Is Devcon WR-2 supposed to be low friction?

[ccfl]

This? Hard to get the right lighting to capture it.

That's the negative pattern from the scraped straightedge mold! Look close and you can see two small parallel scratches on the SE that transferred as well. The Moglice hasn't been stoned yet or any of the mating parts fitted up. I'm sure there are some high spots that need to be knocked down (high points in the epoxy are the straightedge's low points).

[spro]

This work cannot fold over. I may ask questions but you have thought through the answers. Great work..and bttt.

[spro]

Then of course, what can I say about huge journeys of sweat and work across long slides. Huge "items" which take one's very life in peril. There are only so many words. These same words are used to fit the particular environment. If not for the precision of small lathes, elements of larger wouldn't have arrived. It is really cool travel.

[ccfl]

Making a thing to make a fixture to make a tool to make another fixture to make a tool to make the part you needed... that kind of deal? Whenever I get stuck in the middle of a never-ending project like that I think about what it would take to make something truly complex if all the other complex devices were gone. Starting from zero technology, how long would it take to make a computer? Okay, first we have to build a power plant... but to build a power plant we need to build a concrete factory... to build a concrete factory we need to build... and so on. It would take a really long time even if all the how-to knowledge survived intact (very unlikely).

[spro]

Yes. That is thing and the way I look at machine tools. If they aren't accurate by wear, time in elements there is still the basis. There are castings and styles which will never be made again. This thread helps cracking the nut which sent great machines to scrapyards. That is wear of sliding ways. Many are of the opinion that older machine tools are basically junk but it doesn't have to be this way. This is the same as your lathe or countless others which are basically good but not quite right. Imagine casting forging and planeing to even get close to what it offers. It/they need a good dose of tweaking to the other level which is accounted here.
When I was young, there were all manner of old cars on the road. I worked in a junkyard and there were Studebakers, Nashes, Willys, Packards of every type..early Corvettes, Hudson Hornets, Wasps, Henry J's.. The Wurlitzers chrome spangled Oldsmobiles and Buicks. Fords and Chevys of every type. We didn't have a tractor then. One of us(me) would get an old beast running and use it as a "yard car", towing and pushing other relics close together. I ached in my brain as I wanted to fix so many of them and keep them but it wasn't possible and it wasn't my job. A common 51 Chevy really gets my attention these days, especially if it is fastback or wagon. Coolest fastbacks were the Buicks and Cadillacs with the tiny fins. Those fins of the 1948 period started the whole fin rage. So I'm rambling. So what?
There is an appreciation for earlier works which extends to machine tools. While many of the vehicles I mention, didn't make practical sense to continue at the time, the survivors do. Such is true with machine tools. One that is tuned to perfection is a blessing which you made out of a project. It isn't the '53 Chevy which can't do the job anymore. It is a new vehicle with new bearings which allows smooth travel.

[spro]

I was fond of a certain girl. We were about 15 years old then. I was invited to a party and it was very nice. However, there was a 1946 Oldsmobile Fastback sitting under a tree. I lost communication. I totally lost it. I was so enamored with that car, it had to be mine. My dad knew it was just an old car, to him. $25.00 and haul it out. Dad was shaking his head, what a load, why didn't my son aim higher. I know but he loved his son. He rebuilt the clutch with one assistant. He rebuilt the brakes with one assistant and the first time ever under a car with the pan off, my Dad showing me different areas as He/we replaced the bearings. Dang
1946 Olds 2-door fastback was quite a tank. I liked it so much. ..over

[spro]

I have tried to delete these reminiscences. This work on the Olds was when I was 15 years old. The junk yard job was when I was 16. Just a small memory about old cars which I could never afford now. I wish this all disappeared for it serves no purpose here.

[ccfl]

Oh I understand, I've done cars since about the same age. I worked in hot rod/race car shops, dealerships, independent shops, even a stint in a Delco Remy factory making starter motors. Mmmmm... 6-spindle automatics! How many people can say they've run one of those?

Bed stoned (again), cleaned, greased, groove filled with clay.

Goop applied, finally!

Thwack from a rubber mallet and voila...

[ccfl]

Still not finished yet, still working on it. I think I have a workable plan for adding a real functional lubrication system but I am waiting on some oil fittings to arrive before I go drilling a dozen holes all over everything.

These tapered saddle gibs were not made in the most efficient, logical fashion. Hard to measure for these things so they were a 'cut some, test fit, cut again' sort of deal. If I made another set they would be much improved knowing what I learned the first time around.

Body is 6061-whatever-was-in-the-bucket, gibs are aluminum bronze cut down from 1/2" round stock. #10-32 setscrew in the back is for adjustment, #8-32 button head in the front is just a limiter. The button heads were added only after I realized tapered gibs are self-tightening like a doorstop without them when the carriage moves from left to right. Oops. I was able to squeeze them in (just barely) and they work now.

Made way wipers from Delrin & 1/8" felt. They fit the ways close enough that they will hopefully block the majority of crap from reaching the felts and also capture most of the oil from the yet-to-be-added oiling points. Note the wipers/felt also wrap around the underside to lube the saddle gibs.