T-Slot attachment for 7x mini lathe

[homebrewed]

I recently had a project where I needed to drill and tap an 8mm hole on the end of a 7 inch long aluminum bar. It was too long to do it with my benchtop mill -- just not enough Z to do it once the chuck is installed. I started thinking about making a T-slot type replacement for the compound slide on my mini lathe, but then found that the hard work had already been done -- Little Machine Shop sells a replacement that has the necessary T slots. And the cost was reasonable, about $36. I didn't think I could MAKE something for a comparable price.

So I ordered it and it worked out very nicely for this particular job. I think it will come in handy for a number of things. Line boring comes to mind but I'm sure there will be other uses for it. It wasn't necessary to install the feed screw, I just tightened down the gib screws to hold it securely. Some spacers under the piece and the cross slide (and a machinist's square) were all I needed to get the proper alignment. As a bonus, peck drilling the hole was a piece of cake.

Here's a photo showing it in use. The attachment uses 8mm tee nuts with 6mm screw holes. The tee nuts came with the chuck for my rotary table and I used some 6mm all-thread for clamping the work. The clamps are from my mill's workholding kit. My lathe didn't like driving the tap so after starting the threads I moved the part to my vise and finished with a tap wrench.

 

[markba633csi]

T-slot cross slides are so handy- more lathes should have them

 

[homebrewed]

T-slot cross slides are so handy- more lathes should have them

There's really a lot to like with the one I got, it also has a 10-1.5mm hole for mounting a standard toolpost as well. I didn't give up a thing with this replacement.

 

[Steve.Chamberlain]

I made a table for one of my lathes and added T slots to it. Horizontal milling

 

[jwmay]

That’s great! What a handy appurtenance!

I do like my tee slotted cross slide, but I’ve sometimes thought it might be nice if it were removeable.

 

[ChazzC]

I recently had a project where I needed to drill and tap an 8mm hole on the end of a 7 inch long aluminum bar. It was too long to do it with my benchtop mill -- just not enough Z to do it once the chuck is installed. I started thinking about making a T-slot type replacement for the compound slide on my mini lathe, but then found that the hard work had already been done -- Little Machine Shop sells a replacement that has the necessary T slots. And the cost was reasonable, about $36. I didn't think I could MAKE something for a comparable price.

So I ordered it and it worked out very nicely for this particular job. I think it will come in handy for a number of things. Line boring comes to mind but I'm sure there will be other uses for it. It wasn't necessary to install the feed screw, I just tightened down the gib screws to hold it securely. Some spacers under the piece and the cross slide (and a machinist's square) were all I needed to get the proper alignment. As a bonus, peck drilling the hole was a piece of cake.

Here's a photo showing it in use. The attachment uses 8mm tee nuts with 6mm screw holes. The tee nuts came with the chuck for my rotary table and I used some 6mm all-thread for clamping the work. The clamps are from my mill's workholding kit. My lathe didn't like driving the tap so after starting the threads I moved the part to my vise and finished with a tap wrench.

View attachment 464054

Now on my wishlist for my annual “free delivery to Cabin Fever” purchase from LMS - thanks!

 

[GrifterGuru]

@homebrewed Thanks for the heads-up on the T-slot slide. Ordered and received from LMS. International shipping was quick too!

Now I can get on with a planned job that was shelved.

Only thing left is to either source a T-Slot cros slide or make one, naturally it would need to be slightly longer too......

 

[SouthernChap]

Nice, that's on the list.

 

[GrifterGuru]

@SouthernChap It's a very handy tool to have for the mini lathe.

You **might** need a separate gib strip for it since the original gib strip is setup for the original compound slide and the grub screw locations **might** be differently located on the T-Slot slide.

Not had chance to fully check mine yet, but I have a spare Gib strip handy anyway.

 

[SouthernChap]

@SouthernChap It's a very handy tool to have for the mini lathe.

You **might** need a separate gib strip for it since the original gib strip is setup for the original compound slide and the grub screw locations **might** be differently located on the T-Slot slide.

Not had chance to fully check mine yet, but I have a spare Gib strip handy anyway.

I have a couple of spare compound strips in my 'bits I bought a few of as they were cheap and I might need' drawer.