First, a tinted paste is applied to the Bed casting or other contact surfaces of the machine tool during assembly.   Secondly, a stretch (or perfectly flat tool) is passed over areas highlighted by the tinted paste allowing the engineer to see any areas that may not be even or level.         Blue tinted marks are visible from the paste and represent the areas that need to be hand-scraped and properly fit to ensure geometric alignment of the machine tool.   The hand-scraping process is labor intensive and must be performed by skilled craftsman who are trained in the technique. Machine components must be placed then removed up to 5 times to confirm that the machine base is both level and square.         Kitamura currently has over 100 assembly engineers who are certified in hand scraping techniques. Shown above is a completed bed casting of a vertical machining center to which the column will be placed   Hand-scraping and the hand fitting of components allow for true geometric tolerances and long machine tool life. Accuracies of up to 0.000040”/Full Stroke are able to be achieved as a result of this time honored tradition.