As per Diogenes above and don’t panic! Spend a bit of time making sure you know what you are doing.
Tony

👍

+1 for Andrews advice.

Don’t forget to lightly oil the back side and top surface of the taper gib as well as the working surfaces. It needs to slide easily in its recess which generally is not as well finished as the working surfaces, most especially so on an “affordable” machine, so lubrication is a great help to getting things just so.

Lots of pushing back and forth to get the gib really well settled. But then it won’t need attention for years. If ever! So it’s well worth putting the effort in at the beginning.

Clive

On 25 September 2024 at 17:16 Sonic Escape Said:

I think I made a big mistake with my mill…

Well done Sonic for admitting the mistake, taking advice, and then describing how he successfully fixed it!

Perhaps there is more value to be squeezed from the incident though. Though no-one was hurt, it appears Sonic had an avoidable accident, worth investigating in itself.  Ideally, we want to avoid workshop accidents.

Unpicking the sequence:

• Sonic is new to the hobby, and an adventurous spirit. I detect no formal training, so – like me and many others – he’s self-taught.   Basics that apprentices were taught early in their careers by a grizzled pro have to be learned the hard-way. Being self-taught means great chunks of machinist know-how are likely to be missing.
• Sonic picks up second-hand tools in Rumania for no particular reason other than to explore them, and in hope they will be useful later.  New learners can’t be expected to do a good job selecting second-hand tools.
• Over-confidence is a common learner mistake.  Dangerous lifting perhaps bending the machine, expecting too much of tools, and dismantling without realising a precision machine can damaged and may be hard to reassemble correctly.
• Inexperience is another booby trap.  Chaps who’ve had a bad experience reinstalling a careless removed wiring loom, are likely to take notes and photographs next time!   Likewise, experience can also be a trap.   This one catches chaps who think they’ve done it before, only to find they’re struggling with an unknown variant.

And are there any ‘lessons learned’ from Sonic’s adventure that can be applied in future to avoid similar adventures?  I think so.  It boils down to approach with caution, having a think before acting, and keeping a simple record.  The goal is avoid avoidable mistakes like missing a couple of retaining screw during reassembly.  Or continuing to wind the handle against stiff resistance, a clear warning that something was wrong, not long after Sonic had opened it up.

More experienced workers can rely on memory, but still expect blunders if tired, drunk, ill or distracted!   We hope their experience covers what they need to do when their performance is impaired for any reason.  Often it doesn’t.

I’ve mentioned notes and photos, but there are plenty of other self-help methods.  During disassembly watchmakers put parts into small pots, whilst workers on large parts often use trays.  In both examples the parts are laid out in order,  making it obvious on re-assembly if anything has been missed.   I expect others will recommend other methods, like RTFM!

Dave