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Levelling of Granite Y Axis Tops by Grinding Part 2
Posted by Jonathan Gee on Feb 28, 2022
GRIND TIME GRANITE
Levelling Up Granite Sides
[Part 2]
Posted by Jonathan Gee,
28 Feb 2022
This is a privately funded project that frequently sees shortage of funds delaying progress, If you are enjoying this build diary and would like to contribute to the completion of this project and all the future guides and video journeys it would be gratefully received and spent directly on this project. Donate through PayPalMe Here...
Y Axis Granite Grinding Part 2
As I mentioned earlter the first step in this process was to have a good cleanup ready for taking some base measurments. I slapped on some electricians tape on the granite whereby i would eventually write measurments on. I would suggest that you complete a full measurement of both axis. I took measurements at about 150mm intervals. Having picked a position as a reference and zero, i was able to plot the relative differences and write them on the tape. This gave me a clear idea on where the high and low points were. Obviously I wanted to begin working on the high points with a view to grinding all of these positions level with the lowest point measured. I would advise to wear a face mask. If you grind indoors you will be subject to a dust cloud. Outside with a bit of breeze helped significantly to allow you to see your way. Again, you can choose the correct PPE for when you do this task yourself and what i chose to use is by no means the optimum for what you might need for the task so seek professional advice first before beginning this task.
Above you can see a video of the grinding process in action. Here i was working on an end that was running a little high. I think you can see that is was up about 0.11mm from reading the label.
These grinding tools don't fly through the granite by any means. It is not a quick process and the best advice i can give you is to take it easy with the pressure you apply until you get a feel how much you are removing at a time. By the end of doing it, I was able to feel pretty much what it felt like to take 50 microns off. This will be very dependant on your setup and the equipment you use so take it steady at first until you in harmony with it.
You can see here how i worked along one of the faces by gradually working a side down and repeatedly taking measurements and adjusting the notes on the tape. Periodically i checked that i was getting a square face with the simple use of an engineers square, and taking measurements from the near and far edges, This did not prove to me much of an issue to maintain correctly. I think having quite a rigid assembly with a heavy base for the drill, and setting it up correctly helped a lot.
Obviously then I had to transfer and replicate those levels to the other side. It really is critical you clean up properly before you take another set of measurements. I went through a load of cleaning fluid and clothes to make sure there was no grit skewing the results. Once on the second side, I also began taking a lot of reference check measurements from the original side to check that the height gauge wasnt feeding me some slightly reset value for whatever reason. This process actually enabled me to discover that i had a piece of plastic stuck to the bottom of the height gauge between cleanups. If i had not completed routine checks against the original face I could have been making false zero's on the second face.
After a washdown and clean up I had the Y sides pretty damn close to the accuracy of my Height gauge at 0.01mm. Now I left this completely alone for a while until i had completed drilling the holes for the Y rails. It wasn't until a month later when I approached drilling the Y rails. I figured it would be a good idea to park up the base and begin work on drilling gantry holes. This meant the base could park up and settle for a good while. I also figured that if after drilling the Y holes and all the pressure that that would entail on the joints, if they hadn't moved at all when i came to re-measuring those, I was dealing with a pretty rock solid assembly.
This is the finished surfacce after the grinding process. By increasing the lightness of cut as i got closer to the target measurements, the finished grind proved to leave a good surface finish. This would improve further later when it can to trimming those extra microns by hand.
Please feel free to leave any comments, questions or feedback below...
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Originally Uploaded On: 28/02/2022
Last Updated On: 28/02/2022
Estimated Date Period: : 06/10/2020
This is a privately funded project that frequently sees shortage of funds delaying progress, If you are enjoying this build diary and would like to contribute to the completion of this project and all the future guides and video journeys it would be gratefully received and spent directly on this project. Donate through PayPalMe Here...
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THIS BUILD DIARY IS ONLY HOSTED ONLINE BY EMG PRECISION LTD. IT IS A PRIVATE HOBBY PROJECT BY MYSELF, JONATHAN GEE. THIS PROJECT BLOG IS ONLY A DIARY OF EVENTS WITH SOME IDEAS FOR HOW I FELT THE PROCESS WENT WITH SOME TECHNIQUES I FOUND USEFUL. THIS IS NOT AT ALL AN OFFICIAL GUIDE OF HOW TO DO THINGS AND YOU SHOULD SEEK PROFESSIONAL ADVICE FROM COMPETENT PERSONS AND CONDUCT RISK ASSESSMENTS BEFORE UNDERTAKING ANY OF THE TASKS SHOWN IN THIS PROJECT BLOG DIARY.
