A while back I made a homemade tram for my mill, drill press etc. Day
before yesterday I had a crash that knocked the mill tower out of alignment.
(Forgot to take some secondary clearances into account when deep pocketing)
As I was adjusting everything back into place I noticed my cheap HF dial
indicator was getting all sloppy, so I ordered a new Starrett one. I
figured I use it often enough now to justify paying for a decent one. This
morning as I was pulling the dial indicator off my tram bracket I noticed
the screws on the back of the indicator, and thought, "Gee, I wonder if
those are loose." They were.

Sigh.

A gentle tightening and now its as good as it ever was. Its still an HF
dial, but now there is no mechanical slop in the case and it snaps back to
the same exact spot on the dial every time.

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
A while back I made a homemade tram for my mill, drill press etc. Day
before yesterday I had a crash that knocked the mill tower out of
alignment. (Forgot to take some secondary clearances into account when
deep pocketing) As I was adjusting everything back into place I noticed my
cheap HF dial indicator was getting all sloppy, so I ordered a new
Starrett one. I figured I use it often enough now to justify paying for a
decent one. This morning as I was pulling the dial indicator off my tram
bracket I noticed the screws on the back of the indicator, and thought,
"Gee, I wonder if those are loose." They were.

Sigh.

A gentle tightening and now its as good as it ever was. Its still an HF
dial, but now there is no mechanical slop in the case and it snaps back to
the same exact spot on the dial every time.

On a positive note. I'll have a decent quality dial indicator in a couple
days.

Bob La Londe wrote:
A while back I made a homemade tram for my mill, drill press etc. Day
before yesterday I had a crash that knocked the mill tower out of
alignment. (Forgot to take some secondary clearances into account when
deep pocketing) As I was adjusting everything back into place I noticed
my cheap HF dial indicator was getting all sloppy, so I ordered a new
Starrett one. I figured I use it often enough now to justify paying for
a decent one. This morning as I was pulling the dial indicator off my
tram bracket I noticed the screws on the back of the indicator, and
thought, "Gee, I wonder if those are loose." They were.

Sigh.

A gentle tightening and now its as good as it ever was. Its still an HF
dial, but now there is no mechanical slop in the case and it snaps back
to the same exact spot on the dial every time.





I locktite the screws on the back of those indicators. They have got
loose on me once or twice.

John

On 9/23/2010 10:22 AM, Bob La Londe wrote:

A gentle tightening and now its as good as it ever was. Its still an HF
dial, but now there is no mechanical slop in the case and it snaps back
to the same exact spot on the dial every time.

I'm sure more than a few here have been there. More than once.
I sure have... G

Years ago, working with my first CNC mill at a previous job, and hardly
being comfortable and familiar with it, I'd finished one job and set up
for the next, including moving the ram back to it's original location.

Now, I'm milling one side wall out of the center of some 3/4 x 3/4 x 1/8
aluminum with a 3/8 roughing end mill. Right off the bat, the damned
thing starts losing Y location, and I have to rezero. This happens
repeatedly. Phone call to Wells Index resolve nothing, everyone is
scratching their head. Boss flies tech out, when he arrives they are in
the office talking while I get the machine ready to demonstrate the
problem. And then it hits me... I forgot to tighten the ram clamp bolts.
I'm not sure I had ever moved a mill ram before, something or someone
distracted me in the middle of it, and I just forgot.

In feeble defense, I am a self taught machinist and this place was where
I learned a lot. Some of it the hard way...


Jon
Lifelong student
School of Hard Knocks

Jon Anderson wrote:
On 9/23/2010 10:22 AM, Bob La Londe wrote:

A gentle tightening and now its as good as it ever was. Its still an HF
dial, but now there is no mechanical slop in the case and it snaps back
to the same exact spot on the dial every time.

I'm sure more than a few here have been there. More than once.
I sure have... G

Years ago, working with my first CNC mill at a previous job, and
hardly being comfortable and familiar with it, I'd finished one job
and set up for the next, including moving the ram back to it's
original location.

Now, I'm milling one side wall out of the center of some 3/4 x 3/4 x
1/8 aluminum with a 3/8 roughing end mill. Right off the bat, the
damned thing starts losing Y location, and I have to rezero. This
happens repeatedly. Phone call to Wells Index resolve nothing,
everyone is scratching their head. Boss flies tech out, when he
arrives they are in the office talking while I get the machine ready
to demonstrate the problem. And then it hits me... I forgot to tighten
the ram clamp bolts.
I'm not sure I had ever moved a mill ram before, something or someone
distracted me in the middle of it, and I just forgot.

In feeble defense, I am a self taught machinist and this place was
where I learned a lot. Some of it the hard way...


Jon
Lifelong student
School of Hard Knocks
I can sympathise with that, my neighbour popped in the other day
while I was setting up a job and distracted me. I forgot to clamp the
quill on the BP and tighten the drawbar. 2.5" face mill slipped slightly
at one point and the cut didn't cut as deep as I expected when I reached
the indicated depth on the knee dial. I'll have to make a mental note to
check those if I'm interrupted again. I find the quill lock easy to
forget on occasions at the best of times.