Well, I called Clausing today about getting a new top slide for my
1301 lathe. Not too much of a surprise for a 1973 lathe, but they don't have any replacement parts that involve castings, ie the top slide, compound base, lower cross slide etc. Maybe that's because Clausing does not really make anything anymore, they just rebadge overseas iron. Anyway, they will however supply actual dimension drawings of the parts they no longer support for $25/drawing. I'm kinda thinking of milling down the top of my existing t-slotted cross slide, ie milling off the slots to accept a compound base. Perhaps the compound could even come from an "unrelated" lathe of similar size. Before I spend $75 for the three drawings I need, I'd like to know if there is enough meat between the top of the carriage dovetail, and the top of the lower cross slide for me to mill this area flat.... Anyone have a 1301 they would care to measure this dimension? Visually, the thickness of the slotted cross slide looks from the dovetail way to the base of the T-slots looks a thick as the standard one in the parts illustration.. I don't really want to ruin a perfectly good turret type cross slide, but I have my doubt's about finding a good used standard cross slide and compound.- posted
16 years ago