If you've been following along, you know that I have a Sieg X2D mini mill that I've converted to CNC. I've had it several years now, and I decided that it was time to give it an upgrade.
One thing I've never been satisfied with on this mill is the gibs. The originals are cast iron and use a screw/locknut arrangement for adjustment. They are finicky to adjust and don't slide as well as I'd like when adjusted to zero backlash. So I decided to make some new ones. I made a jig with all the correct angles and whittled out some new gibs from aluminum bronze. It's a great material to use for gibs and bushings and other things that use sliding friction.
I also got some self-locking gib adjustment screws from Little Machine Shop. Here you can see an original gib and screws next to the new ones.
I also decided to upgrade my motor couplers. I had been using cheap aluminum couplers are they work ok, but under high load you could see them wind up and unwind like a spring. Not much, but enough to bother me. I've also snapped several of them on light crashes, they twist off pretty easily. I decided to replace them with much more durable diaphragm style couplers. New on the left, old on the right:
More to come soon...
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