Relocation of oiler port

[DPittman]

So looking for support for this idea (or not)
In the picture you can see the spacer and mount I'm thinking I need for the scale. As you can see on this particular spot of the slide the meat is not thick enough for me to thread and use the scale mounting screw (5mm), so I think I will drill and thread the spacer piece in the middle (red markup) for the scale mounting screw. The spacer piece itself will be held on with little 3mm screws that I can drill and thread in the slide in the positions that the yellow markup shows.

 

[Susquatch]

So looking for support for this idea (or not)
In the picture you can see the spacer and mount I'm thinking I need for the scale. As you can see on this particular spot of the slide the meat is not thick enough for me to thread and use the scale mounting screw (5mm), so I think I will drill and thread the spacer piece in the middle (red markup) for the scale mounting screw. The spacer piece itself will be held on with little 3mm screws that I can drill and thread in the slide in the positions that the yellow markup shows.

Remembering that the screw holes are not continuous, they will not affect the integrity of the gibb screw or the plate. You can put them anywhere you want. If you are careful starting the tap and don't do any chamfer, the screws will be strong enough to hold the spacer and scale. I can't see the actual length, but full strength of the fastener is achieved at 1.5 diameters so 4.5 mm depth for a 3mm screw. Looks like you have all of that there and more no matter where you put it. Might have to shorten the screws to prevent interference is all.

Edit - also gibb adjustment screw is not very long.

So ya, go for it!

 

[thestelster]

So looking for support for this idea (or not)
In the picture you can see the spacer and mount I'm thinking I need for the scale. As you can see on this particular spot of the slide the meat is not thick enough for me to thread and use the scale mounting screw (5mm), so I think I will drill and thread the spacer piece in the middle (red markup) for the scale mounting screw. The spacer piece itself will be held on with little 3mm screws that I can drill and thread in the slide in the positions that the yellow markup shows. View attachment 27624

I personally would be hesitant trying to free hand drill and then tap into cast iron such a small screw. I'm thinking it would just crumble. But I have never tried so I don't know from experience.

 

[DPittman]

I personally would be hesitant trying to free hand drill and then tap into cast iron such a small screw. I'm thinking it would just crumble. But I have never tried so I don't know from experience.

Thats a good point and worth considering. I will do the drilling in the drill press or milling machine but the taping will be done by hand. I've done other small screws like that on my other asian mill and it was like drilling and tapping cheese (but at least it didn't crumble)

 

[Former Member]

Consider some of the urethane adhesives that exceed the strength of welding. Mind you if you go this route if you ever want to get off......ha ha ha ha.

Seriously though, they use it repair structural parts of cars (Sandy, tree, car, enough said), build planes so holding a scale on should be no problem. See earlier laughter.

 

[PeterT]

I didn't want to be drilling in proximity to the gib strip for the reasons your picture shows. John's solution is a good one. But each lathe has its unique gib/dovetail/clearance layout so you have to kind of assess & weigh the pros & cons. Some of the fasteners included in DRO kits are quite meaty like 6mm or 1/4". If its out in the open on a machine, who cares. But they just holds the DRO bracketry securely in place so smaller fastener might suffice if push comes to shove. Just have to be cognizant of tapping mystery metal cast iron for fine pitch fasteners..

Not familiar with the magnetic strip DRO systems but yeah, reduced sectional/footprint systems can only benefit installation. When I bought my DRO most of the scales were quite bulky. Newall is a rod based system (6.5mm diameter Microsyn), but spendy. The DRO world has gone like computers, lots of great options at reasonable prices compared to before.

 

[Susquatch]

I personally would be hesitant trying to free hand drill and then tap into cast iron such a small screw. I'm thinking it would just crumble. But I have never tried so I don't know from experience.

My two cents on this is as follows. We tend to think of cast iron as though it has big grain structure. In reality, it is tiny. It will hold small screws as well as big ones as a percent of whatever their strength is when used in cast iron. For equivalent metal, the hole is stronger than the screw. But of course, they are not equivalent metals. Nonetheless, for this application, the threaded cast iron will be plenty strong enough for the planned screw when torque is rated for use in cast iron. These numbers vary significantly with the type of cast iron. Just use the lowest

The bigger issue is the one @PeterT raises - mystery metal. You could have undrillobillium like I had on my mill table and saddle in which case the issue is being able to drill it, not threaded hole strength. Or you could have Swiss cheese in which case they might pull out.

