This is a fairly easy method for making a T-nut for your metal lathe if you don't have a mill. Thanks for the idea Ray. Also sorry for the audio... it's not the best. Thanks for watching!
Never thought of that ! and it's alot better than taking a thousand tiny cuts on my home made excuse for a mill ! Thank you !!!!, I will definitely use that method !!!!!
@@bobkelly2447 - Yeah, even my RF 30 struggles if I take much off. It would be hard to make a solid mill. I made an X Y table for my drill press and I've tried to use it like a mill on wood. It was terrible!
@@WinkysWorkshop I've seen some beefy home made mills that do the job quite well . just lots of steel and lots of bracing ! good bearings and a big motor ! .... Yep I've used a 2 way vice on the mill and that was a disaster as well.... it takes MASS ! and that's hard to get in the home workshop ! I gott'a try that T nut on my Logan 922 lathe it should be a piece of cake ! ......
I went a whole other route. I've been a renovations contactor most of my life, and for some reason, when we bought this place, people started giving me aluminium topped plastic bodied home gamer table saws... A few years ago I had 6, plus my contractor saw, and my cabinet maker's saw. My sister sold a couple at her garage sale, and I found new homes for 3... The last one I made an oak zero clearance insert, and a dial adjustable mitre slide for and use it exclusively for cutting aluminium. I've made a few T nuts out of 1/2" aluminium plate for my 130 year old Barnes #4 1/2 (9" swing) lathe... Still way more rigid than the lantern tool post!
Winky, I always make my tee nuts that way but I have a milling machine to machine the flats on. I think that the rounded ends look nicer and make it easier to fit in the tee slots. Regards from Australia.
I have 4 tee nuts on my shaper made from round stock and flats milled on the 2 edges very similar to this. That awkward holding job in the band saw vice can be made much easier by clamping the work down onto the vice base. As I have shared previously I sometimes remove the vice from the saw and bolt a large angle plate onto the saw base. You can accommodate all sorts of odd shapes that way.
I really like the way this lathe-turned, T-nut turned out. you have a much thicker Center section for more thread engagement and a more than adequate pressure foot-print. Also like the torch bent, Z angle tool post, 7/8" wrench which has been modified to avoid knuckle buster collisions.
I also fitted the square head bolt that locks the carriage with a nut the same size as the tail stock and tool post. Its nice to not have to keep track of several wrenches.
Mark, thanks for another great lathe video. Others have commented about holding odd shaped parts in your bandsaw vise so here's another and it's a whole lot simpler. Wood is extremely fast to work so I always consider a wood solution first. In this case I would have cut a short length of 2x4 and screwed that round stock down (near center but not important) through the center hole. Cut one side off, flip the 2x4 180 deg, clamp and cut again. Hell it even comes off the saw square! 😉 Wakodahatchee Chris
I think so too! Ray gave me the idea. I have a mill now but this would have been useful to me a few years ago. I figured it would be good to pass along.
hmm i like that... I still made one on my drill press with a cross slide vise and cutoff wheel but it was a small one for my mini lathe. I need to make more so this is a good idea though. thanks..
Great job Mark. I would recomend using an angle grinder and cut off wheel and then belt sand to final dimension. It would save a lot of sanding with the belt sander.
Hi Mark What about putting the bandsaw into the vertical positionand using your table that you made .I have made one and it works very well and iuse it all time infact i made two, one for my mate he is most impressed with it. Ray Austraila
@@WinkysWorkshop anything that can be done on a lathe is interesting to me, I have a Bridgeport that the table gib broke, and I can no longer raise, and it is all the way down.....so it is up to my new South Bend [1942] 13 inch to get the job done......Cheers from Florida, Paul
@@WinkysWorkshop take the table off, take the the ram and head off, turn the base upside down, punch a hole in the base to remove gib....install new gib......all in a room with a 7 foot ceiling.....I put a rotary table [15 inch big mo honker] on the mill and installed a vice to it, I can now use the quill to move up and down...not as accurate for sure....if I need to get closer, I will make tall vice jaws to raise part.....not a pretty picture for sure......thanks for asking....Paul
@@WinkysWorkshop We name then "waggon bolts". Under the none flat head is like a quadratic boss that prevents rotation i the T track. Name it "T bolt" instead of nut.
To cut it on your band saw You could tap a thread in a piece of scrap steel, then screw the part through the center to the scrap steel and clamp the scrap steel in the saw's vice.
the flats on the larger diameter could also have been easily machined on the lathe, as well. And without a milling attachment for the lathe. Simply hold the "disc" in the chuck, on edge and face one "flat". Measure thr distance from the smaller diameter boss to determine the amount to face off. Re-chuck 180°, using the first flat to index, and face the last "flat" side. Done.
Mount a suitably sized piece of flat bar stock in the tool holder and put a milling cutter in the lathe chuck. Adjust the tool holder to the correct height and take a few passes to mill the first edge, then rotate the bar in the tool holder to do the other side. All you have to do then is drill and thread the hole.
You know what's easier, 2 pieces of material put together. Example: .75 and .50 wide x length , stacked with Super glue. Drill and tap holes for fasteners to keep the pieces together. Then D&Tap for your attachment
I plan, at some point in the future, to make round T bolts. Have to be round so the bolt will rotate! I hope it's what I do with them that will impress people ! Could be early next year though at the rate I'm not making progress !
