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strange observation

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Twinsquirrel:
My mini lathe hasn't been used for about 4 months but before it was left I made sure it was well oiled up and properly adjusted (a daily task).

When I came back to it yesterday the cross slide gibs were very very loose, and took almost a full turn on each grub screw to remove the play, strangley the compound slides' gibs were also out of adjustment but in the other direction i.e. too tight?

So, some wooly thinking brought me to the conclusion that it must be the change in temperature that was causing it.... On went the heater to bring the temperature up to 20 degrees C. The heater is directly under the bench where the lathe is and it was left on all day while I was at work. Wierdly, when I came back it was still exactly the same?

Any ideas whats going on here? I'm not too worried about it as it's a simple adjustment job to sort it out but I'm just interested to see what you think is happening.

Cheers

David

Darren:
Could it be changes in oil thickness after leaving for so long?

Twinsquirrel:
good thought Darren but.....

I disassembled the slides and cleaned the running surfaces without moving the adjustment grub screws and it all seems the same. I've readjusted it now and all seems to be well.... strange.... :scratch: :scratch:

On another note it seems that my lathe has a similar problem to yours mini Darren in that the carraige is slightly tighter at both ends of its travel, not much and I dont have any finish problems that I am aware of so its not causing me any problems at the moment.

Cheers

David

bogstandard:
David,

It can take a long time for a machine to start expanding or contracting due to ambient temperature, due to it's mass.

I put an oil filled rad in my shop, and it is on permanently to raise the ambient temperature. It took a couple of weeks before the machines stopped feeling like a block of ice, they still feel cold compared to smaller tooling even now, and that is after six weeks. I suppose the same thing would happen if I turned the rad off, the machines would work like storage radiators for quite a while.

John

cedge:
David
A man using Uncle Fester as an avatar should be more than just passingly familiar with the phenomenon known as Shop Gremlins....LOL  Something like Trunk Monkeys but much smaller and a lot harder to get rid of.

Steve

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