Where to get thin shim stock?

[jtrout13]

I'm in the process of aligning the headstock on my 7x16 lathe with the bed and am having a bit of a problem. Using cut up feeler gauges, the smallest increment i'm able to shim is 0.0005 in. Using the feeler gages cut up, I got the misalignment of my headstock to under a thou over 3", but I'd like to get it better than that. My calculations indicate I need to shim another 0.0002 or so to get perfect alignment. My question is, where can I get shims that are thinner than 0.0005 or come in different increments?

I realize I could in effect get the desired difference by putting, for example, an 0.00075 shim on one side and an 0.0005 on the other side, but I can't find any shims except those that are graduated in 0.0005 increments. Any ideas?

 

[Entropy455]

The thinnest steel shims I’ve ever seen are 0.001” thick, and you can crumble them up into little balls with your bare hands (they are very fragile). I'm not saying thinner shims don't exist - just that I've never seen any.

Standard “regular duty” aluminum foil is about 0.00063” thick. Aluminum might be too soft for your application though. . . .

Wouldn’t it be easier to scrape and remove 0.0002” from the high side of the headstock mounting surface?

 

[Entropy455]

http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?id=1195&step=2&top_cat=0

Here's a source for good quality steel shim stock.

 

[jtrout13]

First, I don't know how to scrape things Also, I'm not shimming it in the up/down direction. Using a test bar, the tailstock end of the bar is a bit closer to the front of the lathe than the headstock end is. On the mini lathe, the headstock mounts to the bed with a v-shaped groove, and the easiest way to adjust front-back alignment is to put shims here.

 

[Entropy455]

Aluminum foil leaf (the stuff you purchase at an arts and craft store) can be as thin as 0.00016” thick. Again, I think putting aluminum in this joint is a bad idea. You want steel to steel contact (aka iron to iron).

Are you sure there’s no other way to make this adjustment?

Are there any provisions to adjust alignment within the headstock bearing housings?

 

[Anko]

I have used aluminiun foil ( +/- 0.02 mm) to shim my milling vise, and has worked fine until now, I have put up to 3 layers (+/- 0.06 mm).

Make sure you shim with the maximun area.

hope to help

Saludos

 

[joeby]

Have you tried looking for metric shim stock? I have some .03mm (.0012") that comes in handy for this sort of thing. We look for anything that can be used for shim stock at work, for use in setups. Trying to shim parts to correct parallelism can be frustrating. One guy will buy pop-tarts from the vending machines because the pouch is a consistent .0007" thick.

Kevin

 

[terrywerm]

I do not think that aluminum would be a good idea for a long term solution due to electrolysis of dissimilar metals. After a period of time electolysis will cause a buildup of residue that will slowly push the headstock out of alignment worse than what you started with. In the short term it would be fine. I don't think that it would be too soft either. The pressure required to force it out of the joining faces would be far greater than you could create with the mounting bolts.

 

[purpleknif]

WE got .0005" at work. Same company that makes all the other sizes.

 

[jtrout13]

Thanks guys, I didn't think of the metric stock. I'll try that next.