Smaller t-nuts are needed for a mill, etc can be quickly made from carriage bolts: Select a carriage bolt which has a square section under the head/flange that closely fits the narrow part of the mill table's slot. Chuck the carriage bolt on the threaded shank. Drill thru the head of the bolt, using the appropriate size bit for the desired T-nut threads. Drill deep enough to go beyond the square section of the head, slightly into the shank. Cut the rounded flanged/square head portion of the bolt off from the shank. Thread the head from the square shoulder (newly cut) end, stopping just short of tapping thru (this prevents your clamping stud from screwing thru the t-nut; reducing the risk of breaking a t-slot on the mill table) Next, grind/sand/file/or mill two flats on the side of the carriage bolt's rounded head flange to fit the table's wider area of the slot.
I haven't got a milling machine or a lathe. I get two pieces of flat bar different widths, drill two holes in one of them and weld through the holes to the other. Drill and tap the centre and you are done
Great way to make a T-nut without a mill. Might have been easier to clamp it vertically in the horizontal bandsaw, but like shown there was more than one way to skin that cat. :-) Stay safe.
Well... it was sort of a modification of my last name. I used to work in a printing plant in a tech service position. I was a trouble shooter problem solver (sometimes) but a common phrase used by many was, "Go get Winky". At one time I thought about changing my channel name to "Mark's Workshop" but I suspect people remember a silly name like Winky a little better.
Neat :o) I’d put a bit of flat stock in the old tool post and a milling cutter in the chuck. Then shim the flat stock to the right step height. (Sometimes the tool post doesn’t go over enough so I have to max out the compound slide to reach a bit more)
@@WinkysWorkshop My four-tool rotating tool post is over 40 and it had worn tapered where the lathe tools sits. (Which is more annoying than it first seemed). I had the right blocks to lift the tool post up and run it past a milling cutter in the lathe chuck. Even if I had a miller I figured it would still be more accurate if it machined itself. :o) *it’s an old TOS with a 5hp motor.
Slick piece Winky. I have made them with 2 pieces of flat bar with pocket welds from the bottom bar to the top and then just drill and tap the center hole. They don't look nearly as nice as yours but they are functional. Great tip here today my friend. Take care eh.
I had to make a cut like that on my bandsaw and it wouldn't hold so I took one of my drill press vices and clamped it in my bandsaw Vice it made the cut it worked out fine
Much easier method, using only the lathe: chuck the turned, drilled and threaded disc in the lathe's chuck on edge, pinching the sides, with the bottom side (side without the boss) against one jaw. Face off the edge an amount necessary to create one flat side of the T-nut. Re-chuck same way, only 180° ( use the newly machined flat to align with the face of the chuck body. Machine the other edge flat. Done.
Hello David, it probably would hold well enough but I have seen quite a few damaged compounds from the old Lantern style posts. At least in part, the small square t nuts were to blame. It might make the compound survive a mishap like to a tool running into a chuck. Never say never.
I thought he was going to put an end mill in to the lathe and mount the steel into the vice and then treat the lathe like a horizontal milling machine somehow....
@@codetech5598 Ha... I suppose you are correct although my intent was to make the video worth watching not mislead. Why wrap a Christmas present if someone knows what they are getting?
@@WinkysWorkshop Well, this is the first video of yours that I've watched and what I've learned is not to expect that your work will match the thumbnail. I will keep that in mind for the future.
@@codetech5598 - Interesting... I'll keep that in mind for the future. Check out a few of my other videos before you abandon me. I think I have a few good ideas although I'm sure some are not so good. I have gone back and deleted a few in the past. I think my CNC wood lathe is very cool but if wood is not your thing I have one on a Square Column Drill press and a guided tap wrench I think you might like.... but its hard to say. Google "Winky Buckboard Flier". This was a supper popular 2 part video! FYI I sold the car 3 weeks ago... fun project and fun to ride.
@@WinkysWorkshop Just my personal opinion but I think rigidity matters no matter what size lathe you have. Chatter is more of a problem on my small lathe than it is on my larger lathe.
@@williamhardin5254 - Certainly true but I don't think the forces on these smaller lathes are great enough to flex the T nut. Honestly this T nut should be way stronger that the original lantern tool post design. Yeah... it's certainly easier to go from running a small lathe to a big solid lathe. Actually I'd say running a small lathe is a good learning experience. You have to learn how to overcome the lack of rigidity. I'd say it established good work habits. I remember a few critical comments on my cutoff tool videos like, "you're doing something wrong, I never have problems". Then after asking a few question I find out they are running a 12" Monarch lathe. On these small lathes keeping the load centered over the compound, minimizing tool stick out and even running chucks with minimal overhang are all super important.
@@williamhardin5254 - I wouldn't go that far, In part I was agreeing with you and you might actually be correct on the t nut. At this point we are both speculating and stating an opinion. I think maybe you misunderstood my comment or at least my intent. I probably didn't communicate it very well.
So true. Large would be better. You could also cut a piece of bar stock to the right width and chuck it in a four jaw. Thanks for the idea on this video!
@@WinkysWorkshop Yes, flat bar stock would also be doable in the four jaw. At 1-3/4" round bar stock, it's surprising how much taking just 3/16" off each side leaves for under the T-slot. It does look to be much more sturdier than what the lantern tool post currently has for an anchor.
