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Tee-slotted cross-slide query

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John Hinkley20/07/2011 19:09:29
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I have an Asian-manufactured lathe of the 9 x 20 variety, bought locally here in France. Although I'm very pleased with it, it lacks a tee-slotted cross-slide. Having looked at many pictures on various web sites, it appears to be very similar to any number of other lathes of the type. I was wondering if I could perhaps substitute a cross-slide from one of these for the original on my lathe. It shares many similarities to, for example, the Harbor (sic) Freight, Grizzly and Enco lathes sold in the USA as well as the Chester '920' and DB10 models, which are, in turn, similar to the WM series from Warco and the Axminster BV20M. I wonder, if anybody has any of these lathes, would you kindly take the time to give me the dimensions of your cross-slides in order that I can compare them to mine? A picture of my lathe is in my photo album.
John
Michael Cox 120/07/2011 20:21:53
555 forum posts
27 photos
Hi John,
If all else fails you could make one. I made one for my minilathe, see:
Mike
Mark Dickinson20/07/2011 21:46:03
48 forum posts
4 photos
John,
 
your lathe looks the same as my Axminster BV20 that I currently have for sale. I will measure the cross slide up for you tomorrow night. My lathe originally came with a plain cross slide , but I bought a replacement from Warco as theirs have the tee slots in them. I had to take 5mm off the top of the top slide as the new cross slide is thicker to accommodate the tee slots.
 
Mark
Bogstandard20/07/2011 22:42:18
263 forum posts
I am just about to bolt one of these onto my cross slide, so I can put it on and take it off as required.
 
 
 
John
John Stevenson20/07/2011 23:14:27
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5068 forum posts
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Another one here of a different style a bit larger so you can make a choice.
 
 
Towards the bottom.
 
John S.

Edited By John Stevenson on 20/07/2011 23:14:47

Bogstandard21/07/2011 05:44:53
263 forum posts
I purchased both John, to see which one would suit my needs better.
 
The one not used will be turned into a t-slotted sine table.
 
It is looking like the RDG one will fit the Crusader the best..
 
 
John
John Hinkley21/07/2011 10:10:18
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1545 forum posts
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Thanks to all of you. To answer you in order:
Mike
To be honest, I did try to make something similar to your 'sandwich' cross-slide - but the slots were at 90 degrees to those on your's. However, this was before I got the mill and, to be truthful, I made such a dog's breakfast of it, I gave up and used the metal for other things! I'll get better, I hope!
 
Mark.
It was your advert that prompted me to have another look at the problem. I feel an mail to Warco coming on, though I'm worried about the cost of carriage.
 
Johns (Bogstandard and Stevenson).
I'm a little concerned that bolting one of these on will reduce the capacity of the machine too much, but is certainly a quick fix and one I'll definitely consider if I can't get a 'proper' replacement.
 
Thanks again to all,
 
John
John Hinkley21/07/2011 19:03:24
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1545 forum posts
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To update:
I sent an email to Warco to which I received a quick response. Unfortunately they no longer supply lathes of this style and have no cross-slide spares - so it looks like I'll have to make on myself or try the USA.
 
John

Stub Mandrel21/07/2011 21:34:16
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4318 forum posts
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Made from a slab of meehanite from College Engineering. Note also my version of the 'Gibraltar' toolpost.
 
Machined using a teeny vertical slide on the lathe, it would be doddle on the mill.
 
So roll your own, very rewarding.
 
Neil
Bogstandard22/07/2011 19:05:39
263 forum posts
I think you will find that if the topslide already fitted to your lathe isn't thick enough to cut your own slots, then fitting one that does, you will be losing machining clearance anyway.
 
BTW, the way I will be fitting the bolt on one is only onto the plain portion of the cross slide, not underneath the toolpost as well, and will only be fitted when required.
 
 
John
Andrew Johnston22/07/2011 20:34:19
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7061 forum posts
719 photos
Surely if the OP has a mill available there'd be less need to have a slotted T-slide?
 
Regards,
 
Andrew

PS: We need a tongue-in-cheek smiley
Peter E22/07/2011 23:44:44
48 forum posts
22 photos
Nice job Stub M, looks really interesting! What size (thickness) is your new cross-slide?
 
The reason for asking is that I am thinking of doing one myself.
 
@John/Bogs: I did a quick measurement on my SIEG C3 and found that the dovetails require say 7 mm, and if using the shallow T-slots Myford style, they require 8 mm. Allowing for 3 mm untouched material in between we come to 18 mm required thickness which is only 2 mm thicker than the original slide which I measured to about 16 mm.
 
Yes, one loses 2 mm swing above X-slide, but I can live with that thinking of all the possibilties that will become available.
 
This sounds tempting, but am I allowing enough maerial??? Thinking of using cast iron and work from that.
 
BR
 
Peter
Bogstandard23/07/2011 08:59:51
263 forum posts
Peter,
 
I am not suggesting you use my method, just giving an alternative solution, which I think is all any of us can do on here.
 
