Tram & Nod on a Seig 2.7 (LMS 5550 HiTorque)

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dbb-the-bruce

Dave
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I've checked the tram & nod on my little machine shop 5550 HiTorque bench mill.

Tram (side to side) over the 27" table is only ~.003
While it would be great to reduce it, I'm not sure that it's likely I'll end up making it any better.
The column base is only 4" or so wide. I'd need to shim one side by .00044. I have mylar/plastic shim stock that goes down to .0005 so I could try that.

The nod however is much worse, .004 over the width of the X table. Again, with my plastic shim stock I could probably reduce it.

I also have a few different thicknesses of brass shim stock - but I think that most of that is .003 or thicker.

A couple of questions:

Am I likely to mess it up or make worse?
This mill has 4 bolts on the column and two locating pins. If I loosen the bolts, will I be able to wiggle the column on the base enough to get shim stock under it? Seems like thats the right approach, but is it going to be a challenge to create a gap that I can slide the shim into?

Is my selection of plastic shim stock OK to use?
My impression is that it should be fine - I don't need to use metal shim stock.

I'm specifically looking for advice on adjusting this mill or other small bench top mills with fixed columns that need to be shimmed.
Of course any other useful advice will be graciously accepted!

If it was just the .003 tram over 27", I'd leave it alone.

-Dave
 
I wouldnt use plastic as the shim stock for that job! I may be way off here but im thinking the plastic will deform and flatten more or just be "extruded" by the weight and pressure over a short amount of time.
 
So I'll be getting myself a shim set of brass or steel.

I saw a "tramming kit" that included what was obviously the plastic shim stock. It would probably get the job done.
 
matthewsx said:
Paper?
Click to expand...

The Onion Skin paper I have is 0.0002" thick, 0.0005" and 0.00075" thick. This stuff has a high cotton fiber content and is consistent in thickness throughout. You can still find it on ebay.

I used it to shim my mill column. Put a 0.0005" piece between two pieces of steel shim stock to nudge it that last little bit. Worked well for this.
 
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K&S has a brass shim selection that isn't very expensive. I got mine at a local hobby shop, but I've seen the same kit at well-stocked hardware stores. The minimum thickness is .001 though.

I have a roll of .0005" stainless left over from a work project. It is about a two lifetime supply. If you want to try it, PM me with your address and I will send you a piece.
 
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