I am sorry I didn't word that well. These machines were moved to a new location by people who are not millwrights. They are just state maintenance people. I am a machinist not a maintenance man. I am just trying to get them set up and running.
For the knees I zero my indicator to a good surface moving up, then move the knee down and bring it back up on gage blocks and check the distance. On the one mill I got .006 difference over a .030 move. I don't know what is an acceptable variation, but I know this isn't. The other mills are all w/in .002 even over an inch. It's the one Victor mill that is of. I am also wondering if it is an easy fix or if I am going to need a good maintenance person.
Neither!
In a teaching environment, you are actually BLESSED with these errors and with the differences between them on different machines.
Your students are not meant to set up a production line and crank out a thousand parts at high yeld and low cost.
They are meant to come to understand machine tools, how they do what they do, what wears, what can go wrong. And then.. how to take that information and proceed to NOT get fugDover by ignorance, and to come out of a marginal machine's jaws with a good-enough part, regardless. "Compensate", IOW.
That is what YOU have been paid to do. We all have.
These imperfect machines can help you teach them how to assess a machine they have just walked up to for the first time in the real world and "survive" because.. it is sore unlikely what they will face at Day Job will ever be "perfect", either.
Short answer? If these mills were not already marginal? You would have the more effective training goods if you intentionaly made them so.
Person who can run a new and perfect machine is only an "operator"
(S)he who can get good work out of a junker? THAT is a
Machinist.
Run what ya got. Make a point of showing them how to find and work around the limitations, each cycle of students.