Re: [ATM] Re:Making Slots

["Don Clement" <clement.focuser@verizon.net>]

> Can anyone on the list tell me how to make slots in steel, up to 3mm
thick.
> I have no mill or heavy machinery other than an old clapped out lathe.

3mm  steel is thick for a hand nibbler. (at least for the small one I have)
One can mill slots using a lathe. One method is to put an end mill in the
headstock and mount the steel plate on an angle plate bolted to the cross
slide. It helps if the lathe is has T slots in the top of the cross slide.
Another method using the lathe is to mount a mill cutter on an arbor between
centers with steel plate mounted on cross slide. Yet another method is to
use a lathe bit set perpendicular in a arbor mounted in the headstock or set
perpendicular in an arbor between centers such as one would use when line
boring. The steel plate is mounted on the cross slide and the movement is
using the cross slide travel. Shims can be used to change the depth of cut
or extend the lathe bit from the arbor using a set screw. With some
ingenuity, even a clapped out lathe can be made to perform many kinds of
machining processes in addition to turning.

Don Clement
Running Springs, California
http://www.ClementFocuser.com



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