Cross slide scraping

Dave J · 21st May 2012, 12:20 AM

Originally Posted by simonl

Dave,

The cleanliness of your mill table make me sick!

You used that bondo putty stuff to smooth out the castings if I recall your thread. How do you apply it to make it so smooth?

Simon

Thats a different stuff, this stuff would be to expensive to use and not be much good for general work like that, more suited to the smaller jobs that need the strength.

The stuff I used for all the castings is your regular car body filler. The cheapest way to buy it is in 4ltr tin for around $40-$50. I always have some here for other peoples car repairs, even though it's been a while since I did one.
Not all body filler is equal either, some is rock hard to sand, while other brands sand easily.

There are a couple of ways to get it smooth, one is to put it in place after mixing and just as it starts to go off you use a sharp blade to carve it to shape, but you have to be reasonably quick as the time window is small when it's rubbery.
The other way I do it is to have a container of thinners on hand with an arrangement of clean scrapers from tiny small shapes to medium standard ones. I then dip them in the thinners and use them to spread the putty while it's still wet (after about 3-5 minutes in) to get an almost finished job, then finish up with sand paper when it's dried. Don't try to do it in one go, just work on sections you can handle in the 10-20 minute drying time. It will all stick together in the end just fine and you can always mix more.

A lot of people make the mistake of putting it on in one go well above the surface, waiting for it to dry properly, then trying to sand the mound down. They soon spend that much time on one spot and they go through loads of paper and time.

A good selection of sanders are handy, I have a few as well as a small triangular one. For tight spaces, pretty much anything goes like a dowel with sand paper wrapped around it, bits of square timber, etc, etc.and I use 60-80 grit for the filler.

For car repairers or external surfaces where it really matters, you can use the above method, but as it dries it does shrink a little, so you are better off putting a fine layer over the top and sanding it down to suit the panel so it doesn't show up.

In the end it all comes down to sanding and then sanding the primer putty over the body filler to remove any scratches from sanding before painting.

As you can see there is a bit of work in it, but you get quicker the more times you do it and learn from your mistakes. I have been doing cars since I was about 17 and you need to get the job done as quick as possible, and these short cuts above have helped.

Also most importantly, the item your applying it to need to be clean and paint free, so either sand blasting (ideal) or hard work with a wire wheel and sand paper, along with a degrees/wash to get it as clean as possible, or it will crack and fall out over time.

Dave

PS
I think I need to use some body filler on the Douglas tray, when I do I will do a right up on applying it and the process from start to finish.

**Stustoys** · 21st May 2012, 11:54 PM

Not a lot done today.
Taped the holes for the gib adjusters deeper so I have 16mm of adjustment not 5mm.
Do a few gentle passes just to get the feel for missing the dovetail. It might look like I''ve made things worse but the blue was very thick first time around.

I've been thinking about making the master for the dove tail. If I'm making it out of steel I should be able to rough it out on the shaper. That should make picking up the angle easier?

Stuart

**Stustoys** · 22nd May 2012, 11:20 PM

Rond round round, getting there.
I'm getting some high spot "blackness" sometimes but I havent pinned down exactly whats going on.

Stuart

**Ueee** · 22nd May 2012, 11:44 PM

Good job Stu

Looking a lot better than it did this time yesterday.
Could you or someone else elaborate on the High spot blackness?

My granite from carbatec was put in the post today, so there may be a short pause from Freddie for a chance to get blue hands.

Ewan

**Stustoys** · 23rd May 2012, 12:06 AM

Hi Ewan,
Thanks
RE black spots.
Up until now the high spots I have seen are light blue/silver surrounded by darker blue(which is what I would expect to see). But I have read (I assume in MTR) that the high spots show up black........ which sounds a little strange, but today I think I witnessed it. This is the best picture I have though I'm not really sure it shows anything lol.

Stuart

**Ueee** · 23rd May 2012, 12:15 AM

Originally Posted by Stustoys

Hi Ewan,
Thanks
RE black spots.
Up until now the high spots I have seen are light blue/silver surrounded by darker blue(which is what I would expect to see). But I have read (I assume in MTR) that the high spots show up black........ which sounds a little strange, but today I think I witnessed it. This is the best picture I have though I'm not really sure it shows anything lol.

