Vertical slide fitment

After my post asking if the Kiwi would be too ambitious a project I considered the replies and then revisited my vertical slide. I came to the conclusion that it was not really meant for my lathe and was too large and offered no decent work holding. After a bit of research I went for a Warco slide and milling vice knowing that they should be reasonable quality with some good backup here in the UK if thinks went south.

My cross slide isn't drilled for a vertical slide so that meant I would need to remove it for drilling and tapping. I had a brainwave though and decided to mount the slide to a thick (12mm) plate and mount that plate on the toolpost stud. This would mean easy fitment and I would be able to angle the slide using the compound is I needed too. See the photos for how I achieved this.

I've not seen photos of anyone else doing it this way, maybe there's a reason for that. It does seem to work quite well though and I've been able to mill the foot and frame for my chosen project, Elmers wobbler. It seems quite sturdy though I do get some chatter at times.

Can anyone suggest why this might be a bad method for fitting the slide? Apologies for the photo orientation, I'm not sure what's gone wrong there.

As it is inherently flexible, you should only make small depths of cut and feed slowly. I have a vertical slide for my 7 x 12 mini lathe that replaces the compound. unfortunately, it is too far off the axis of the spindle to be of much use, I have only tried it out once in ten years.

I've been able to take 20 thou cuts easily with aluminium which is OK with me. 30 thou worked too but it didn't seem as comfortable doing so. I understand that there will be flex in my mount but not much I would have thought. 12mm plate is quite substantial isn't it.

The slide I had previously is like the one in the picture on this web page **LINK** andI found it was way to far off the axis to be useful. That and rubbish work holding.

My new setup works much better and is superb by comparison.

My vertical slide is a Myford double-swivel with a vice a lot like the one in the bottom pic. I bought a Warco baseplate with my WM250V and modified it with 2 M8 tappings for the Myford slide. Using the T-slots in the WM250V crossslide, I have quite a range of positions where I can fit it, so I can *usually* find a convenient way to do the job within the 115mm. movement range of the crossslide. I'd find it very limiting to have to mount it in a fixed position such as the toolpost stud.

I'd thought about fitting tenons to locate it square to the spindle axis, but it's very easy to manage without - with the T-nuts loose, you run the saddle to push the vice jaws up to the face of the chuck jaws, with these latter as open as you can set them and still touch the top face of the vice, check for good contact and then carefully tighten the T-nut screws. Your vice will be square to the spindle axis with a thou or two max.

I use this arrangement a lot, and recently I've got lazy and taken to leaving it in place - with the swivel slide swung aside out of the way - even whilst doing ordinary turning.

Because this works so well, and I'm short of space, my plans to buy a mill keep getting put back.

Edited By Mick B1 on 02/02/2020 19:34:49

I have a plate to fit my vertical slide on to for my M Type Drummond. There are T slots but they don't align with the slide holes so I have a plate with sets of holes and I can change slide position.

David

An idea for a simple vertical slide attachment in an article in Popular Mechanics magazine published in 1945.

Mouinting on the Top Slide instead of the Toolpost is a good way. It allows angled milling or drilling.

But as already said, Vertical Slides make the set up more flexible, so are not for the heavy handed. Be satisfied to be removing metal, if only with light cuts.

You are entering a new and exciting world!

Howard