# Grizzly Tech Support Recommends Cutting Replacement Gibs to Length? - Disappointing Experience!!!



## angelfj1 (Apr 23, 2014)

Just got off the phone with Grizzly technical support.  This started with an order for replacement gibs for my brand new G0704 mill.  I was not able to get acceptable adjustment on the X and Y axis.  It seemed that each of these two axis gibs had a high spot.  I put them on a surface plate and it was clear that they were not flat.  I called Grizzly and ordered replacements.  They arrived in about one week.  Both gibs are the same length, approximately 12 inches. Well that's interesting. The original X and Y gibs are 7 and 7.125 inches long.  Called Grizzly customer service and was told that they would look into this.  That was early last week.

Grizzly called this morning and said that they checked and that I received the correct gibs.  I explained the dimension discrepancy and it was suggested that I cut the gibs to the proper length.  I told the lady that I wasn't sure that (I) could do this.  She suggested that I speak to tech. support.  The technical expert said that all of the gibs that are sold as replacements for this mill are the same length.  I asked if this was so, why did each replacement gib have a different part number.  He didn't have an answer.  He said that  the factory cuts each gib to the proper length and then gibs custom fitted to these mills.  I asked if he could send me specific instructions for fitting these gibs but he said he didn't have anything he could send to me.

So, here I am with two original gibs that are the correct length but not flat and two replacement gibs that are too long.  i surely hope that someone has a suggestion because right now I am dead in the water.

Thanks in advance,

Frank


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## george wilson (Apr 23, 2014)

*Re: Grizzly Tech Support Recommends Cutting Replacement Gibs to Length? - Disappointing Experience!!*

Provided the replacement gibs are the SAME TAPER as the originals,why can't you just lay each one down beside an original one. Make sure they ARE the same taper. Adjust the long replacement gib sideways until it is the same thickness as the original. Then,use the original gib for length measurement,mark where to saw it off and file the notch for the adjusting screw.(File and hacksaw the groove since you can't use the mill.) 

I can't see that this is a complicated issue. The problem would arise if the gibs prove to be DIFFERENT TAPERS. 

I had a lathe that had a taper with a bit of a kink in it. I just straightened it as good as possible,and carefully filed off the remaining high spot. It worked fine. There were no available spare parts for this lathe.


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## iron man (Apr 23, 2014)

*Re: Grizzly Tech Support Recommends Cutting Replacement Gibs to Length? - Disappointing Experience!!*

Do the gibs have depressions drilled in for setscrews or are they smooth and adjust by a cam? If either answer is no I would assume they are cast iron cut them off to the proper size with a hacksaw or bandsaw and intall them. Ray


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## angelfj1 (Apr 23, 2014)

*Re: Grizzly Tech Support Recommends Cutting Replacement Gibs to Length? - Disappointing Experience!!*



iron man said:


> Do the gibs have depressions drilled in for setscrews or are they smooth and adjust by a cam? If either answer is no I would assume they are cast iron cut them off to the proper size with a hacksaw or bandsaw and intall them. Ray



IM:  Thanks.  The gibs are smooth and adjusted by screws at each end (the screws  shift the position of the gib relative to the ways).

Frank

- - - Updated - - -



george wilson said:


> Provided the replacement gibs are the SAME TAPER as the originals,why can't you just lay each one down beside an original one. Make sure they ARE the same taper. Adjust the long replacement gib sideways until it is the same thickness as the original. Then,use the original gib for length measurement,mark where to saw it off and file the notch for the adjusting screw.(File and hacksaw the groove since you can't use the mill.)
> 
> I can't see that this is a complicated issue. The problem would arise if the gibs prove to be DIFFERENT TAPERS.
> 
> I had a lathe that had a taper with a bit of a kink in it. I just straightened it as good as possible,and carefully filed off the remaining high spot. It worked fine. There were no available spare parts for this lathe.



Thank you George.  I will try this.

Regards,

Frank


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## Bill Gruby (Apr 23, 2014)

*Re: Grizzly Tech Support Recommends Cutting Replacement Gibs to Length? - Disappointing Experience!!*

Picture of the gibs please.

 "Billy G"


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## kd4gij (Apr 23, 2014)

*Re: Grizzly Tech Support Recommends Cutting Replacement Gibs to Length? - Disappointing Experience!!*

A lot of G0704 owners just lap in the gibs that came with it. Valve grinding compound and I pices of glass is all you need.


