bcbloc02 Youtube machinist Working on Monarch CY 16" Saddle

A video of Brian Block ( & Baily ) machining my Monarch 16" CY saddle in preparation of Rulon 142.

YouTube

You might've wanted him to rough up the ways under the saddle to help get the Rulon to stick, but maybe you have a plan to clean it up for the glue. I did a couple of quick passes when I Moglice'd my saddle, really seemed to help it stick.

rke[pler said:

You might've wanted him to rough up the ways under the saddle to help get the Rulon to stick, but maybe you have a plan to clean it up for the glue. I did a couple of quick passes when I Moglice'd my saddle, really seemed to help it stick.

Click to expand...

Get ready to cringe... I'm not doing anything to the underside of the saddle, just the cross slide. The underside ways are warn, especially on the taper attachment side due to the weight. But if I'm not going to grind the bed ways... I don't see a big return for machining and adding Rulon on the saddle ways.

The crossslide dovetails were in bad shape, requiring three gib adjustments across the throw. The flats on the saddle were not too far out of spec, but I had been hand scraping to get them flat before Brian machined. The dovetails were another story, and so easy to get to when scraping HA!

Hi WilWilly! Did you measure the wear on the bed ways? If so, what method did you use? I’ve read all the threads about measuring wear. No real consensus. It seems like the best method is to take some long cuts and mic the results.

Thanks!

mut8dsc said:

Hi WilWilly! Did you measure the wear on the bed ways? If so, what method did you use? I’ve read all the threads about measuring wear. No real consensus. It seems like the best method is to take some long cuts and mic the results.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I haven't measured the bed ways but I agree, the best (easiest and most real work method) is to see what the resulting cut is on your lathe. Of course this is a "sum" of all errors on your lathe. If you don't like that you start narrowing down where the discrepancy originates. I don't own or have access to measuring devises that can accurately measure way wear other than my eyes.

The ways on my CY "appear" to be in good shape, certainly nothing you can catch your nail on but again, this is subjective. My approach is, why measure it if you are not going to do anything about it? I'm not going to have the ways reground. It may be useful information? But yes, there are a lot of ways to quantify the wear. Camel back along the length, autocolimator measurements...

The wear on my cross slide (mainly the dove tails) was pretty bad. Sure I could have worked around it but decided to get the cross slide in good shape, machining, adding Rulon, Replacing acme screw and nut...

I have stoned the ways, removed high spots, leveled the bed, and made sure the lubrication system is in top condition.

Thanks! Visually, my ways look fine and not abused in any ways (rimshot). So some nice test cuts will tell me where I’m at once I get it up and running.

mut8dsc said:

Thanks! Visually, my ways look fine and not abused in any ways (rimshot). So some nice test cuts will tell me where I’m at once I get it up and running.

Click to expand...

Luv it! Baddump-bump!

It's not necessarily the ways but the leading edge of the saddle that takes a lot of abuse. I'd check it by putting it on the tailstock end of the lathe (area with the least wear for the saddle ways) and seeing how much feeler you can slip under the saddle on both sides of the front V. If there's a fair amount of wear you might compare to the area right in front of the headstock - if the ways are, in fact, good then you could refit the saddle to the bed back at the tailstock and be good to go.

All of this can be done later if your impetus right now is to get the lathe back in action.