Old timer told me I was tramming wrong. Took me 2 weeks to admit he was right.

I had this setup where I'd tram the head on my Bridgeport using the indicator on the spindle itself. Guy who retired after 40 years walked by, laughed, and said I was just chasing my own errors. He showed me to mount the indicator on the quill housing instead. First few tries felt weird and slow. But after running a test cut and seeing zero taper for the first time, I switched for good. Anyone else get feedback that took a while to actually try?

2 comments

2 Comments

uma_baker887d ago

Had a similar thing with my mill. Used to tram it with the indicator in the spindle and would chase it around for an hour. Read a tip somewhere to bolt an angle plate to the table and run the indicator off that instead. Felt like a step backwards at first because it took longer to set up. First time I swept a 12 inch circle and got under half a thou I was sold. Now I never even think about tramming the old way. Sometimes the old heads just have better methods even if they feel clunky.

the_lucas7d ago

And that's the thing with all these "tricks" people post online. Half the time it's someone who's been doing it three weeks telling you to buy a $200 tool. But the old way works because it's based on what the machine actually does when it cuts. Why overthink it?