A Vertical Slide For A 9x20 Lathe

[savarin]

My first vertical slide was a bit small in what it could hold so I have decided to build a larger one.
It should look something like this (but not in these colours)

I faced and edged a chunk of hot rolled scrap for the front plate.
I will drill and thread a matrix of holes in this for a variety of mountings.

All four edges were also faced off in a similar manner and ended up within 0.001" of square on all sides and faces. It took a couple of attempts to get it this good.

the next job was to soak the 12mm plates for the angle and swivel plate in vinegar to remove the mill scale, 48 hours and it was cooked to perfection, a bit safer than hydrochloric acid.

The first mistake was to bore the plate for the swivel shaft too large, Doh! never mind, I just knurled the shaft to make it a tight fit. You can just see it there.
The worst part was how I managed to make it too large.
The shaft is 20mm, I turned down one end to 15mm which is where I wanted to fit the shaft.
I used the calipers to measure the shaft then checked that against some imperial drills, the first one I tried was larger than the set caliper gap so I said to myself - " no worries I can bore it out that little extra bit."
I have absolutely no idea why I thought this, definitely a senior moment.
I cut a large counter sink for extra weld holding. This side will eventually be faced flat.

First side welded but forgot to take a photo.
Second side to be deep welded.

I cut the corners off the circle with the angle grinder first to make it easier to turn round.

I decided to turn it between centres to ensure the disk had parallel sides.
and that the shaft was at right angles.

I have decided to add a degree scale on the outside. I have no idea if this is worthwhile but it will look good.
To this end I have printed a degree scale onto a sheet of paper and stuck it to some stainless plate.
I will use this in the end of the main spindle to index the wheel.

This is printed at two degree intervals as I think one degree intervals will be a bit too close.
This site is an excellent source for printed scales
http://www.cgtk.co.uk/metalwork/reference/divider
I've run out of thin cutting disks so have to wait a bit before I can cut it out and lacquer it.
It is the same size as the face plate so I hope to be able to actually turn the what will be a rough cut edge smooth.

 

[savarin]

The stainless sheet is an unknown freebie.
Its 1.9mm thick and damned hard.
I had to resort to the "Bench" shears

I made a quick mandrel to chuck it up to skim the edge'

A complete waste of time, nothing would touch it. I had to resort to a file and hope.
Eventually it was done and I could mount it on the lathe using an expanding mandrel
Made a pointer, used a "G" clamp and steel chunk as a saddle stop (removed here) and worked my way around the disk,
re-adjusted the stop and went round again to extend the whole numbers.
Each division is 2 degrees.
It was pretty quick considering, about 30 mins total.
BUT..... What a dork! in my rush to get this done I marked the wrong edge, guess I will have to make a pointer instead of the mark I was going to use.

 

[Mark_f]

I have made that same mistake of marking the wrong edge. I just remachine the edge and mark it correctly if you can have it about .015" undersized.

 

[savarin]

My brain must be turning to mush I cant believe I never thought of that
thanks Mark.

 

[savarin]

Started to face the angle plate with the large fly cutter


Took 3 passes to get this far

The top right corner didnt get touched but that will be cut off any way and the bottom right corner will be filed flat. Again it doesnt matter as its only cosmetic (but it still hurts)
I bored out the centre using a drill in the lathe spindle then had to mount a milling cutter very slightly off set in the 4 jaw to get the hole exactly to size.


The shaft the other side still has to be threaded for an 18mm nut to clamp the degree disk to the angle plate, then I can cut the shaft off this side.
The blue part has to be trimmed down to the graduated disk.
The shaft protruding from the disk will be removed next.

 

[Eddyde]

Looks good! Perhaps you can add a vernier scale to get divisions below the 2 degree marks?

 

[savarin]

I must be honest Eddy I dont really know if the degrees are worth while but thought it would look good.
I hadnt thought about a vernier scale, I will have to read up on how to do it and even more - how to read one.

 

[savarin]

A wee bit more done today.
Milled the curve in the angle plate to match the degree wheel.
I made a temp mandrel to hold the angle plate on the and turned it by hand.


I cut most of the excess off with an angle grinder, milled it then resorted to the file to finish. Still needs a bit more smoothing.

You will notice Mark that I didnt re cut the scale (lazy sod) I will make a little brass pointer to also hide some of the rough marks.

 

[savarin]

In my usual clumsy manner I broke a tap in the main block.
This required re winding the eroder coil.
Done that and have commenced to burn the broken tap out.
This pic shows the burner in operation but I've lowered the flushing oil (kero) to show up.

 

[savarin]

Burnt the tap out, took a bit of work to chip out the remaining threads but ended up with the original threaded hole un damaged. Just had to run the tap through to clean it up.
Whilst the eroder was burning I milled the flats on the nut.
Many thanks to Tony for kicking me in the butt, I re-assembled the small vertical slide as its accurate enough for this job.


the nut in place, worth $20 of any ones money.


Then I went on to mill out the slot in the slide block.
Phew, this chattered like mad but worked.

This is half way through so now I have to flip it to finish the other side.