reconditioning. I paid less for the bigger used mill than I did for the B048 mill...

I'm a big fan of buy used and rebuild it. My lathe I bought in 1982 from Busy Bee, also made in Taiwan. Now their lathes are too poorly made and too expensive to buy.

...If I had to go new there are a few select models from Grizzly I'd consider, or one (but only one) of the offerings from Modern Tool. There's better value in a used machine, if you are very picky about what you buy and wait for the right one.
 
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