If you have a gap in your compound slide dove tails..

GunsOfNavarone

GunsOfNavarone

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I guess this could be a situation on any lathe, but for sure the Chinese budget lathes. I am always chasing how to make things more rigid, but one dead end was my compound slides. Under cutting forces, I could actually see oil in there pulsating out between slides of compound. I figured that must be a huge red flag for a loose gib. Go to tighten it and it was. Tighten anymore and it became a bear to move. I found a video on you tube talking about the top of the dovetail stopping the compound from setting on/sliding on the ways. He actually ground his down to make it happen. Well, mine weren't high, but with gib out, it sat flush on ways. WTH?? After dinkering with it for way too long, what was happening was, as you tighten the GIB, it was turning up on it short side and it was a bit too high. You have the solid wall of dove tail on one side, the gib screw on the other and the flay ways on top and bottom...just didn't work. Very carefully I filed the 45* short edges just enough so that when it rested against dove tail, it wasn't causing lift. Night and day difference. Not only does it move smoother, the added rigidity is evident. Grab a feeler gauge and check to see if you can get it in between your compound's ways when everything is tight...hopefully others can benefit from this easy fix.
 
That is a good description, but a drawing would probably help a bit.
 
Yeah, wish I had taken pictures as I went, but I was problem solving looking for the answer, not considering the value at the time. I just feel like for us pacific rim lathe peeps, this could be common and easily over looked. I'll see if I can post the video that got me looking...it wasn't my problem, but focuses on the same issue of non contacting ways(?) Not sure if the flat sliding contacts are truly called ways or if that is just the triangular parts...
 
You made every G0602 user just look at their lathe! I checked mine, and what do you know, mine has the gap on the other side! Seems my gib was lowered, because there's no gap on that side. But on the left side I have a better than 0.010 gap for most of the surface. Seems to be touching only on a 2mm wide area right next to the dovetail.
 
For me, it was a pretty straight forward fix. So much less chatter, easily as good if not better than the 6 bolt compound mod.
 
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