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## barrydc1 (Apr 28, 2014)

*Re: Grizzly Tech Support Recommends Cutting Replacement Gibs to Length? - Disappointing Experience!!*

Of course, the ideal thing would be to hand scrape the new Gibs (or maybe even the old ones, but then they would likely not end up the the right size when done.  The new ones would be handscraped the whole length and then cut off for the correct width of taper to provide the proper movement of the cross-slide.  The proper option would also be to handscrape the other ways of the cross-slide (or were we talking about a compound). This thread could be addressed in the Machine rebuilding section.

But if you want to go quick and easy, just do the above.  Won't be as nice though!


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## mhackney (Aug 2, 2014)

*Re: Grizzly Tech Support Recommends Cutting Replacement Gibs to Length? - Disappointing Experience!!*

Hello all. I came across this thread and forum searching for G0704 replacement gibs. My Y is badly twisted and warped. I converted the machine to CNC 2 years ago and it has been a work horse. Last year I started an upgrade (Hoss extended Y) and got stalled with other projects. Then when I got back to it, I was getting 4-5tho backlash on Y. I went through everything measuring the end of the ball screw, etc. I could not find the source but some folks on the CNCZone suggested it might be "wind up" friction. In checking, I removed my Y gib to discover that it is twisted (by a good mm corner to diagonally opposite corner) and bowed. I ordered new gibs (got an X too just in case, they are cheap). They arrived yesterday only to discover that they are 13" long! The worse part is that the thin end is about 1mm too thick so it won't seat all the way. I'm trying to figure out how to deal with this. Any suggestions welcome. 

Frank, was your replacement too thick also? I'll call Grizzly support on Monday but it sounds like it it was it is.

cheers,
Michael


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## NightWing (Aug 3, 2014)

*Re: Grizzly Tech Support Recommends Cutting Replacement Gibs to Length? - Disappointing Experience!!*

I worked for a major machine tool builder for 18 years.  Even new gibs sent down to the assembly floor were longer than necessary.  Once the slides and gibs were scraped in, the gibs were cut to length.  It is (or was) a common practice in machine tool building.


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## mhackney (Aug 3, 2014)

*Re: Grizzly Tech Support Recommends Cutting Replacement Gibs to Length? - Disappointing Experience!!*

Hey NightWing, I now appreciate the reason for oversized and "rough" gibs. That's fine. But, the gib strip is much too thick - the thin end is 1mm thicker than the thin end on the Y gib itself. That would be a lot of scraping! I'm not sure how to deal with this. Since I bought 2 strips (one is for the X but other than being a little thicker than the Y blank, looks identical) I was thinking I could mate them taper-to-taper and clamp them up on parallels to surface the flat face, flip and repeat. I have a little X2 that I could use for this work or I could use the G0704 along X and not worry about the Y issues.

Once thinned I can lap and see where I am with transfer dye. I've never scraped but I watch a lot of videos last night and it seems reasonable straight forward. My only big issue is time. I am looking down the barrel of a fairly large production run I need to complete the last of August. I left 2 months to do the upgrade I was working on (this is a part time business) but that probably wasn't enough time given this issue.


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## NightWing (Aug 3, 2014)

*Re: Grizzly Tech Support Recommends Cutting Replacement Gibs to Length? - Disappointing Experience!!*

That sounds like a good plan.  Once they are mated up, small end to big end, mike them up end for end to see if the tapers are the same.  If so, you are on the right track.  Thin them up and have a go at it.


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## mhackney (Aug 3, 2014)

*Re: Grizzly Tech Support Recommends Cutting Replacement Gibs to Length? - Disappointing Experience!!*

Yes, I miked them and they are good to go. I need to get some indicator so I can test on my granite block. May as well check it before making too much investment machining them.


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## mhackney (Aug 4, 2014)

*Re: Grizzly Tech Support Recommends Cutting Replacement Gibs to Length? - Disappointing Experience!!*

Well, Grizzly tech support didn't help. "it is what it is". I completely understand that the gibs are rough and over length so they can be fitted and lapped or scraped to fit. But being too thick requires the ability to machine or grind a precise taper (or use the trick I'm thinking about using as described above). They are going to elevate this to a senior tech but I'm not holding out hope and it will take up to 48 hrs for a reply. So, I am going to proceed with milling these down as described above. I can use my twisted Y gib for this work since I'll be fly cutting along X only. Now I need to decide how I want to proceed with scraping. I might try lapping first as I have everything I need to do that.


cheers,
Michael


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