air pad

[kbotta]

Anybody popped an air pad off to clean behind it?
Are they set to a touch fit across the ways?
It looks simple enough, any suggestions??
kev

[Duckhunter]

2 years ago we had our XCEL laser'd in.... The Brown and Sharpe Tech took off the pads to clean them... he said that the amount of dirt was normal for the age of the machine...I asked if if taking the pads off to clean them was something that I should do as part of our machine PM...he said NO!!! Removing the pads could cause machine to move diffrently and recal was required.

Tim

[thenettrainer]

If you wanna clean your air bearings, simply pour a little alcohol on the ways, and slowly move manually across the ways. Unlock an axis, and push or pull it slowly along the "wet"way. I do one axis at a time.

Move to one end of axis. Pour. Move along that axis to other end to clean one bearing. Back and forth a few times.

Then move to other end of axis and repeat, moving in oposite direction to clean the other bearing.

Nice and slow. I use a generous amount of alcohol. It evaporates while you're moving along it.

I do ours monthly. Only takes a few minutes.

[Jan d.]

Don't touch them air bearings! Seriously. It is the quickest way to screw the squareness of your machine.

Air bearings run on a 0.0002" to 0.0004" air gap. If anything gets under it, it will destroy the bearing and you will see witness marks on your machine guide rails. So typically, even though there may be a lot of dirt AROUND the bearing, they are clean underneath. If something gets under it, you'll know (bearings will squeek noisily when they start to touch the guideway).

Again, dirt may gather around the bearing. That can be removed with a LITTLE alcohol and Q-tip. Procedure like the one in post 3 will work.

Just keep the guideways clean by doing PM. That's really all they need. Also keep a clean (moisture and oil free) air supply and you ought to be all set.



Jan.

[John Kingston]

Don't touch them air bearings! Seriously. It is the quickest way to screw the squarenss of your machine.

Air bearings run on a 0.0002" to 0.0004" air gap. If anything gets under it, it will destroy the bearing and you will see witness marks on your machine guide rails. So typically, even though there may be a lot of dirt AROUND the bearing, they are clean underneath. If it something gets under it, you'll know (bearings will squeek noisily when they start to touch the guideway).

Again, dirt may gather around the bearing. That can be removed with a LITTLE alcohol and Q-tip. Procedure like the one in post 3 will work.

Just keep the guideways clean by doing PM. That's really all they need. Also keep a clean (moisture and oil free) air supply and you ought to be all set.



Jan.

Very correct answer. I was told this by the Tech who repaired ours when we had oil clog them up.

[#2#]

So, several days (weeks? it all runs together) ago someone asked about introducing a small amount of alcohol into the air lines to flush them out.

Any opinions or experiences?

[craiger_ny]

So, several days (weeks? it all runs together) ago someone asked about introducing a small amount of alcohol into the air lines to flush them out.

Any opinions or experiences?

here's my opinion

[#2#]

here's my opinion

Thanks Craig, I remebered seeing the question but must have missed any answers.

[Jan d.]

So, several days (weeks? it all runs together) ago someone asked about introducing a small amount of alcohol into the air lines to flush them out.

Any opinions or experiences?

Absolutely NOT. They use alcohol to clean the bearing in production but that is BEFORE they plug all the cross drill holes. So any residue will escape through larger holes, not through the orfices.

Any substance in the air will clog! Keep it as dry and clean as you can. The drier and cleaner the air, the better the lift.

Little interesting detail: as air escapes from the bearing, the local temperature under the bearing goes down. In winter, you can have really cold air going through the system, getting even colder right under the bearing (which might be so bad that condensation forms under the bearing!). This can cause your machine to go out of square.

A good trick in this case is to have a really long air line coiled up next to the machine. So where the air comes out of the wall, coil a really long air line inside your temperature controlled room. Since the machine only uses a tiny fraction of air, this will give the air a chance to warm up and be closer to environmental by the time it goes through your machine.


Jan.