Why Didn't The Factory Finish This drill? Machining the T-Slots

This week Cora and myself finish what the factory didn't on this vintage drill press. I have wanted a way to bolt parts down to the table on this drill every since I got this drill press. Consider supporting Steve Summers KZbin channel
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[@mdouglaswray]

Love how you've taken tools with issues, solved the issues, fixed the problems AND improved them. I love how a machine shop EVOLVES.

[@McKildafor]

(Evolves.) Exactly, almost like it's organic metal.

[@lecnac855]

Looks good from my house.i suggest you get some anchor lube.

[@radriand]

With the straight end mill you used to generate the wid of the narrow slot, go a head and run it deeper than the required "finish depth" . Just by a 1/32" or so. This allows two beneficial effects. The first is, in the original machining process it the slots, that gutter in the bottom greatly lessens the load on the HHS, specialty cutter. Particularly the bottom where the corners of the tee cutter burned up. The second beneficial effect is in the life long if the machine. It's not uncommon to have two types of t-nuts. Some with complete threads all the way through and some with partial threads .

[@radriand]

The peanuts with threads all the way through allow you to clamp a tee nut in place by driving the tip of the stud into the bottom of the tee nut slot. This lets you use the stud for location as well as clamping. The stud will inevitably raise a burr in the bottom of the t-nut slot. This gully accommodates that. And helps the peanuts slide in and out with less friction and galling on burrs.

[@chrisstephens6673]

The disadvantage of screws going through the T nuts is that it allows upward pressure on the T slot and can cause breakout. T nuts should ideally clamp the T slot for grip.

[@radriand]

Hi Chris, totally agree with the breaking out of tee slot shoulders. And jack force of any stud or bolt is a good way to do it. But upwards force is just that. Regardless of where that force comes from. Excluding a direct clamp of a through hole fixture ( like a mounting hole in a vise) there is danger of levering off one or both shoulders. Especially near the end of a slot . The classic strap clamp and step block setup will not support the table above the t-slot. And given this is a tall setup and may not be plumb it can asymmetrically load the shoulders. Making things even worse. The important thing is to never overload a single t slot/not combination. Often I will relieve the t-nut flange near the center ever so slightly, with a stroke of a file, in order to make sure the upward Force is concentrated at the outer edge of the t slot, helping to reduce the moment load on the casting. In situations where I want the stud to remain fixed either for positioning or convenience, tend to be production jobs. And even having a spring on the stud to lift the strap clamp usually is not enough to hold it in place as you clear the chips and load the next piece. When I make my own t-nuts I tend to make them as long as will fit in the access slot on a Bridgeport table with at least two tapped holes. The longer length helps distribute the upward Force, and the second tapped hole allows you to use a set screw to affix its location. I suppose I should make one of those tapped holes incomplete to prevent jacking on the t slot floor. I like using the studs for locating, because they're round shape is very tolerant of chips, and don't affect the piece's location. They are also inherently aligned along the x-axis of the machine. Another trick,to keep the clamping set up repeatable and from becoming a floppy mess between parts is with my step blocks. Nicer ones with the holes through them can be a fixed to the table with a strap clamp. But on the cheaper ones I tap some 3/8 -16 holes into the sides near the bottom in order to insert a bolt and strap clamp that bolt down to the table. If it's 9/32" up from the bottom that's half of the 9/16" head of a hex head cap screw. The flat of the hex bolt makes a nice foot on the table of the mill. Fixing to step block makes the angle of the strap clamp much more repeatable and less likely to be hit in milling operations. Good point though about jacking pressure. Thanks for the reply, cheers Adrian

[@sethbracken]

Bro. Go back to uploading. You know a ton. I subbed.

[@MrGnsurfn]

Steve you’ve go a good heart, dogs know and yours is responding.

[@WatchWesWork]

I've seen this a lot more than you would believe. I worked on a Blanchard grinder once where they drilled the coolant drain holes down from the top of the table but didn't drill them all the way through. I tried to clean them out and hit solid iron! Had another Blanchard where they drilled oil return passages in the gear box incorrectly and they did not intersect so the oil could not return and mostly just leaked out on the floor. Amazingly, they had been using it that way since it was built in the 1980s. Also, they would do almost anything to avoid scrapping a part or casting. I've seen pulleys and gears right from the factory with 3 or 4 keyways broached in them before they got a good one with no inclusions. On another note, many drill presses I have run into have the keys machined, but the "T" part is just left as cast.

