Skip to content
On site

Hand scraping of machine tool ways

Where others stop,I’m just starting.

I scrape the ways by hand, on the machine as it stands. Nobody has to tear it down or ship it out for that.

Split image. Left: Kemal, bent over the workpiece, pushing the scraper with both hands. Right: the long, blue-painted bed of a machine tool on the shop floor, with the machine ways and the rack running the full length.
Spotting on a machine bed out of the machine: both ways are blued, the blue sits in an irregular pattern over the full length, with lighter areas in between.
Two electronic levels on a precision straightedge across the table of an Okamoto 157 DXNC surface grinder.

40+years in the trade

Spotting wear

Signs of worn machine ways

If speed, feed and tooling are right and the chatter marks stay, the cause is under the saddle.

Stick-slip

Stick-slip means the saddle breaks loose in jerks instead of starting smoothly. It is most obvious at slow feeds and light cuts.

  • When the axis starts
  • Slow feeds

Size drifts along the table

The same setting gives different sizes depending on where on the bed you cut. The error follows the wear on the way.

  • Along the travel
  • Size error
Spotting on a machine bed out of the machine: both ways are blued, the blue sits in an irregular pattern over the full length, with lighter areas in between.
Freshly scraped machine way, spotted blue, with the even oil-retention pattern left by the scraping.

Chatter marks

On the workpiece

Chatter marks are regular waves on the machined surface, usually in the feed direction. When the saddle runs on a way that has worn hollow, they show up first where it spends most of its time.

The gib no longer adjusts evenly

The gib on a dovetail way takes up the play in one spot and binds in the next. When no setting fits along the whole travel, the way has worn hollow.

  • When adjusting the gib
  • Dovetail

What I work on

The work happens on the installed machine, from taking the geometry to measuring it again afterward. The machines are surface grinders and cylindrical grinders, milling machines and lathes.

Have your machine checked
Spotted machine bed, both ways showing contact over the full length.

Machine way repair

I measure the way, rework it and measure it again. On beds, saddles and rotary tables.

Go to the service page: Machine way repair
Freshly scraped way, spotted in blue, with the even pattern of oil pockets left by the scraper strokes.

Way scraping

By hand, stroke by stroke. Also on ways that have worn far out of tolerance.

Go to the service page: Way scraping
Rebuilt machine bed in the workshop, painted white, with two ways showing blue contact.

Machine tool rebuilding

Reworked and set up again until the machine holds its geometry.

Go to the service page: Machine tool rebuilding
Two electronic levels on a precision straightedge across the table of an Okamoto 157 DXNC surface grinder.

Machine tool alignment

Back to level and back to geometry after relocation or a new installation.

Go to the service page: Machine tool alignment
Large spotted rotary table of a machine tool, with a tolerance written on the casting in red marker.

Way liner replacement

A new liner on the mating way, then scraped in.

Go to the service page: Way liner replacement
Digital indicator on a magnetic base, set against a straightedge above the rotary table of a machine tool.

Machine tool inspection report

I record the readings and hand them over. You don’t have to judge the work by looking at the surface.

Go to the service page: Machine tool inspection report

Measuring equipment

What I measure with, and what you keep

Every way is spotted and measured with an electronic level and a dial indicator, before the work and after it. The spotting is the gauge.

Inspection report
Measuring bridge, cut out: a TESA NIVELTRONIC electronic level in the middle, a dial indicator on an articulated arm on the left.
  1. Electronic level TESA NIVELTRONIC
  2. Measuring bridge
  3. Dial indicator

Our work

What does a scraped machine way look like?

Even spotting over the full length, on a bed as on a rotary table. Everything here was photographed on the job, each photo with the part and the step.

See all work
Rotary table with ring gear, out of the machine, on a shop floor. Both circular ways are spotted in blue, the contact shows as even spots around the full circumference.

Spotting

Rotary table with ring gear

Both circular ways spotted, contact checked

  • Measuring equipment: Spotting blue
  • Photographed on the job
Lathe with Boehringer lettering on the headstock. A granite straightedge lies in front of the bed, with an indicator stand on it and its arm reaching over the ways.

