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Thread: RF-30 mill, tight X feed
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23rd Nov 2020, 07:19 PM #1Diamond Member
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RF-30 mill, tight X feed
So I'm cleaning up an RF-30 that was out in the weather for a while. Mostly just surface rust:
IMG_1042.jpg
After cleanup, oiling, and adjusting the gib, the Y (cross?) feed feels good,
but the "longitudinal" feed is a bit tight towards the ends. Stripped it today:
IMG_1045.jpg
Very little wear on the gib: IMG_1048.jpg
and apart from hard compacted grease on the feed screw:9DFF132D-2578-41FC-A195-C7243CA9FB3A.jpg IMG_1047.jpg
there doesn't seem to be much wrong in there.
There was a little rust on one side of the dovetail (under the table/bed),
and some compacted grease and a shaving or two in the dovetail.
So, after scraping/assembly/grease+oiling, it feels OK, but the gib probably isn't as tight as 'twas before.
1) How tight are other people's gib or feed screws?
2) I notice this model has fairly small handles. (100mm diam.)
From memory, my Dad's old RF-30 had larger.
Anyone else's have larger handles?
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23rd Nov 2020, 11:50 PM #2
Hi Nigel, Guys,
Some time ago, I was machining slots in long pieces of steel for bearing guides. I ended up using a 1/2 thou Mititoyo digital gauge to measure at each end of a long piece of steel. At the time I couldn’t understand why I was getting a different reading when traversing to the other end. I found that pushing on one end of the table caused a 10 - 12 thou variation in readings. Tightening the gib gradually reduced the variation to a couple of thou. But the table got tighter and tighter until it was locked up, and I still had a couple of thou. So I backed the gib off until the table could be moved comfortably. I've never got rid of the two thou but it doesn't seem to cause a problem unless I forget and lean on the table.
PS. My handles are 100 mm too !Best Regards:
Baron J.
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24th Nov 2020, 08:07 AM #3Golden Member
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RF-30 mill, tight X feed
My handles are 100mm too.
My gib needs a shim as my machine is quite worn, but I tend to drag the locks a little if I don’t want the machine moving too much during a cut. My x is worse than my y.
I plan on scraping it back closer one day. 1-2 thousandths would be perfect. At the moment I reckon I’m up to about 0.2mm at the worst points, if I keep the machine loose on the gibs side that I can use the full length of the x feed.
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24th Nov 2020, 02:20 PM #4
You can buy the Bridgeport style handles for $20 odd each, or the 160mm round ones from AliExpress and ebay.
It's what you feel comfortable using at the end of the day.
I did away with the round bakerlight handles that came on my HM52 and went with the chrome Bridgeport style.
This was about 4 years ago and I got all 3 for $60. They claim they are saftey handles, but they are just standard fixed handles.Using Tapatalk
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29th Nov 2020, 06:15 PM #5Diamond Member
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These are the handles on my old Dad's RF30:
IMG_1059.jpg IMG_1060.jpg
All 150mm.
As per Dave J's suggestion, I've started looking on eBay/BangGood/AliExpress, but no luck yet.
(these mills have an odd handle. The back of them is castellated with three slots. Quite different to the BridgePort style bed lifting handle, or their bolt/slide style handles)
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29th Nov 2020, 08:51 PM #6
Your going to have to step up to 160mm ones as that's the standard these days from overseas.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/301725201734
If you want the ball style handle let me know and I'll do a search.
As for the serations in the back to match what you have, you will have to machine them into the back of these handles or make an adapter to fit the keyed bore into your serations.
This size it usually 16mm bore from memory.Using Tapatalk
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29th Nov 2020, 10:44 PM #7Most Valued Member
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I believe you have shown us the wrong side of the gib.
I just keep tightening the gib until the table gets tight towards the ends and call it good. Its not that great in the middle but its not normally an issue. If it is you can do you machining at the ends of the table or if its only short tighten it in the middle. We seem to be programmed to setup jobs in the middle of the table, I'm not sure sure that's a good thing.
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