Machine tool

3.1 Machine Tool Basics -- Tool Maintenance -- SMITHY GRANITE 3-in-1

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• published: 06 Aug 2010
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www.smithy.com (see below for video transcription) "Machine tool maintenance is all about maintaining the right conditions to produce high quality cuts. It's not something you can think of only in terms of four thousand mile oil changes and fifty thousand mile tune ups. It's more than that. Machine tool maintenance is an on-going activity that combines periodic machine adjustments with good work habits on a day to day basis. Operating the machine in a safe manner, and in a clean work environment is the first step to preventing accidental damage to the machine's components. This is especially true with the weighs. Any nicks or damage to the surface of the weighs will prevent the carriage from seating to prevent accidental damage use a lathe board whenever you are changing chucks or mounting heavy work pieces. If the chuck slips out of your hands, the lathe board will prevent it from falling on the weighs. The weighs are not a shelf for your tools. Keep your tools off the lathe, put them on another table, or on a shelf below the lathe. Don't put tools on an open shelf above the machine where they can vibrate off and fall onto the weighs. It's also very important to clean metal chips as your work progresses. This is not only the acceptable, safe way to work, it will also prevent small chips, or filings, from scoring the surface of the weighs. A good shop vac makes simple work of the small chips. I don't recommend blowing the chips away with a compressed air hose. It's dangerous and it just forces the chips deeper into the machine's bearings. Special precaution should be taken for dusty materials, like wood, plastics, and cast iron, because the dust will cling to all the machine's lubrication. The dust from cast iron is also very abrasive. if you are working with cast iron, clean the weighs often, and after you are finished, remove and clean the weigh wipes. The weigh wipes should also be replaced as soon as they are worn out. Chips will find the way into the lathe chucks, and if not removed, will damage the chuck. Remove the jaws and clean the chucks frequently. Also pay attention to the spindle tapers. The spindle sockets should be inspected and cleaned with a soft, cotton cloth every time you change tools. Lubricating the bearings, the weighs, and the feed screws, is an essential part of running a Smithy and yet too often it's neglected. Oiling should become as routine as turning the motor on and off. It should be the first thing you do when you begin a day's work, and the last thing you do when you have cleaned up at the end of the day. It's just one of those things you have to do in order to maintain the right conditions required to produce high quality cuts. Go through the same procedure you used when you set up the machine for the first time, hit all of the oil buttons, the weighs, and the lead screw. Use good quality oil and stick with your routine. There are also a number of adjustments that should be checked on a regular basis in order to keep your machine in good condition. We've already talked about the importance of maintaining a proper belt tension. This is a routine adjustment that should be checked very time you change the drive belts. Gib adjustments also have an effect on a machine's performance, however, if the machine is oiled on a regular basis, and the lock nuts on the gib set screws are tight, the gib settings should remain constant. The cross-slide feed screw on a Smithy machine is equipped with a backlash compensating nut. This nut can be adjusted to reduce the amount of backlash in the cross slide. The nut is located under the table, but the adjustments are not hard to do. The important thing to remember is that you will never be able to totally eliminate backlash. Every machine tool that uses threaded rods has it. You should only make this adjustment if the backlash on your machine exceeds the machine's original specifications. One of the most important adjustments on the lathe is the alignment between the tailstock barrel and the headstock spindle. For normal turning, these two points must be perfectly aligned. Checking and adjusting this alignment is not difficult, but it does require the use of measuring tools. The offset gauge on the back of the tailstock is only used as a guide, for approximate placement. The biggest enemy of every machine tool is rust, especially if you live in a very humid climate. The best protection from rust is to keep the machine clean and coated with oil that is specially formulated to inhibit corrosion. We also recommend keeping the machine covered when it's not in use, and if you're going to store your machine for a long time, the cover should be ventilated."