Lodge and Shipley 16"x8' Model X Lathe

[Brain Coral]

I finished cleaning up all of the compound, yesterday afternoon, and put it back together for now. I still have to separate the micrometer collar from the wheel, but I wanted to see how it all worked. Very smooth, with virtually no backlash. The gib, however, needs some work.

It appears that not only the tab was broken off, but it was actually broken in two, and then welded back together. There is a "fattening" of the gib that you can see in the photo...



It is no wonder that the compound was all bound up. The other side looks good, so I will have to try and scrape the last third to fit the compound dovetails. I really haven't done much in the way of scraping.

Brian

 

[4GSR]

It aggravates the crap out of me why people don't fix things right! And have to bring in a cutting torch and welder to fix it! With a mill and a little imagination, you can make a decent gib from a piece of flat bar, although cast iron would be a better choice, for a good replacement. As for scraping and fitting, that would be nice if you have the ability to do so. If not, get it as close as you can and call it good. It sounds like you have some knowledge about scraping, I say give it a try. There's many of us here that can help you a bit here, too.

 

[Brain Coral]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the support and encouragement. I understand some of the fundementals and processes of scraping, but have no training or experience, although, I have lots of patience and am fussy by nature. So, with some guidance, I am sure that I can get the gib to fit a lot better than it does right now. It doesn't really bother me that it was repaired as it was, it was just never really completed, and it provides me an opportunity to learn something new. That's the thing about fixing up old machinery.... you never run into the same thing twice.

Brian

 

[Brain Coral]

I don't have much time during the week, to devote to working in the shop, but did a quick check to see how parrallel the faces of the repaired gib were. The other two faces, of course, are tapered. It measured .620" consistently until just beyond the edge of that lip from the repair. I then thickens from .621" to .624" at the end. In addition, it looks like it has a bow in it (likely from welding) and I can slip a .016" shim under the concave side against a granite surface plate.

I think that I should address the parallelism, before trying to scrape it straight, as this may reduce the bow slightly. Don't be shy to correct or guide me.....

Brian

 

[Bob Korves]

I don't have much time during the week, to devote to working in the shop, but did a quick check to see how parrallel the faces of the repaired gib were. The other two faces, of course, are tapered. It measured .620" consistently until just beyond the edge of that lip from the repair. I then thickens from .621" to .624" at the end. In addition, it looks like it has a bow in it (likely from welding) and I can slip a .016" shim under the concave side against a granite surface plate.

I think that I should address the parallelism, before trying to scrape it straight, as this may reduce the bow slightly. Don't be shy to correct or guide me.....

Brian

Make sure the gib will be long enough after you make is smaller in cross section before you start removing metal. The gib will go deeper in the slot as you make it smaller, more so than you might think. It would be a shame to repair the gib nicely, but too small in cross section to fill the void...

 

[Brain Coral]

I couldn't agree more...... I have no way of measuring and knowing that the gib has enough travel or length to achieve the desired result. I will go at it in a very careful and patient way, but I cannot use the compound slide as it is.... all bound up, and forcing the screw and gear bores out of alignment. If I run out of "runway" I will have to resort to another plan.

Brian

 

[4GSR]

Brain,

It is common to put some kind of shim stock behind the gib to take up for the metal removed from scraping and or from wear. On my L & S lathe, I wound up with a .125" thick shim I glued to the back of the gib. Ken

 

[4GSR]

Here are a few pictures of the rebuild on my compound I did on my L & S lathe. If you notice, I have a couple of fixtures that were used to hold the gib at the angles needed to correct straightness and get the taper somewhat correct. The rest has to be scraped in. I had to cut the nut off of the casting and remount to the lower half of the compound. And I can't find a picture of this part. Oh, the gib on this one was broken off just like yours and someone did a nice job of brazing it back on.

 

[Brain Coral]

Nice job on the rebuild of your compound slide, Ken

When you say that you had to cut the nut off the casting and re-mounted it to the lower half of the compound, are you referring to the nut for the screw?

Brian

 

[4GSR]

Yes, The one for the Acme threaded screw. It's on the lower half of the compound slide. For some reason, I didn't take a picture of the nut bolted in place. I had to make a shim about 1/4" thick to put between the nut and the lower half of the compound.