G0516 cross slide modification

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vascon2196
Posts: 30
Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2009 12:46 pm
Location: Mass

G0516 cross slide modification

Post by vascon2196 »

If anyone has a Grizzly G0516 machine you have either experienced this issue or it's going to happen sooner or later so I wanted to share this.

The cross slide gets used a lot since it can be used for either the lathe operations or the milling attachment. There are (2) metric tapped holes that the lathe tool post mounts to. Well on mine after about a year of use the threads stripped out and the tool post came loose during a cut I was making...scary stuff no matter how small the part was.

What I ended up doing instead of buying a new cross slide (only $30.00 from Grizzly) was use "Keenserts". If I bought a new cross slide this was only going to happen again.

One nice benefit of Keenserts verses a helicoil is because they can be installed at a location where a tapped hole has worn out or a helicoil has become damaged and cannot be easily removed, because a significantly larger hole is drilled for the Keensert and the original hole geometry ceases to be a concern.

I used a pistol drill and a regular hand tap to do the job. Don't use oil since the cross slide appears to be cast iron and you need a bottoming tap. When your finished you will have two brand new tapped holes that are now steel and english threads (I think 3/8"-16 is the new thread in the Keensert). If the threads go Devo on you then simply replace the Keenserts. Here is a picture of the modification.

Hope this was helpful.

Chris
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cross slide with keen-serts installed.jpg
gunboatbay
Posts: 134
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2008 10:09 am
Location: Pender Harbour, B.C.

Post by gunboatbay »

Shortly after I purchased my 0516, I made the 'donut' mod to the compound base for improved rigidity. That required drilling/tapping new holes in the cross-slide, which went very smoothly. Because this mod has a far better clamping arrangement (vs the factory design), little torque is required on the 4 clamping bolts, so I don't anticipate encountering the problem you encountered
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donut.jpg
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vascon2196
Posts: 30
Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2009 12:46 pm
Location: Mass

G0516 modifications

Post by vascon2196 »

Nice job! I would have never thought of that.

Chris
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