Stuart

Thanks Stu,
I can see what you mean, especially to the LH end of the pic.

**Stustoys** · 24th May 2012, 12:16 AM

Couple more times around and I'm going to call that good enough for the minute. Time to put it all back together and check aligments. Need to dig up some new "good" bearings and see if they make any difference.
Stuart

**Stustoys** · 27th May 2012, 11:17 PM

So I'd like to pick up some bearings for the cross slide tomorrow. I'm sure they guy at the local bearing shop will tell me the bearings are selling are tops. As I have little idea, what bearings should I except?

Stuart

**RayG** · 27th May 2012, 11:50 PM

Hi Stuart,

What sort of bearings are they? AC or thrust bearings?

If you want cheap, try Ball Bearings:Miniature bearings

eramic Bearings

earing

Regards
Ray

**Stustoys** · 28th May 2012, 12:02 AM

Hi Ray,
Thrust bearings. In this case I want "good" rather than cheap(although I'm not sure how much difference it will make in this app)

Stuart

**simonl** · 28th May 2012, 07:42 AM

Originally Posted by Stustoys

Hi Ray,
Thrust bearings. In this case I want "good" rather than cheap(although I'm not sure how much difference it will make in this app)

Stuart

Hi Stuart,

I have systematically replaced most of the Chinese bearings in my lathe with better quality ones. The thrust bearing in the TS will be the last (I think) which I'll grab today.

Any of the Japanese or European bearing companies are good such as SKF, Timken, NTN, FAG, Nachi, NSK. An ebay search shows plenty of bearing suppliers all claiming to be selling "genuine bearings" but how would you know? I guess you can get lucky and find a supplier selling inexpensive good quality bearings.
If you replace with another cheap bearing it defeats the purpose and you may as well have left the old one in place.
My local CBC bearing place stocks mostly NTN in the size bearings I use so that's what have have. If I only need a "cheap" bearing I get it online.

Cheers,

Simon

**Stustoys** · 28th May 2012, 04:05 PM

Will they had to order them in but I got Nachi, made in Japan. He said he could sell me lots of other bearings that had "japan" on them but these were the only ones still made in Japan.
$33, I wonder if I'll be able to tell the difference blindfolded?
My test bar turned up today and thats to Greg I have a piece of cast to make a dovetail master out of.

Stuart

**simonl** · 28th May 2012, 04:09 PM

Originally Posted by Stustoys

Will they had to order them in but I got Nachi, made in Japan. He said he could sell me lots of other bearings that had "japan" on them but these were the only ones still made in Japan.
$33, I wonder if I'll be able to tell the difference blindfolded?
My test bar turned up today and thats to Greg I have a piece of cast to make a dovetail master out of.

Stuart

Hi Stuart, some of the bearings I replaced in my lathe were shoeing signs of wear on the race similar to what you would expect to see in a bearing many years older than they were. The newer bearings allowed a slightly tighter preload without that feeling go binding and improved the overall feel.

Then again it could have all been phycological too!

Simon

Dave J · 28th May 2012, 04:35 PM

I have had my cross slide and tail stock apart a few times over the years but have never seen any wear on the bearings and they look fine to me under 10 time magnification.

Who knows what quality bearings are fitted to what lathes, but my Gasweld lathe seems to be quality in most places I have looked. Still not a high quality machine and is still only Chinese, but from problems I hear from others mine doesn't have them.
The manager did say to me about 12 months ago they order the A class of beds etc, and after owning the machine for 8-9 years and from what I have seen I have no reason to disbelieve him at this point in time.

Dave

**Stustoys** · 4th June 2012, 08:55 PM

Ok well after doing all my measuring over in https://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/valid-test-153319/ I've got the lathe in pieces again.
Shortly it will be time to make a master fot the dovetail. The smallest cross-section the master could be is 29mmx11mm, the piece of cast I have is 60mmx30mm. Seems a waste and likely "tippy" to use the whole thing. So should I cut a slide off it say 30mmx15mm? or would that be to thin?(of course I'll have to put the lathe back together again to modify the slitting saw arbor I made for the lathe to go into the mill)

Stuart

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