7X12 Mini-Lathe T-slotted Cross-slide.

Materials

• 20x6mm Steel 550mm
• 40x6mm Steel 250mm
• 3mm Steel Plate 75x180mm
• 0.5mm steel sheet 180x20mm or shim stock
• 16 DIN 7991 M5x20 countersunk cap screws Grade 10.9
• 3 DIN 912 M4x20 cap screws

The material choice was driven by the availablity of steel of the from a local supplier. Cleeve was satisfied with the reliablity of the built up slide from mild steel. The saddle dovetail is 6.5mm high, but 6.5mm stock is not readily available. Rather than milling out of 8mm thick (I only have limited access to a mill), I decided to use 6mm and a 0.5mm shim. The whole assembly will be epoxied together to ensure the maximum rigidity. They had 20x6mm and 40x6mm for the dovetail and t-slots in ST37 (BMS - plain mild steel). As the Metals Supermarket don't carry 3mm strap wide enough, I had them shear an oversized piece from 3mm sheet. The Guillotine deforms the metal for about 5mm from a cut, and this extra allowance was hacksawed and filed away. Heat treating the T-slots could be performed if desired.

The fasteners are standard metric M5 countersunk head cap screws. I tried M5x16, but the threads are not long enough to completely fill the tapped holes. Going to M5x20 allowed the ends to be milled/filed back until invisible. You will also need to obtain three new gib set screws, as the standard ones will be too short for the widened cross-slide. So far I haven't been able to source M4x20 set screws, and have resorted to cap screws for the interim.