Lathe Cross-Slide T-Slot Covers

This print was inspired by this Blondihacks video :

Lathe Ways Cover - Let's Make One!

Although the main topic of that video was about making “accordion” covers for the lathe ways, about 22 minutes into the video she also comes up a with a great idea for keeping the T-slots on the lathe cross slide free of swarf. She also has a humorous aside about having to cut the “slot-fillers” to length with a hack saw (which also inspired a related feature in my print).

While I liked her general idea of keeping the T-slots covered, I decided to take a slightly different approach. Instead of just making a rectangular block to fill up the T-slot, I made a press-in cover. I also took her “cut to length” idea a bit further by building “break lines” into the print. The break lines are thinned out sections where the T-slot cover can be broken off to whatever length is necessary. The “adjustable length” feature is really a requirement because every lathe is set up slightly differently, so a single length will not work for everyone.

To use the T-slot covers, simply place one over your T-slot to find the length needed, and then bend the T-slot on appropriate the break-line. Simply bending back and forth will usually separate the parts, but I like to use a razor knife to get a clean edge.

Note that my lathe is a “typical” 9x20; the cross-slide T-slots are 7.25mm wide at the narrowest part. This print could probably be scaled to fit other T-slot sizes.

Print Instructions

I printed in PETG on a textured build plate, although I expect that PLA or pretty much any other filament type would likely work as well. Use the provided gcode or 3mf files to print in PETG; otherwise :

• layer height = 0.3mm
• infill = 0%
• perimeters = 4

The provided files include a short “test block" - this can be used to adjust your print parameters and to test the fit on your lathe cross-slide T-slots.

The main gcode and 3mf file prints two T-slot covers at one time, in a length of 168mm. I believe this length will be longer than anyone requires (and so can be “cut” to length). However, if longer lengths are needed they can simply be inserted end-to-end.

CAD

The OnShape parametric CAD files for this are here :

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/d86144871f495485d20762cf/w/a0a3fafc2375a127ede23f9b/e/f803b52d22497c1b648f22a6