Is it OK to shim a gib with aluminum?

[AndySomogyi]

Finally got all the ways, dovetails all scraped in. I shimmed the backside of the column gib with brass, works nicely.

I need to shim the other two gibs, and I have some aluminum this exact size I can glue on. But not sure if that would cause any issues, as alu had a higher thermal expansion coefficient than cast iron or brass . These would be .050 and 0.080 thick. Ha ha, yeah, I scraped off A LOT just to get the wallows out of the factory angle grinder finished parts here.

 

[Eddyde]

My concern is if it isn't shim stock the aluminum might have more variation in thickness. But I suppose that's easy to check.

 

[AndySomogyi]

I’m going to scrape them anyway, so exact shape isn’t important. I’ll need to scrape both front and back sides of the gibs.


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[Eddyde]

In that case, I don't see why it wouldn't work. I doubt the thermal expansion would be an issue with such a small thickness, unless you are expecting drastic temperature changes.

 

[AndySomogyi]

I was thinking more in the length, but I’m pretty sure the epoxy is tolerant of a small amount of shear.


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[Eddyde]

You could cut it into 2-3 sections.