big milestone today, well it certainly feels like it after reassembling the compound countless times - the carriage is finished! Got a bunch of stuff done.
- compound screw was all seized together. Had to drill out the taper pin AND the set screw in the dial, then press the screw out of the housing. Bleh. Ground a flat on the end of the screw and used a set screw to secure the handle to the screw, plus made a brass thumb screw for the dial.
- checked the gibs. Cross slide was bent and twisted. I very carefully bent it back to straight using a jig, then filed/ sanded it until it was more or less flat. This is what it looked like after bending it straight but before I finished filing it.
Compound gib was flat but bent down at the end like a hockey stick. No way I could bend that back so I ground the edge flat with the rest, then filed down the high spots.
- Added a ball oiler to oil the cross slide ways on both sides. They're a pain to oil, so figured this would make it easier and more effective. 5/32 hole drilled through the cross slide from the tail stock side, then drilled out for the oiler. Holes were then drilled from the bottom to connect the oiler to the dovetail ways.
hmm, really should have done it from the other side! Oh well.
- drilled the cross slide nut bolt all the way through and pushed in a ball oiler. Glad I bought a pack of 20 now!
- drilled and pressed in a ball oiler for the compound. Filed holes in the side of the oiler so some of the oil would dribble out the side and run down to the dovetail ways. The rest will oil the screw/ nut.
All done!