Tee-slotted cross-slide query

[joegibParticipant @joegib]

I think Metal Lathe Accessories (Andy Lofquist) is the firm John is referring to. Website is here:

http://www.statecollegecentral.com/metallathe/

 

Joe

[Keith Wardill 1Participant @keithwardill1]

Hi, John,

 

Sorry about the belated posting – just found time to sit and read the forum.

I have a lathe similar to the one you describe, bought from RC-Machines in Luxembourg (http://www.rc-machines.com/index.php) – If you are in France, they might be easier to get to, or cheaper than the ridiculous UK postal charges by mail. They used to do second stuff as well, so perhaps a call or e-mail to them might help.

 

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Hi, all,

I’ve decided to fabricate one from Meehanite (awaiting a quote from College Engineering). Can anyone tell me the spacing of the tee slots on (dare I say it) a Myford ML7, please. I’d like to make it compatible with various accessories. Sorry, forgot to say, I’m all metric.

 

John

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

I’ve a C6 and the Milling Table. I’ve used it twice in five years, I’ll only bought it because I had a big cylinder to line bore which I thought would work better on the lathe than the mill. Last night I did use it to do some flycutting that again was easier to do on the lathe rather than the mill. In both instances, the compound was swapped out for the table. Making a slotted cross slide is a lot of effort, I’d want to be certain I was going to get loads of use out of it- OR enjoy the making of it, since that’s the core of the hobby anyway!

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Steve,

The only reason I have for wanting to make my own was, as you so rightly point out, for the pleasure of making it. Unfortunately, I’ve just got the quote for supply and delivery and it comes to over £60! That makes it economically not viable as a “fun” project. I’ll stick to the cross slide I’ve got and think of something else to make.

Thanks to all of you who have replied with support and suggestions.

 

John

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Hi john,

 

I’ve only just noticed Peter E’s response and request for dimensions. Here’s some stuff that may help you:

 

I used a 6 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ x 1 1/4″ (nominal) slab of meehanite from Collges, and was aghast to discover it was sliced across the smallest cross section, leaving a lot to clean up! I ground off the corners, drilled holes where slots would be and squared it up on the face plate. I made the slots and the dovetails using a small vertical slide and some adventurous clamping. I needed some careful shimming to compensate for the slight dish of the faceplate. The hardest part was making the gib strip. Steel failed, so I went for very VERY hard brass that nearly filled the slot and got a good result.

 

Dimensions (finished) are:

 

LOA 6″, width 3 1/4″, height 1 1/4″.

T-slots 1/2″ throat, depth 5/8″, lips 1/4″ thick, width of bottom 13/16″ – works with teh T-nuts for my X2 mill.

 

Dovetails are 1/4″ deep, so the ‘solid’ between dovetail and slots is 3/8″. I’m sure this could be reduced for a solid table.

 

Round the end of the feedscrew nut and cut away the end of the table so it can run ‘over’ the leadscrew index, this give you a surprising amount of extra travel.

 

I would definitely do it on the mill if doing it again.

 

Good luck.

 

Neil

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Neil,

I very much appreciate the time and trouble you have taken to supply all these details. As I said in my last post, the cost of the basic material, plus the airmail costs are too prohibitive for what is basically a machine exercise, so it’s going on the back burner until I win the lottery (tonight!). Add in the extra cost of tee-slot cutters and end mills etc and the freight costs, and I might as well buy new!

Thanks,

John

 

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

OK. It's a four-year-old thread, but I've moved back to the UK and am getting things straight in the garage/workshop. I bought a second hand (very) ML7 cross slide from an internet site for not a lot of money and am going to have a go at fitting it to my lathe. Luckily, the dovetail on the cross slide (Myford) is narrower than that on the lathe and there looks to be just enough meat to let me open it out to fit. I'll probably have to buy or make e new nut, but otherwise it looks fairly straight forward. Famous last words! A couple of pics:

The original cross slide ………… And the Myford one for comparison, sizewise.

John

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

John Ward will make T slotted cross slides for a number of lathes. Not sure about chinese though.

http://www.latheparts.co.uk/

 Other bits and pieces for them too.

whoops forgot to add the link.

John

–

 

Edited By John W1 on 31/10/2015 17:05:11

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

John W1,

Thanks for the link to latheparts. I have already had a look on there so see if there was anything suitable for my needs. Unfortunately not. And anyway, as I said in a previous post, Id rather like to try to do it myself – just for the hell of it. Well, as I'm starting off with a Myford slide, I'm halfway there, relieving me of the tedious chore of hacking massive amounts of cast iron from a rectangular lump to form the dovetail and tee slots. Cheating, in other words

I'll keep a track on progress through my albums,but don't expect a quick job.

John

[martyn nutlandParticipant @martynnutland79495]

Hello John

I too am in the rather lonely position of machining in France – in Picardie.

I make stuff for my vintage Austin Seven projects.

I run a Chester Super B lathe bought locally, a Warco Economy mill and a Rexon drill press.

If you wanted to contact me and occasionally discuss issues I should be delighted.

My email is martyn.nutland@gmail.com

Good luck with the cross-slide.

Martyn

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

You could always use one of the tee slotted sub tables from RDG or similar suppliers. Just cut it in half and it would probably be about the right size. Two people could split the cost and make one each.

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

Boxford have another way of doing it that could be adapted to other lathes. They call it a boring table and it fits in place of the compound slide.

Handy in some ways as it gives more space due to the compound slide no longer being there and retains the swing when it's not fitted.

Lathe parts manufacturers things to order by the way. For a cross slide he would want to know the width across the gibs etc.

John

–

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Martyn,

Thanks for the offer. Happy to chat to anyone, but, like I said above, I'm back in the UK now, having retired to Normandie thirteen years ago. Good luck machining in France. I found the most difficult thing to source was materials, followed by tooling such as milling cutters and the like at sensible prices. Ebay to the rescue!!

Bon chance,

John

Edited By John Hinkley on 01/11/2015 12:23:25

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

OK. Basically, I bottled it! I had got to the stage where I needed to decide how to mount the topslide onto the modified Myford cross slide. This would have meant a lot of irreversible surgery to the topslide in order to retain the ability to rotate it through 360°, a facility I was keen to keep. So, back to square one and a detailed comparison between the two cross slides showed that there was precious little difference between the two with regards to basic dimensions. I therefore concluded that it was perfectly feasible to mill some tee slots into the original cross slide without significantly weakening its structure. After a lot of careful measuring and re-measuring, I decided on a specific layout and taking a deep breath, proceeded to cut metal. The result is shown below:

Last tee slot cut ……… 

And re-fitted to the lathe …….

Add one topslide, adjust the gibs and lubricate thoroughly ……

The slots aren't symmetrical, neither are they to Myford sizes, but are to my metric specification and, as I have made or intend to make, all my own lathe accessories, they suit me just fine.

On to the next project – modifying the ball-turning fixture to mount on the "new" cross slide!

John

Edited By John Hinkley on 11/11/2015 16:30:45 to try to alter picture layout – unsuccessfully!

Edited By John Hinkley on 11/11/2015 16:34:18

Edited By John Hinkley on 11/11/2015 16:34:47

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