My gap has a crack!

[Screwdriver]

You could polish that for an hour it wouldn't do **** all to its alignment.

Well to be fair, you’re not actually polishing it then

If a surface is polished then, by definition, material removal is taking place and a sharp edge is going to take the brunt of it. Secondly, merely by handling a heavy item of equipment, scuffs dings and chips are much easier to acquire than if it is safely bolted in place. Again, that sort of damage typically occurs at the edges.

 

[Screwdriver]

I appreciate they an be bit of a pain to remove but only if ya lathe isn't level. If they are such a delicate part to mess with then manufacturers wouldn't of put em there in the first place

it’s not so much that they are delicate (though see my comment above) but the gap piece is a super precision component

 

[God mode restorations]

it’s not so much that they are delicate (though see my comment above) but the gap piece is a super precision component

Yer it is. But my point is they are designed to be removed and installed when ever its needed.

 

[brightspark]

it’s not so much that they are delicate (though see my comment above) but the gap piece is a super precision component

and will be machined in situ after it is 1st fitted

 

[fizzy]

I am suprised it doesn't have any locating dowels tbh.

 

[Screwdriver]

Yer it is. But my point is they are designed to be removed and installed when ever its needed.

Yeah but not removed, boiled in acid, hit with an angle grinder before having its edges polished off.

 

[God mode restorations]

Yeah but not removed, boiled in acid, hit with an angle grinder before having its edges polished off.

Who mentioned an angle grinder. Am talking hand polished ffs

 

[pressbrake1]

Gap beds can be a pest when a lazy basket has removed it and replaced with dirt underneath and is left for many years and they can wear wrong and then someone sensible does a gap job and replaces it clean and it sits wrong.

Theres no magic, no bed going to twang like a guitar string when the gap is removed except in a badly leveled long bed lathe.

As Ive said before, idle behaviour causes gap piece problems and that includes putting it directly on a concrete floor

 

[pressbrake1]

Or left out for years then replaced on a worn bed

 

[Pete.]

I think someone on PM bought a gap piece for their lathe which had been used without one and there was like a 10 thou step up onto the gap piece. Fizzy's one looks well used though so I would just de-burr the edges, LIGHTLY stone the bottom and mating face on both the gap piece and both seat and fit it up, see how it looks. A straight edge across the join will tell the story. Just use it and pretty soon the bed and the gap will look the same. Shiny isn't always best.

 

[fizzy]

Yeah but not removed, boiled in acid, hit with an angle grinder before having its edges polished off.

I soaked it in citric acid which is so gentle they use it in 7up!
The only tool I have used on it is wire wool

 

[Screwdriver]

Who mentioned an angle grinder. Am talking hand polished ffs

Yeah well I thought I'd throw that in just in case. He never said he didn't...

 

[the snooper]

Tap it, if it's a crack it won't ring true

 

[RichardM]

Looks like casting marks to me.

 

[daleyd]

Could be worse, your crack could have a gap

 

[Hood]

Tap it, if it's a crack it won't ring true

If it does will it be his ring piece?

 

[Sammy7]

Picture of underside. Mark runs opposite way!
How do I polish the ways to get them shiny?View attachment 205082

Definitely flash from the core that hasn’t been trimmed before assembly into sand mould and subsequent casting