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Tramming an X2 without an indicator
philf:
--- Quote from: Stilldrillin on February 18, 2014, 02:57:09 PM ---Eric.
Having been here, while those were Modder produced. I still don't get them. They seem a complicated way to solve a simple problem. Also, introducing their own problems. :scratch:
Unless, I'm mistaken....... :palm:
David D
--- End quote ---
David,
I've never used a twin-gauge tramming device but I wish I'd had one when tramming a Bridgeport at work. Normal left/right tramming was easy enough but if some kind soul had been on the machine and tilted the head forwards or backwards it was a real pain to set. The problem being that the pivot point was a long way behind the spindle axis. You couldn't just tweak the head to a dial gauge reading - you had to tweak it a bit, take two gauge readings after rotating the spindle through 180 degrees, tweak it a bit more and keep repeating until you got two readings the same. A tramming tool with two gauges would have been a boon. (I used to use a square against the quill to get it somewhere close to save a bit of time.)
Not only did some of my colleagues always seem to have a need to angle the head, I once started a job and took the first cut only to have a broken cutter flying past my head. Someone had put the head almost back to being in tram but hadn't clamped it up and it spun round as soon as it started to cut metal. No-one ever owned up to to it.
Another of my pet hates was the idle ****s who took the vice off and just bolted it back on without clocking it up.
Phil.
BaronJ:
--- Quote from: MetalMuncher on February 18, 2014, 04:47:07 PM ---
--- Quote from: Baron on February 18, 2014, 03:26:10 PM ---
--- Quote from: Stilldrillin on February 18, 2014, 02:57:09 PM ---Eric.
Having been here, while those were Modder produced. I still don't get them. They seem a complicated way to solve a simple problem. Also, introducing their own problems. :scratch:
Unless, I'm mistaken....... :palm:
David D
--- End quote ---
I'm one who set to and made my own ! It terms of money £20 plus some time.
In my case the supplier of the dial gauges sent two slightly different ones. Apart from the differences that can be seen in the photos, the stem of one was 1/4" longer than the other. It doesn't actually matter if they are not exactly the same stylus hight since you just rotate the scale to get a zero reference. Obviously you have to calibrate each gauge but that is very easy. Indeed all you need to do is pick a point on the machine table and set one gauge to zero. Rotate the whole lot 180 degrees and zero the other gauge with the stylus at the same point. From this point on any head tilt will be shown on the gauges. One will be plus something and the other will be minus something. Now all you have to do is move the head until both gauges read the same.
--- End quote ---
Aha! I had not thought of the rotating method of calibration. And I see now that when you say "both say the same" they may or may not actually show "0". Somehow I was thinking they would both be zero'ed when the tram was done, and that is why I couldn't see how it would work. Thanks for the explanation. I now see this would indeed be handy, and if one had a pair of indicators of similar size rather easy to make. Faster than my method of rotating a back plunger indicator from side to side, for sure. And I presume the longer one would make the center bar the more accurate the tram would be.
--- End quote ---
Its true that the longer the bar the more precise you can be ! But, there is always one" if you make the bar too long, you rapidly run into diminishing returns, because you are then trying to tram to fractions of a thou. I chose 8" simply because I had a piece of 1" square black bar that length. If I was doing it again I would have made the bar 6" in length because my mill table is 6" wide and it would have made checking for nodding easier. As it is I take two readings with the bar set as far diagonally across the table as I can. Then rotate it the other way and re check. My mill nods about 1.5 to 2 thou forwards.
One other thing to note. I originally drilled the ends for 8mm indicator spigots. the ones supplied turned out to be 3/8". I've since purchased another one. 0.01mm and this one is 10mm diameter spigot. Which since its a metric gauge I suppose would be correct.
MetalMuncher:
I've always been frustrated by the total lack of standardization for indicator holding hardware. I have 3 indicators and non of them mount with the same diameter shaft. IMO they should all be identical in their mounting stems. It is like making rulers in 12", 11 19/32", and 13.045mm. :)
superc:
After my frustration with a no name brand (Chinese?) indicator and clamps obtained via Ebay I did more research on Dial Test Indicators (DTI) and tripped across a lovely company that repairs such things and best of all they have a lot of usable information and also offer a by brand name comparison of different makes of DTIs.
http://longislandindicator.com/p14.html
They also offer a lot of useful information (including brand comparisons) on dial calipers.
http://longislandindicator.com/p11.html
In fact IMO there is good to know stuff all over their website.
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