09-24-2012, 07:12 AM
Hello Greg,
No arguments here, My post was more about giving all the information in one place to help folks make up their minds.
As I have said I often use felt, however, I would rather use double lip style wipers except for the difficulty of adapting them to anything but flat ways, it is for this reason that I use felt.
Personally I would steer well clear of hard block style wipers but any of the others work well within the limitations of the particular design, for example; when using single lip wipers the operator must never use compressed air to blow swarf off the ways, as this often blows swarf under the single lip, double lip wipers will often have swarf between the blades showing how swarf gets past the first lip.
There is no doubt that Hardinge knows what they are doing and whatever they are using as wipers, they are no doubt the best type for their machines, I would guess from the photos I have seen that they are using double lip seals and potentially teflon seals at that, One example of such a machine is the HLV-H. I am no expert on these machines, but I know enough to be able to say that the bed style is highly unusual among lathes being a dovetail style rather than a flat or even prismatic ways and incorporating teflon lining on the carriage sliding surfaces as well as auto or semi auto lubrication. Given that the dovetail bed lends itself particularly well to double lip wipers, and is one of the few designs on which even the block style wipers could be quite effective, when correctly designed, installed and maintained.
It should also be noted though that with Hardinge being as expensive as they are, they could afford the time to get the installation of the more difficult style of wipers right. I would take care using just one feature of any Hardinge machine and applying it to all other machines as best practice, they are designed as complete systems and if any single feature is copied, the other linked features may be required to make the adaptation successful.
As always I hope that this post is of use explaining my opinions while being very clear that I absolutely respect yours, As I stated in that first long post the most important thing is that having wipers is a great idea, and any wipers are better than none.
And for the record; you are quite right, the oil stored in the felt is no where near enough to lube the ways, but it is enough to lube the swarf stuck in the felt to prevent it damaging the ways, the wipers should keep the oil in between the sliding faces, in position rather than providing a reservoir, this reservoir should be the oil supply grooves in the mating faces of the carriage.
Thanks for taking the time to read my posts as well, they are a bit long, I know.
Best Regards
Rick
No arguments here, My post was more about giving all the information in one place to help folks make up their minds.
As I have said I often use felt, however, I would rather use double lip style wipers except for the difficulty of adapting them to anything but flat ways, it is for this reason that I use felt.
Personally I would steer well clear of hard block style wipers but any of the others work well within the limitations of the particular design, for example; when using single lip wipers the operator must never use compressed air to blow swarf off the ways, as this often blows swarf under the single lip, double lip wipers will often have swarf between the blades showing how swarf gets past the first lip.
There is no doubt that Hardinge knows what they are doing and whatever they are using as wipers, they are no doubt the best type for their machines, I would guess from the photos I have seen that they are using double lip seals and potentially teflon seals at that, One example of such a machine is the HLV-H. I am no expert on these machines, but I know enough to be able to say that the bed style is highly unusual among lathes being a dovetail style rather than a flat or even prismatic ways and incorporating teflon lining on the carriage sliding surfaces as well as auto or semi auto lubrication. Given that the dovetail bed lends itself particularly well to double lip wipers, and is one of the few designs on which even the block style wipers could be quite effective, when correctly designed, installed and maintained.
It should also be noted though that with Hardinge being as expensive as they are, they could afford the time to get the installation of the more difficult style of wipers right. I would take care using just one feature of any Hardinge machine and applying it to all other machines as best practice, they are designed as complete systems and if any single feature is copied, the other linked features may be required to make the adaptation successful.
As always I hope that this post is of use explaining my opinions while being very clear that I absolutely respect yours, As I stated in that first long post the most important thing is that having wipers is a great idea, and any wipers are better than none.
And for the record; you are quite right, the oil stored in the felt is no where near enough to lube the ways, but it is enough to lube the swarf stuck in the felt to prevent it damaging the ways, the wipers should keep the oil in between the sliding faces, in position rather than providing a reservoir, this reservoir should be the oil supply grooves in the mating faces of the carriage.
Thanks for taking the time to read my posts as well, they are a bit long, I know.
Best Regards
Rick
Whatever it is, do it today, Tomorrow may not be an option and regret outlasts fatigue.