If my eyeball size swag is close, you won't have a retaining problem within the ratings for a 3mm screw in cast iron.

If in the odd chance the cast iron is butter and the screws pull out, I'd simply put some release agent on the screw and epoxy it in. Remove the screws when the epoxy in the mix pan flips and starts to harden up, then retap when fully cured chasing the epoxy threads with a bottoming tap, blowing the chips out as well as possible.

 

[Hacker]

Another option would be to make an L shaped mounting bracket the would go over top of the gib screw and drill the mounting holes to the left of screw. Down side is that you would have to remove the scale to adjust the gib.

 

[historicalarms]

I'm thinking similar to Hacker. A lot of open space on that cross slide to bolt a cantilever mount to that has thick cast webbing. It could even be mounted far enough to allow use of the oil point.
I might be wrong but if it is mounted firmly so its movement is totaly congruent to the cross slide, how far away it is makes no difference.

 

[John Conroy]

Yes that is pretty much what I was thinking also in regards to accessing the table lock also.
In your last picture I see the cable running up on top, is that for the reader head on that scale? I'm thinking I'm going to mount the reader head down below the scale and run the cable out back.

My scales have a backing plate that mounts to the lathe, then the scale gets screwed to the backing plate.



The DRO was mounted at the factory and initially I thought I would change the cable routing so it went straight out the back but it turned out that the way they did it was the best option. The cross slide casting it taller over the rear bedway rail for some reason and would not allow the cable to pass underneath the scale and still keep the top of the scale below the top of the cross slide. This arrangement also keeps the movement of the cable during cross slide travel manageable as these 2 pics show with the cross slide at the end of travel in both directions.
I'm hoping that the future will bring slim scales that communicate with the DRO head wirelessly but for now this is my best option.

 

[Susquatch]

I'm hoping that the future will bring slim scales that communicate with the DRO head wirelessly but for now this is my best option.

What a great idea! Even a larger comm module would be better than those dumb cables!

How the hell do you keep your lathe so clean looking?

 

[John Conroy]

How the hell do you keep your lathe so clean looking?

It's a sickness

 

[Susquatch]

It's a sickness

You barf on it?

 

[DPittman]

Very nice install and lathe @John Conroy
and helpful pictures and explanation.

The cross slide casting it taller over the rear bedway rail for some reason and would not allow the cable to pass underneath the scale and still keep the top of the scale below the top of the cross slide.

What would it matter if the scale is below the cross slide if the cable ends up not being below?
In my planned installation my scale and guard will be a bit higher than the top slide but still allow the compound to swivel. That should not be a problem for anything I can think of?

 

[YYCHM]

What's preventing you from mounting the scale on the front of saddle?

 

[DPittman]

What's preventing you from mounting the scale on the front of saddle?

The way I'm doing it is the reader head is being mounted on the saddle between the ways and remains stationary and the scale is what travels along with the slide so gets mounted to it.

 

[YYCHM]

The way I'm doing it is the reader head is being mounted on the saddle between the ways and remains stationary and the scale is what travels along with the slide so gets mounted to it.

Can you not do that with the reader and scale mounted on the front of the saddle?

 

[John Conroy]

You barf on it?

No I'm afraid it's mental.

 

[John Conroy]

What would it matter if the scale is below the cross slide if the cable ends up not being below?
In my planned installation my scale and guard will be a bit higher than the top slide but still allow the compound to swivel. That should not be a problem for anything I can think of?

I just wanted to keep it mounted the way they did it so I didn't need to drill any more holes.
It wouldn't matter if it was higher as long as you can still turn the compound

 

[DPittman]

Can you not do that with the reader and scale mounted on the front of the saddle?

Maybe we are using different terms. The photo shows what I'm referring to as the saddle.
If both reader and scale are mounted to saddle then nuttin' is moving! (Well not independently of each other)