Best Way To Clean Up T-Slots on the Milling Table?

Janderso

Janderso

Jeff Anderson
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When I try to slide the T-Nuts on my Bridgeport 9X42 Table they get stuck in spots. I can't see the underside to know what is going on. I assume there are burs? These tight spots are in the center of the table, right where I need to tighten down my Rotary Table of the Chinese Vise.
I have watched a youtube where someone milled his own table with a t slot milling tool.
Ideas?
 
When I got my Bridgeport the T slots were terrible! Couldn't get any T nuts though any of them. It was just crud! I cut out a thin piece of steel that I could clean out the underside of the slots. I also sprayed them down good with WD40 to help loosen the crud up. I couldn't see it, but it was there binding my T nuts up. After an hour of cleaning and scraping they are as good as new.

This would be my guess on what your issue is. There should not be a reason to go in there with a cutting tool.

Ted
 
I tossed one of these into an order I was making already for belts, wipers, etc.. http://www.machinerypartsdepot.com/product/SG5050101

It seems to help scrape the crud out of the slots. I haven't found any need to use a cutter on them, but mine might have been treated better. Hard to know the history of an old machine like these.
 
A T-slot cleaner. Who would have ever thought. learn something new every day!
Thank you, I ordered one.
 
ttabbal said:
I tossed one of these into an order I was making already for belts, wipers, etc.. http://www.machinerypartsdepot.com/product/SG5050101

It seems to help scrape the crud out of the slots. I haven't found any need to use a cutter on them, but mine might have been treated better. Hard to know the history of an old machine like these.
Click to expand...

A tool like this will work very well. This is what I was alluding to when I said I cut a thin piece of steel to do the job, although mine was just in the shape of an "L" and I worked one side at a time.

ttabbal's post proves that a picture or link is worth a thousand words!

Ted
 
Janderso said:
When I try to slide the T-Nuts on my Bridgeport 9X42 Table they get stuck in spots. I can't see the underside to know what is going on. I assume there are burs? These tight spots are in the center of the table, right where I need to tighten down my Rotary Table of the Chinese Vise.
I have watched a youtube where someone milled his own table with a t slot milling tool.
Ideas?
Click to expand...

I have had that problem before, if you're talking about the narrow (5/8") portion of the slot being too tight. I think the problem was caused by someone using 'makeshift' (read CRAP) nuts or bolt heads in the T-Slot. A proper T-nut or T-bolt has enough bearing area to distribute the load. If there isn't enough bearing area, when tightened, the nut or bolt head can mushroom the bottom of the vertical slot.

I recommend taking a nice sharp mill file and run it along the vertical slot faces. I use some fingertips between the file and the opposite side of the slot and can easily feel the difference between the file cutting high spots or sliding along a clean surface.

I've never seen slots so bad that "re-milling" was a reasonable option. I hope yours aren't that bad.
 
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You could mill the slot sides a bit, just take care not to take off too much material.
Mark
 
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