Measurement

Boehringer lathe

Bed measured, indicator stand on the granite straightedge

  • Measuring equipment: Granite straightedge, indicator stand
  • Photographed on the job
NIVELTRONIC electronic level by TESA in its holder on a dark straightedge lying in the way of a long, blue-painted machine bed. Behind it the shop with stands and lifting slings.

Measurement

Long bed in the shop

Level on the straightedge, way measured

  • Measuring equipment: NIVELTRONIC
  • Photographed on the job
  1. 01

    You describe the machine and what it shows

    A call or an email is enough: which machine it is, what it is doing and where it stands.

  2. 02

    Measuring and scraping on the installed machine

    The way is spotted and measured, then scraped where the machine stands. Nothing gets torn down or trucked out.

  3. 03

    Sign-off with measured values

    The same geometry is measured again. You get the spotting and the measured values as an inspection report.

Kemal, bent over the workpiece, pushing the hand scraper along the machine way with both hands.

years in the trade

40+

About me

Who will scrape your machine, and why me

Kemal. That’s me in the photo, and that’s how you’ll find me at your machine: scraper in hand, where the machine stands.

  • On site, no teardown

    I scrape on the installed machine. Nothing gets torn down or shipped out.

  • Measured before and after

    Spotting, electronic level and dial indicator. You get the values as an inspection report.

  • You talk to me

    When you call, you talk to the person who will later stand at your machine.

  • Worldwide and in Mühlacker

    I come to you, abroad as well. A bed that is already out I scrape in my workshop.

Frequently asked questions

Questions before the first job

Usually the same ones: whether the machine has to come out, and what you have in hand at the end. Anything not covered here gets settled with a phone call.

+49 172 7791782
A large saddle hangs from chain slings above a machine tool, with the ways exposed underneath.

1. Does the machine have to be torn down and shipped out for scraping?

No. I scrape on the installed machine, at your plant, anywhere in the world. Nothing gets shipped, and nothing has to be realigned afterward. The way is measured and scraped where it will run later.

2. Scraping or grinding: which is right for worn ways?

To grind a bed, it has to come out and go on a grinder. I scrape it in the machine, clamped and set up the way it will work afterward. The spotting is taken on that machine, not on a fixture.

3. How long is the machine down?

That depends on the machine: how long the ways are, how badly they are worn and what needs doing besides scraping. I give you a reliable duration after the on-site inspection. There is no teardown or shipping, because I work on the machine where it stands.

4. How is it measured, and what do I get in writing?

Every way is spotted and measured with an electronic level and a dial indicator, before the work and again at sign-off. You get the spotting and the measured values as an inspection report. I don’t offer laser measurement.

5. How accurate is hand scraping?

That depends on the machine and on what it has to produce. We agree the target value before the work, and I measure it afterward. The result is in the inspection report you get at sign-off.

6. Which machines do you scrape?

Surface grinders and cylindrical grinders, milling machines and lathes. I work on beds, saddles and rotary tables, as well as the way liner on the saddle and leveling from the foundation. I don’t do retrofits.

7. Do you also take a bed or a single saddle that is already out of the machine?

Yes. A bed that is already out is set up on stands in my workshop in Mühlacker and scraped there. It is measured the same way as on an installed machine.

8. How much does it cost to scrape machine ways?

By agreement, for each machine individually. There is no price list. Call and tell me which machine it is, and we’ll talk about the price.

Contact

What is your machine showing?

Write to me

A name and a way to reach you are enough. Anything else helps me size up the job.

Please enter a name.
Please enter a phone number or an email address.

A photo of the way helps, by email or WhatsApp.

Your details are only used to reply. More in the privacy policy.

Thank you, your enquiry has arrived.

You will get a reply via the contact details you gave.

The enquiry could not be sent.

This is not your fault. Please call or send your details by e-mail:

+49 172 7791782Open e-mail