Taig Compound Slide Drawing or dimensions

[vtcnc]

I have the Taig lathe and milling attachment, purchased many moons ago...

Recently acquired a slick little Sherline mill, making my milling attachment somewhat obsolete.

Recently have some project where turning a taper would be desirable, e.g. boring head for my sherline mill, but I would like to do this with a compound slide, not having to setup the tailstock.

I was thinking about modifying my milling attachment in order to turn it into a compound slide.

Questions:

1) Has anybody done this successfully? If so, is it worth the trouble and did you regret it? I.e., you realized you needed the milling attachment at a later date and you should have spent the $45+shipping for the compound slide?

2) Does anybody have dimensions or a 3d model of the compound slide that I could pick dimensions from(preferably Solidworks?)

Any other words of wisdom aside from...stop being a cheap SOB!?
Thanks for your input !!

 

[pdentrem]

Are you asking about this Taig slide?
Pierre

 

[vtcnc]

Are you asking about this Taig slide?
Pierre

Yes, that's the one!

 

[pdentrem]

This is the bottom view and end view of the Taig Top slide. This should help you on telling me what dimensions your need.
Pierre

 

[vtcnc]

 

[pdentrem]

I get 0.9925" for X.
Pierre

 

[vtcnc]

Thanks Pierre, I'll take a look at the milling attachment and see if this could work in my favor. Much appreciated!

 

[vtcnc]

Good news! This looks like it can work...the relief for the leadscrew is shallow enough to allow for a mod to the milling attachment block and match the overall height of the factory compound slide. So, I think I will give this a shot.

 

[vtcnc]

Whacked the big chunk of aluminum off the milling attachment...the metamorphosis has begun!

BEFORE



AFTER



Done for the day...my hacksaw, shoulders and little dials on the Sherline are worn out.

Was able to keep the overall dimensions between .991 and .993. Despite being a hobby mill, I'm quite impressed by the accuracy of the Sherline mill, although the little dials are a major pain in the A$$. I also clamped the aluminum piece with dovetail right into the t-slot table of the milling attachment just like you see in the picture. That may have contributed to the accuracy of the job, but I figure it was the easiest way to hold the part down without distorting the dovetails and not clamping on top of the aluminum part.

Next step is to reverse engineer the rotating clamp concept that Taig uses in their compound slide. Found this link http://cartertools.blogspot.com/2011/10/mounting-taig-1200-top-slide-compound.html with an explanation and photos of the Taig Compound Slide. I'll see if I can cobble something up!

 

[vtcnc]

After looking at the clever t-slot clamp that Taig uses, I realized I'd need to cut a taper...something I can't do and is the very reason I'm converting the milling attachment into a compound slide...

So, I took a cue from the Sherline milling vise. There are slots milled in the side of the base. The vise is clamped to the table with some small L-shaped hold downs. I figure K.I.S.S will get me cutting tapers sooner rather than later.

Here are the steps I milled into the base:



The lead nut is hard to remove, so I covered it up to protect it from getting chips inside:



And here is the assembled unit:



For those of you needing a compound slide and if you can live without your milling attachment, this is an easy project!