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All of those wipers on the web sites seem to be for flat ways only. What would one use for the 'V' ways if they wanted to install better wipers. The ones on my lathe are injection molded plastic and suck at what they are suppose to do.
Ed
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Believe it or not, it is quite common for larger prismatic slides to have wipers made out of little pieces of these straight wipers cut and mitred to suit, I have done it once on a really big lathe 40" swing 12 feet BC and that was bad enough, but have seen it done on a Colchester Mascot 1600 just like mine, which would have been really nasty to do, that is exactly why I use felt, it does almost the same thing and is about 5% of the effort of trying to make them out of straight wiper material, on top of that the felt wipers are adjustable and really easy to replace when they either get really dirty or damaged.
Regards
Rick
Whatever it is, do it today, Tomorrow may not be an option and regret outlasts fatigue.
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So for once I'm really glad I have flat ways so that I have will have a pretty easy time of putting some wipers on there
My dad was telling me that you can't get precision with flat ways but it sure seems like I have seen some amazing things done with these old Craftsman machines. It may take a few tries and tons of practice but it isn't impossible.
SnailPowered, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun since Aug 2012.
Posts: 8,854
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I'm certainly no machine engineer but I would think that flat ways aren't the problem but how well the carriage assembly fits the ways, no matter what the shape of the ways are.
Ed
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Joined: Jun 2012
Location: Cambridge, England
(09-26-2012, 10:56 PM)SnailPowered Wrote: My dad was telling me that you can't get precision with flat ways
Your Dad holds a very common view with respect to flat ways, But given that precision can be had with a hammer, chisel and file, and that we mostly recognise that hand scraping is all about precision and all you need to hand scrape is a sharp piece of tool steel, another flat surface and determination. My personal opinion is that precision is a function of mindset not tool design.
Regards
Rick
PS, when you do get home and start to play with the Atlas, post us to let us know, if you want I will and I'm sure others will chime in as well, help you to evaluate the condition of your ways and give tips on setting up and or repairing it, in order to get the best possible precision.
Whatever it is, do it today, Tomorrow may not be an option and regret outlasts fatigue.