7x16 Mini Lathe [page 5]

This is the carriage lock. The long section will attach to the bottom of the carriage. An M8 socket head cap screw goes through the long section into a T-nut that resides below the ways. Tightening the screw will clamp the carriage to the ways. Now I need to drill and tap some holes in the bottom of the carriage to mount the stop. I’ll also have to mill some amount off of the T-nut as I made it thicker than necessary.

The second picture shows the carriage in my mill vice. It fits. Barely. I didn’t think it would so made some mill strap clamps with the idea that I’d remove the vice and clamp the carriage directly to the XY table.

I drilled and tapped the first hole in the bottom of the carriage after aligning the top portion of the clamp by eye and holding it in place with a C clamp. It fit quite well.

With the top portion of the clamp screwed to the bottom of the carriage I marked the location for the second hole. Drill and tap and test fit. This will work OK once I trim a little from the top and bottom of the T nut. I took about 0.100 off of the top and 0.050 of the bottom of the net nut.

Before working on the T-nut I put some Rustoleum primer over the exposed part of the clamp and the bottom of the carriage where I’d scratched some of factory paint. Once the paint was dry (enough) I put the lathe back together, adjusting the various gibs for a good feel.