Mike S. wrote:

Hello,

Last night while looking for a sheet metal roll former that Dad said
was up in the loft somewhere, I ran across an old X-Y table, or at least
something that resembles an X-Y table. It's fairly small, the table is
about 2" x 2" with 2 t-slots in it, the bottom slide has around a 3"
travel and the top slide might be a bit more. The top slide can also be
rotated to any arbitrary angle relative to the bottom slide. Through
prodigious use of penetrating fluid and a razor blade to scrape dust and
crud off, I got everything to move fairly smoothly once again and
managed to partially dissassemble it to get a better idea of it's
condition. The worst part of this table is the tail end of the upper
slide is extremely chewed up. I don't know what it was used for in the
past, but there are gouges from something like a saw blade going from
side-to-side (maybe about 1/16" deep at the worst), and the tail end
(away from the hand crank) looks to actually be cracked for about an
inch. The table will still slide over this area, it just takes a smidge
more force.

I'm more of a woodworker than a metalsmith (the most metalwork I've done
in a day so far was [OA] welding up some spiderweb wall sconces out of
3/16" rod) right now, but I would like to know how I would get this
table back into useable condition and what kind of grease/oil I should
use on it.


It sounds like the positioner from a wafer dicing saw, used in the
semiconductor
industry for cutting apart the chips on semi wafers. (They do this a
different way,
now, that is simpler and leaves no kerf.)

I have no idea what you would use such a small XY table for, unless you
are making
watch or miniature parts. Without more info, I can't even recommend a lube.
If it uses a dovetail-type slide, way oil is probably the best. But, an
SAE 20 W
oil should do quite well, too.

Jon