Mark
I would like to see a better picture of you router mounting bracket .
As indicated in the picture captions, two of my dials are sloppy. I have taken them apart, cleaned, etc, but I was not able to get them tight.
I also made a stop plate for the greatest depth I wanted my cut; this can be adjusted.
After I got the machine last summer, I tweaked the mounting plate, and reversed it from the front to the back of the lathe, and ground out more on the bottom section to allow more room for the slitting blades. I would like to simply redo the entire mounting bracket and use 4 screws instead of 2. While it is accurate now, I suspect it can be better.
Is the dials sloppy or the cross slide.
I put a dial indicator on my cross slide .........
Both dials are sloppy, the cross slide is very solid IMO. When I took it all apart to clean it and learn how it all fit, it had 2 white plastic shims to keep it tight. These went back in easily and I believe it is fine.
On the bottom dial, the slop is not an issue as it will not move on it's own.
On the top dial, I have to hold it against the stop block I made. When the router is on, the vibrations are enough to move the cross slide. For the first several pen blanks, I simply held the dial firmly, but I am more confident that the cuts are the same depth with the stop block.
I had the aluminum plates already, but I will eventually incorporate a dial indicator also.
