New 250EX progress

I finally found some time for the shop this morning. Mother-in-Law had a bad heart attack 2 weeks ago but she is getting stronger since the pacemaker was put in on Wednesday. Any way, I tacked up the base of the tig cart.Attachment 9313Attachment 9314. I have no idea if this is going to work as far as adding pics. The cart has a nose up attitude. It will be 2 level with a drawer space with the drawer added later. Initially I added a pic of the freshly ground and scraped mill project since I mentioned it in another post. Then I thought to delete since it is off topic really but it seems I just moved it. Sorry about that but I will get better at it. Ski

Click edit post, then go advanced, scroll down to manage attachments and click it, mouse over the top right corner of the pic you want to remove and an x will appear, click the x to delete that pic. Attachment 9315

Good to hear your mother-in-law is getting stronger.

You've got a nice base for cart. Nice and strong and I like the idea about the drawer and having two levels.

Did you scrape the ways yourself?

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Originally Posted by Rambozo

Did you scrape the ways yourself?

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What's involved in scraping and what's it's purpose ?

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Originally Posted by zoama585

What's involved in scraping and what's it's purpose ?

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Scraping is how you get the ways truly flat and perpendicular to the other axis. It also reduces friction as when scraping you shoot for a certain number of contact points per square inch. Even after precision grinding, hand scraping is what it takes to get things as near perfect as possible. Flaking is the decorative pattern that is put in after scraping. They also serve to hold the way oil. There are very few people that can do good scraping anymore. I missed out on my chance to learn form a real scraping hand, as he went and died before passing on that skill. I did get to see some of his work, and he did fix a lathe in our shop that had a twist in the bed. There are a couple of good books on the subject. They are back in print so not hard to find anymore, but not cheap.

Machine Tool Reconditioning by Edward F. Connelly 1955
Foundations of Mechanical Accuracy by Wayne R. Moore 1970 (One of the Moores from Moore tools)

Rambozo hit the punch dead center with his explaination on scraping and flaking. The process starts with a regrind of the ways as needed. Sometimes they only scrape if the surface is not to worn or far off. I wish I could say I "did it myself" but I farmed that out. A very cool processthat I also wish I had the oportunity to learn. I did the teardown/cleanup/repaint along with fixing everything else that is wrong with the machine. Replacing bad bearings, ect... as I went. Working on the one shot lube system for the table/saddle now with sourcing two 4mm compression to 1/8 BSPT angle fittings and a 4mm T fitting being the hard part. Someone converted the knee lube lines to 1/4". I am changing them back to original. I was afraid the lube would run the path of least resistance with the large lube lines and starve the other 6 lube points. Drilled and tapped and added several 4/40 [fun in cast iron] threaded cap screws under the table to fix the "holed" way lube lines using several tube retention clips I pounded out. Long ways to go yet on the mill. The Tig cart is turning out good . Once it is done, I'll hold off on painting it for awhile until I figure out a few add ons to hold filler rod ect... The drawer should be about 6 high,23 long and 12 wide. I may have a buddy make the drawer out of an old road sign though [legally obtained and obsolete]. I added 3 of them to a south bend lathe and they are tough and look cool.

That platform looks like a great starting point for your TIG cart. I especially like the big wheels on the back. It should roll quite nicely once finished.:)

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Originally Posted by Rambozo

Scraping is how you get the ways truly flat and perpendicular to the other axis. It also reduces friction as when scraping you shoot for a certain number of contact points per square inch. Even after precision grinding, hand scraping is what it takes to get things as near perfect as possible. Flaking is the decorative pattern that is put in after scraping. They also serve to hold the way oil. There are very few people that can do good scraping anymore. I missed out on my chance to learn form a real scraping hand, as he went and died before passing on that skill. I did get to see some of his work, and he did fix a lathe in our shop that had a twist in the bed. There are a couple of good books on the subject. They are back in print so not hard to find anymore, but not cheap.

Machine Tool Reconditioning by Edward F. Connelly 1955
Foundations of Mechanical Accuracy by Wayne R. Moore 1970 (One of the Moores from Moore tools)

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Thanks for posting those book titles Rambozo. I'm going to keep them in mind, as I would love to learn how to properly scrap the ways on my little lathe someday. It's always cool to see someone (in person) who knows what they're doing perform one of the many "lost arts" from generations back. Nearly everything that used to be done by hand is now obsolete. It's even hard sometimes to find something as simple as a good knowledgable machinist (especially local).

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Originally Posted by youngnstudly

Thanks for posting those book titles Rambozo. I'm going to keep them in mind, as I would love to learn how to properly scrap the ways on my little lathe someday. It's always cool to see someone (in person) who knows what they're doing perform one of the many "lost arts" from generations back. Nearly everything that used to be done by hand is now obsolete. It's even hard sometimes to find something as simple as a good knowledgable machinist (especially local).

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You can get them new from:

http://www.machinetoolpublications.com
http://www.mooretool.com/publications.html

For some time they were out of print and getting crazy prices on ebay. I still often see them sell on ebay for more than new, but if you look you can get a deal from time to time.

Get PDF version of Foundations of Mechanical Accuracy by Wayne R. Moore 1970 from Scribd.com for cheap.

I did a little more work on the Tig cart. Decided to put a drawer at top if I do one. My reasoning is it would be a pain using it with the cables ect.hanging in the way. For now going to put a piece of tread plate at the top for a shelf. I also decided to level it. I have cable hooks and handle to do but will probably combine them into one. Added a piece at the rear wheels and turned a couple 1/2 spacers on the lathe to level it out in front. I also painted the bottoms. It is going to be machine gray. Rolled since that is what I have on hand, It is good stuff and is leftover from lathe and mill paint job. Sprayed the bottom primer though mostly to slow the rust in an often wet winter garage. Have to admit I looked at a quite a few cart pics submitted by others and used a few good ideas. I mig welded the cart. I'm not the best welder but I get by and I am confident these will hold. I find the worst of my problems is eyesight. Sometimes you loose the weld and vere off track a bit. I use cheaters ,keep the lense clean ect.. but still happens once in a while as can be seen in my welds. Ski