Build Your Own (metalworking) Lathe - Part I

Step 7 The Cross-Slide

Things are getting seriously neat, now. This thing rides forward and back on the carriage (well, on a piece of steel bolted to the carriage). So - the carriage goes left and right; the cross-slide goes forward and back.... the only thing left is to set an angle...hmmm...is THAT why there's a circular pattern on top of this thingy...?!?!

I'm pretty pleased with how well this casting turned out. The wood pattern is coated with spray shellac, which works pretty well, and is grayish because I'm using powdered graphite as a parting dust and mold release (in English: "to slick it up so the two mold halves come apart at the right place, and so the pattern comes outa the sand"). I'm not sure graphite's the best choice, but it seems to be working. The hole in the pattern was made with a 1/2" steel rod core, which you then whack (carefully) out with a punch. The whole thing is driven forward and back by a threaded rod through the "handle" at the left; the rod goes into the "tunnel" in the carriage casting.

Here's a picture of the bottom -- as with the carriage, there are 'pads' that ride along the steel 'ways'. My next step is to drill and tap the side for 3 screws just like the carriage -- these will adjust and hold it to the ways with a gib (again, more on that later).