# Traming My Lms 3990



## Brentb1 (Feb 7, 2016)

I bought this mill new a few weeks ago, prior to this mill I have never done any maching before. I was having a problem with my finish having swirl marks but figured it was my lack of skill. I watched the video, Traming my mill and followed the same procedure. I found my mill to be 20 thou off. So my question is 1. is there a different way to know for sure if it is off and not an error on my part? 2. I know that if it is off I need to shim one side, what do I use to shim it; are there specific shims or can I use a 10 thou feeler gauge as a shim or washer?


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## Wreck™Wreck (Feb 7, 2016)

The finish will always have tooling marks with a mill, removing them is a second operation. Actually having a bit of tilt in the X axis when fly cutting/face milling improves the finish.


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## wawoodman (Feb 7, 2016)

What method did you use to measure the "off"? Try another one, and see if the numbers agree!

I like the cylindrical square, myself.

Here's a video, by Keith Rucker, showing his methods of tramming. The cylinder square is at about 9:30.


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## Brentb1 (Feb 7, 2016)

That does look like a good method the problem is, I don't have a cylindrical square. I have square, dial calipers, and magnetic base


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## Brentb1 (Feb 7, 2016)

I ended up shimming one side with a 10 thou feeler gauge, now I am within 2 thou. Are there a specific type of shim to use, if so would I buy them from a place like LMS?


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## wawoodman (Feb 7, 2016)

Brentb1 said:


> That does look like a good method the problem is, I don't have a cylindrical square. I have square, dial calipers, and magnetic base



http://www.shars.com/products/measuring/squares/3-precision-cylinder-square


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## francist (Feb 7, 2016)

Brent -- I've not shimmed a mill specifically, but for other machine tools I've found lots of useful shim stock from various common items: aluminum cans, flashing pieces from leftover building repairs, brass weatherstripping scraps, pallet strapping, etc., the list goes on. If you've got a mic or even just a half-decent caliper check out some of those things before you spring for some dedicated shims. Sure, the household items aren't ground or rolled to a super-consistent thickness, but they're easily doable for the home shop. Mix and match to stack up to what thicknesses you want and go from there. Just my thinkin'...

-frank


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## Brentb1 (Feb 7, 2016)

I totally know what you mean, I have used things like that in projects before; I wasn't sure how feasible it would be to use something that is not exact. I was worried that it may cause issues on a precision machine but that why I was asking as I have 0 experience with mills. I am probably way over thinking it


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## David VanNorman (Feb 7, 2016)

Try the can and stuff like that . If tou get your problem solved then order real shim stock.


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## Brentb1 (Feb 8, 2016)

I am wondering can leaving a milling vise on the mill cause problems? For example, will it cause warpage or anything like that?


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## stupoty (Feb 8, 2016)

Brentb1 said:


> I am wondering can leaving a milling vise on the mill cause problems? For example, will it cause warpage or anything like that?



Yeah i reckon it's best to have an empty table.  It probably depends how tight the bolts are and the rigidity of the vice vs the table.

Stuart


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## stupoty (Feb 8, 2016)

When you say 20th off is that over an inch or the whole table?

Stuart


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## Brentb1 (Feb 9, 2016)

I am not sure if I am understanding your question correctly, but what I did was put a magnetic base on the spindle with a dial indicator on it. I have the indicator touch the end of the table, then I turn it so it touches the opposite side of the table. When I did that it was .020 off. If I did not answer your question let me know


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## edojan (Feb 16, 2016)

Brentb1, I have purchased the same unit a few weeks ago and tried the beer can as shimming material but it was not consistent. It needed different thickness under the two bolts on the right side of the column. I ended up purchasing shimming stock sampler kit from leevaley.ca and it did arrive in one day (I am in Ontario). The shims worked beutifully. Here is the link http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=40946&cat=1,43456,43407
This is nothing but 6 pieces of brass foil (in different thickness) but that is the point. Cheers

P.S. Also, I used a torque wrench to tighten the bolts to ~50 lb per inch. Without it you won't know if you are over or under-tightninig the bolts and your indicator will be all over the place. I hope this helps


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## Brentb1 (Feb 19, 2016)

That helps a lot, thank you. I was wondering about torqueing them down, when I went to loosen them the bolts were barely snug "from the company"


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