Perhaps actually reading Chris R1's post carefully may help….
Chris R1 said – I have two of these. One was so stiff that I dismantled, cleaned out the remains of the old grease…. but it's not better. fine application of WD40, still no better. If anything it's worse.
Assuming he DID dismantle it and clean it I assume it is not a problem of 'I feel this is more about age, and the stickyness of rancid and probably dirty grease.'
Chris said clearly – The "ally" on the dovetail itself is too shiny to be anodized. In which case the dovetails are clean and not sticky with grease..
He also says "The bronxe(?) parts appear to be pinned, as well as screwed, so I'm guessing they wouldn't "move across a bit".
In which case, use my method…
I would NOT recommend heating the carriage, at least not to the aforementioned 180degC – any warpage or twist in the carriage and its destroyed. You have little control over that. The tolerances are very fine…And since the parts are pinned, there is little to be gained – remove screws, remove pins, try to reset the dovetail and screw down and drill new pin holes, which will hardly ever be in the correct place…
With regard to 'abrasives'… I did not suggest a bastard file or beach sand, only 1600 grit water paper with turps as lubricant, and 2 or 3 gentle passes…And you overate the issue of 'embedded abrasives' in this method – the pass is gentle and when well washed with turps or the like, a pass of Brasso on a wadd will clear all abrasives of note. In any case, if there are one or two particles 'embedded', they will only 'cut' as deep as they protrude and no more, ever again..they do not continue to abrade as they do not move in this application. I think we harp on this issue because it is compared to far more stringent lapping , perhaps in the lathe, of pistons and cylinders, where the process is more complex, with the lapping paste being a mix of loose particles, while the waterpaper is not. A few particles may come loose, but the action of the process is far more gentle than lapping in a lathe where we are forcing the particles to fit between the cylinder and the lap…
"+1 from me for NOT cutting metal" – Similarly , we are not 'cutting metal' but abrading away 1 or 2 thou in an easily controlled manner.
Chris, if you wipe the slides clean and apply a little thin oil, then work the slides back and forth say 10 times, then take a look at the rub marks, where do they present? are they evenly distributed? On the angled dovetail section as well as the flat section? If so, there is potentially no twist or warp and my proposal will fix it.
Chris R1, I would STILL rather go the abrasive route. I would not heat that slide to soften the screw glue..
Joe
Edited By Joseph Noci 1 on 01/02/2019 12:12:12