I try to remember clockwise moves the vice away from me.

Edited By Vic on 16/09/2020 21:31:15

I just think that turming it clockwise is like screwing a screw in with a screwdriver, it goes in away from you.

It becomes second nature after a period.

Im not sure right now (at work) which way turning does what, but I know if I’m stood in front of my machines I can “just” use them.

This became very obvious when I bought a cheap x-y table to make a cutter grinder.
The cheap table had RH threads on both axis. It only took a couple of oops moments for me to change the Y one to LH to match all proper mills…

Dave

Some unfortunate souls have more trouble with this than others – I'm one – but the answer is practice. Physical skill like learning to reverse a car. Milling machines are my bete noir because I'm not good at thinking up/down, right/left and forward/back at the same time. I'm not afraid to draw arrows on machines as a reminder!

DRO's are wonderful on milling machines, a truly 'must have' accessory. One of many benefits is their ability to quickly show small movements in the wrong direction because the display changes more obviously than a dial. And my tiny mind deals better with numbers increasing and decreasing than remembering how jobs are oriented relative to dial readings.

No help at all, but the next logical step is CNC. Although very stupid, computers don't make human mistakes like forgetting which way they're going, messing up mental arithmetic, or miscounting dial turns.

Dave

Using two handles at once to try and follow a curve is fun

Mike

During the tunneling for the first Severn tunnel it flooded. A flood door was not closed so a diver was sent down to close it – a very very remarkable feat in the 19th century. However though he closed the door enabling the workings to be pumped out he opened instead of closed a drain valve associated with the door making the job a bit more difficult.

If you remember the adage.. 'Righty tighty.. lefty loosey for nuts, screws etc; how about .. 'right- to you, left- to to me' in regard to mill table & vice moveable jaw… ref. to a couple of tv brothers.. .

George.

Practice will make it second nature, I said as I tried to move the Y axis with the wheel on the rotary table.

FWIW my mill has a RH screw for the X (which moves with the table) and LH for the Y (which does not), so turning the handle always moves the part the same way a bolt would screw in and out if you were turning a bolt instead of a handle. I suspect that the majority of milling machines will be the same.

Here is an old technique for operating a mill, following the above suggestions and taming backlash for the X axis.

Starting with the RH (right handwheel), turn it CW (clockwise) and move the table sufficient distance to take up the backlash. Lock the table when you reach where you want your X-axis zero.. Set your handwheel index to zero. Now coming from the left side, move to the LH (left side) handwheel (x-axis table lock still tightened). Turn the LH handwheel CW until it takes up the backlash. Set the LH handwheel index to zero.

Unlock the table lock.

You can now get back to zero when moving from the right, so long as you move from the right with the right side handwheel. Same concept when approaching from the left using the LH handwheel. Just don't reset the index settings. This takes some unlearning or a locking screw on the index wheel (which explains one reason why some machines use a thumbscrew instead of just friction for the index)

You can check your settings with a DTI/or dial indicator or a fixed pointer, by measuring against a block on the table or vise. To verify, fix the precision block (1-2-3?) at your zero point. Move the table (with its clamped block) toward the DTI and zero the DTI at your index dial zero line. Repeat the move and see how close you get.

Since you have a precision block, you can check the other handwheel index coming from the opposite direction (plus/minus the width/thickness of the block). Some ops tape or quick clamp a vertical piece of precise thickness to the edge of the block to measure against from the opposite direction.

If you forget and change an index dial, you can go to the opposite wheel and go back to your original zero point.

A solution for keeping track of "turns" is to use a magnet-equipped ruler. Position the ruler under a fixed pointer when you are at your zero set point (established as above). To move 100mm, you can make your move and watch the pointer vs the ruler. When you get close to your goal, you use the readings on the index dial. Moves from the right, use the right wheel. Moves from the left use the left wheel.

GHT and others suggest all moves should measure from the same starting (zero point), to reduce accumulated errors. Takes some practice to change bad habits.

Old school tech used a movable ruler locked on the front/side of the table, with a fixed pointer pointing at the ruler. Using a magnet equipped ruler is an update of this concept AND the magnetic ruler can be used anywhere, X, Y or Z axis.

Improvements or clarifications welcomed.

Paul

Edited By Paul Fallert on 18/09/2020 15:54:08