Gibb shim thickness

[95gtspeeddemon]

Im trying to decide what thickness to go with so the gibb is even with the dovetail face. i get a max of .015 gap on the y axis. x axis is less since i can tighten it up fully before running out of gibb thickness. I was considering the "plastic" shim like rulon or turcite i read about vs just using a metal shim. any reason to use one or the other?
its a 1980 supermax YC 1 1/2 thats got the typical "bridgeport" wear.

 

[GT-6 Racer]

Metal shims are easy, just stone the gib, cut the shim to shape and super glue to the back of the gib, file & stone off sharp edges. Bob‘s your uncle. even better make a new gib. Not a trivial job, but certainly doable, and surely a better solution than shimming.

 

[95gtspeeddemon]

Metal shims are easy, just stone the gib, cut the shim to shape and super glue to the back of the gib, file & stone off sharp edges. Bob‘s your uncle. even better make a new gib. Not a trivial job, but certainly doable, and surely a better solution than shimming.

Does shimming with metal increase wear or have extra drag compared to a solid gibb?

 

[GT-6 Racer]

No I don’t believe so, but they can slip independently of the gib during adjustment and can be a little springy/squishy that’s why I like to use adhesive like CA or other very thin industrial adhesive. For hobby use shimming is likely fine.

 

[MyLilMule]

You shim the non-moving side of the gib. H&W has a video on YT on how to measure for the correct shim thickness. I had to do this on the table gib for my K&T horizontal. I ended up using shim tape from McMaster.

 

[GT-6 Racer]

Oh yes of course, that’s what I meant by back of the gib.