Like yourself, I measured up my original to see if I could get standard t-slots into my cross slide (In my shop, I have settled on two standards, 16mm & 8mm), but unfortunately, I found that I would not be happy with the strength of them because the top area would be a little on the thin side, hence going for my solution.
 
The way I looked at things, the t-slots will be for mounting either specialist tooling, which I can make to my own dimensions to fit, or for mounting something that needs to be bored between centres.
 
I am lucky in that I do have a largish machine, and thus more clearances to play with.
 
It all boils down to what is acceptable to yourself, and it looks like your solution will be the best, whereas I couldn't do what you are going to be doing as mine would be a more complex topslide to make. It could be done, but it would far outweigh the benefits gained.
 
Best of luck on your adventure.
 
John
John Hinkley23/07/2011 09:21:22
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1545 forum posts
484 photos
Thanks, again, for all the input.
I like the idea of making it from scratch - I'll investigate the College Engineering lead, (that's pronounced "leed", not "led"!!) although I think I'd have to have it delivered to the UK and get someone without a hernia to bring it over!
The reason for wanting a cross-slide with tee-slots is, well, because they're not there now! In addition, I'm making my own, modified, version of the "Bedair ball-turner", which I will obviously need to mount on the cross-slide. Other tools which attach there also would be easier to mount with tee-slots, for example my rotary table.
My dovetail is 11.3mm deep x 60mm at its widest and the cross-slide itself is 25mm deep, leaving insufficient room for tee-slots. It's not wide enough for longitudinal ones, either, at only 110mm wide.
Yes, I would lose some centre to cross-slide distance, but I could always replace the original if things were that critical.
Anyway, back out to the workshop, I've got swarf to make!
John
 
Gordon W23/07/2011 10:10:26
2011 forum posts
I was thinking about this sort of thing a couple of years ago, and on the advice given on forums just drilled a few holes, tapped M6, along the edges of the top slide. Using these new holes and the top slide mounting screws a lot of stuff can be fastened down.
Peter E23/07/2011 23:01:26
48 forum posts
22 photos
Thanks John/Bogs for your comments, very valuable. I will keep on pondering on this and make some sketches to see what would fit both my lathe and my desires.
 
Regarding the use of a threaded  hole pattern instead of T.-slots, I have been thinking of that as well. But here I feel that the risk of abrasive and other swarf will too easily find their way onto the slideways, but thanks for the tip.
 
BR
 
/Peter

Edited By Peter E on 23/07/2011 23:04:23

Bogstandard24/07/2011 11:36:50
263 forum posts
Peter,
 
Another way to keep the costs down if your cross slide doesn't quite have enough depth to cut the whole T-slot, would be to cut just the wide bottom half into the cross slide and fix steel strips just a little thicker than the T-nut top bit height onto the top face to give you the narrow slots for the tops of the T-nuts.
 
It wouldn't be the best looking T-slotted cross slide, but it would be very cheap to obtain the same effect as a fully machined one.
 
John
Peter E24/07/2011 12:07:29
48 forum posts
22 photos
Thanks John, that is also a way to do it, but I guess that it will occupy more vertical space as the plate bolted on top needs to be at least 3mm/ 1/8" to give enough strength.
 
What I really want to find is the best balance between appropriate amount of material to create T-slots and still get as much swing over X-slide as possible.
 
Not being a mechanical engineer by trade I am unsure about how much untouched material that needs to exist between T-slots and dovetails. Using Michael Cox's description I have set for 3 mm but it may be possible to make it smaller - or?
 
When I finally come to a conclusion/decision I will purchase a suitable chunk of cast iron and machine it using my mini-mill. Then the X-slide will also be longer than today to make it possible to attach a rear toolpost, for example.
 
BR
 
/Peter
ady24/07/2011 13:31:51
612 forum posts
50 photos
The cross slide on my Drummond M-series is 30mm deep.
The slide on my myford lathe milling slide attachment is also 30mm deep.
 
So that seems to be the sort of thickness you chaps should be looking at.
 
total
30 m-series
30 milling slide
 
dovetail
12.1 m-series
9.6 milling slide
 
total t-slot depth
14.00 m-series
11.4 milling slide
 
 

Edited By ady on 24/07/2011 13:41:40

Peter E24/07/2011 18:24:20
48 forum posts
22 photos
Thank you for the measurements, very good for comparison!
 
The X-slide on my C3 is 16 mm thick with a 7 mm dovetail, but the milling table of my X1 is 33 mm thick also with a 7 mm dovetail but here the T-slots use 15 mm of the total thickness (8 mm T-slots).
 
I did look in my copy of Model Engineers Workshop Manual by GHT and found a drawing that described the Myford X-slide T-slot as requiring 4+4 mm in thickness and without getting a written measurement I made a guesstimate that the Myford X-slide is about 25 mm (1") thick. This would mean that the Myford X-slide is smaller/lighter than the Drummond M-type I guess.
 
Looking at the description by Michael Cox on his manufactured X-slide with T-slots, the slots are made from 6 mm plates (3+3 mm) which seems to work and these are really small/thin.
 
Would there be a difference in strength demand depending on if the T-slot is at right angle to, or in parallell with the slide dovetail?

 
BR
 
/Peter
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