bronze wear pads?

[CurlyEars]

I am currently building the Gingery lathe. I have upscaled it a tad to a 10" swing and 18" C-to-C. I am considering using SAE 841 bronze wearpads on the carriage, cross slide and compound.

The ways for the bed and cross slide are cold rolled steel, .25" thick. The catsings are aluminum. I can get the bronze in 1/8" stock, and was thinking that the bronze against steel would probably result in a lot less wear than aluminum against steel.

Looking for knowlegable advice on this.

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Steam is Grand!

[Thrud]

If you are going to scrape the bed flat, the special plastic sheets used to restore machine ways ( www.machinerepair.com (http://www.machinerepair.com) ) might be a better choice. Check out the website!

Have fun and be safe.

[Frank B. McClain]

I would increase the thickness of the way materal to .500 or .625 to add more regidity to the machine. I built the Gingery lathe so if you have questions contact me. Frank B. McClain Indianapolis In.

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