Phase II X-Y Table Modifications - Yet Another Go At It

bill70j

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I bought the Phase II Compound Slide Table model 260-512 several years ago on sale from Enco. I have not used it much because it is very difficult to get the gibs tight enough without making the handles almost impossible to turn.

The price was right, and the lack of quality control during manufacture reflected that price. Member EMARQUEZ's post shows the lack of QC in great detail.

I had planned to modify the Table for a long time and finally got around to it. The modifications are no where near as extensive as the ones Mark showed in his post, but I wanted to save as much of the Table's hardware as possible.

The following photos show the modifications which allow for tightening up the gibs, reducing back lash, and providing for positive table stops.

Here is the Table
Starting Table.jpg



Here is the original screw assembly -- typical for both tables -- consisting of the nut, threaded rod, stop collar, graduated dial, and handle
Original Screw Assembly.jpg



We first modified the front collar by machining a pocket for a needle thrust bearing and washer to fit into collar -- against which the graduated dial will bear when moving the table forward.
Front Thrust Bearing.jpg


Then we machined a new rear stop collar and thrust bearing carrier to take care of backward thrust. The bearing carrier is pressed onto the screw. We are using a two bearing set-up to allow for precise bearing pre-load adjustment.
New Rear Thrust Bearing and Carrier.jpg


Here is the final screw assembly for the Y table. The X is similar. Bearing pre-load is set by adjusting the handle retaining nut, then locking in the pre-load with the handle set screw. You can see that we had to provide a machined surface for attaching the rear collar and also had to do a little milling on the underside of the table to provide clearance for the new bearing.
Final Screw Assembly.jpg



Here is another view.
DSC_0154.JPG


Here is the Table in its final form. You can see the new table stops and also the new handle arm which rotates around a new shaft. We got the back lash down to about 0.015, but what's nice is that the thing now operates very smoothly. Nothing worse than a crudely operating piece of equipment.
Finished Table.jpg
 
I have the Shars version of this table. Can you give me part numbers for the bearings and washers? Are there washers on both sides of the bearings, for a total of 4? Thanks.
 
I have the Shars version of this table. Can you give me part numbers for the bearings and washers? Are there washers on both sides of the bearings, for a total of 4? Thanks.
I ordered the bearings and washers from McMaster-Carr: Bearing part no. 5909K31; Washer part no. 5909K44. The ideal would be to assemble the bearing sandwiched between two washers - so yes, 2 bearings and 4 washers per table.

In my case, that is how we designed the new bearing carrier for the rear -- it has the bearing sandwiched between two washers.

But the front bearing is set up slightly differently. The front collar, which houses the bearing was only thick enough for machining a pocket deep enough for the bearing and one washer. So that is what we went with, but also lapped and polished the backside of the graduated collar which butts up against the bearing.

HTH, Bill
 
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