Thread: Y Axis Way Cover

Some time back, BaronJ was kind enough to send me a piece of silicon sheet so I can make a new way cover for my mill Y axis. I told him I would post about it on the forum. Well I finally got around to finishing it off today.

Y Axis Way Cover Before.jpg

A before shot. When I fitted the DRO, I had to lift the bottom edge of the Z axis cover upwards to provide clearance for the x axis DRO scale. I also made a new mounting plate as the original one was daggy. Raising the cover allowed chips to fall down the reccess on each side of the column so I fitted this temporary shield.

Y Axis Way Cover 01.jpg

The new cover attached to the back of the table. The arrow points to a slit I cut in the cover to clear the Y axis DRO scale, chip cover edge.

Y Axis Way Cover 02.jpg

The cover mounted in the same bolt holes as the z axis cover. I made the cover longer to reach these bolt holes.

Y Axis Way Cover 03.jpg

All the messing around caused this. The strip that grips the ways has come unstuck. I was surprised it has held up so well. The DRO install knocked it around a lot as well. I pulled it off and stuck it up with some contact adhesive.

Y Axis Way Cover 04.jpg

Back together. The red arrow indicates where the column base pinches the cover when the table is moved to the rear. The blue arrow indicates the position where the Y axis DRO scale cover edge is located. This pinches the cover against the column base. I need to fit some sort of spring loaded lifting device to hold the cover up.

Y Axis Way Cover 05.jpg

The table nearly at the back position. That loop of silicon is pushed down by the scale cover jamming it against the column. The lifting device will fix this too. Other than those problems it works well.

Dean

Hi Dean,

Nice ! I'm glad that you have got it sorted. Mine did the same as yours with the folding up when the table was wound right back, though on my machine the DRO scale is on the front so no real issues there.

My main problem was just how close the fixing holes on the rear of the table were to the dovetails.

I now need to replace the silicone baking sheet on the lathe since I ripped a hole in it trying to turn a piece of plastic plate that was really to big on the face plate. I only had about 5 mm clearance to the bottom of the gap. Of course as soon as I wound the saddle forwards the silicone sheet folded and the work piece grabbed it.

PS. Sorry about the slow reply. No:2 Granddaughter needed looking after whilst parents were away.