Repair of Slides and Slideways

Repair of Slides and Slideways

Repair of Slides and Slideways - The slide is mounted on the slideways, which guide the movement of the slide. In a lathe, carriage and tailstock are slides. Beyond keeping them cleaned and oiled, it is not likely that machine slides will need much attention in running repairs; in fact, of all the elements of a machine tool the slides and slideways require the least attention.

This is not to infer that precautions as to their welfare need not be taken. Many slides suffer ill usage by operators placing and dropping sharp tools on to them, and their life and appearance are conserved by making wooden cover boards to place over those portions of slides not in use.

During the course of time, with continual usage in the region of one place (often about in the centre of travel) the slideway becomes worn. This is a fault that may only be rectified by refacing, and this is not normally under taken until a major overhaul is put in hand.

For dovetail slides, however, the result of this wear is that if the adjusting gib is set to give satisfactory conditions at the worn position the adjustment will be too tight for the less worn end positions and movement will be very stiff at these points.

This is rather difficult to overcome, and until the slideways are restored the only solution is a compromise one of adjusting to give fairly tight conditions at the unworn positions, leaving the fit at the worn place to be fairly easy.

An inconspicuous although important accessory on a tool or work slide is the arrangement for locking it, and this should not only be kept in good order but it should be used on every possible occasion. By locking all slides except that being used, accuracy and rigidity are increased, and in some cases the looseness is temporarily taken up at the worn portion of a slideway.