[@SteveSummers]

Hey Wes, good to see you buddy👍. It's amazing what some of these pass as good parts. The slots on this table were just about useless. They were so rough that nothing fit even half way decent. They went through the trouble of machining the slots on the foot / base but not the main work table 😄. I have seen cheaper machines with as cast slots but I was surprised to see it on a drill of this class. I bet you have seen all kinds of this type of crap with your machine history. Thanks for stopping by buddy.

[@leehaelters6182]

Thanks for this bit of lore. It might help me with a bit of dickering room if I spot such a flaw on a used machine I would like to have.

[@joat_mon]

Thanks Steve. Your boss/supervisor sure is playful and full of energy.

[@scottthomas5999]

Great job. Commonality is a game changer.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@Myrddraalfade]

Very nice work, I bought a machine where the 'T' slot was also not finished. As we had no mill at the time a local machinist did the job for the price of keeping 2 'T' slot carbide cutters, which he didn't have.

[@stuartschaffner9744]

Steve Summers, reducing entropy one used shop machine at a time. This was such a nice machine shop tutorial, 'cept for the dangling hoodie strings...

[@AirfixLtd]

Edu-tainment at its finest, boy I love my Saturday mornings with Steve. 👏👍

[@josephrogers9701]

Nice machine work aside, the spots featuring Cora always bring a smile to my face! What a lucky rescue for the pup and you!

[@SteveSummers]

She has turned out to be a fantastic pup. She is smart and pretty well behaved . Why anyone would have dropped her has me puzzled.

[@Tinker001]

@@SteveSummers Probably relates to the message on the hoodie you were wearing in this video...

[@josephrogers9701]

@@SteveSummers Totally agree. The previous owner is either heart broken or doesn’t deserve animals. It’s obvious she loves you!

[@grntitan1]

I typically run a shop vac while machining cast iron. It’s noisy, but keeps that cast iron dust from going everywhere.

[@jonathangriffin1120]

One of those jobs we always do when we get 'A Round Tuit'. A job you won't regret doing. Bear in mind the 'skin' on cast iron can knacker a tungsten carbide cutter if your only taking a light skim so congratulate yourself on a job well done! A Happy and Prosperous New Year to you all from Somerset, England.

[@eliduttman315]

Those hard spots of "chill" contain ferric carbide, which is only a tad softer than tungsten carbide. Traditionally, chilled, AKA "white", iron was ground, not machined. A near diamond hard CBN cutter should be OK, but said cutter's cost is HIDEOUS.

[@ronmurphy9819]

Thank You. Who said you can’t teach an old dog a new trick. Know that I’m not talking about your pup. I’m glad you included her. Shows your human.

[@fiorevitola880]

As always very informative and interesting how you solve and improve machines in your shop. Cora is a charmer, I just love your interactions with her. We have a three-year-old Beagle and her actions are the same, playful and a pleasure to have around my home shop! Happy New Year Steve to you and all your family!

[@TomokosEnterprize]

Hi Steve. How odd that press got by all the factory procedures like that. I have machined A LOT of cast iron through my career to know how castings can consume tooling. One small sand pocket can end their life. Carbide or highspeed, makes NO difference. There are numerous reasons for hard spots as well. Cast iron costs a 1/4 to a 1/10th of the process to make steel so manufacturers will use it any time they can. Little Cora sure has blessed your day to day. What a lovely wee beastie that has blessed you the day she showed up at your door. Great post and teachings for many. I always look forward to weekends to get caught up with you. Yer a good, kind man and a talented machinist/mechanic and more. You sure found your calling. Thanks fella and take care eh!

[@adeeponionbreath]

Nice! Hey Steve, today in a couple of hours, We are going to pick up our new Cora at the pound.

[@goptools]

Hey Steve, "We're going to fix it in the most complicated and time consuming way possible". Love that dry humor! My motto has always been "the hard way every time". No sense in doing things easy if there is a more difficult way, right? Nice repair on the drill press. Kind of ironic, the DoAll mill fixing the DoAll drill press. Core is such a sweet pup. Glad she was able to join your family. Thanks for the video!

[@edsmachine93]

Nice work Steve. Unfortunately you had to finish someone's Friday shift from many years ago. The table sure came out nicely. Thanks for sharing. Take care, Ed.

[@JPRD2379]

The operator that day at DOALL (Friday) saw the finish quality on castings and sand embedded and said," naw,this is all you get",LOL.Great job Steve,cast iron can be nasty.

[@PaulSteMarie]

What a good pup!!!

[@petermcneill80]

Enjoyed that 1 , sums up why we love machine tools 😁

[@charlesangell_bulmtl]

With Cora YOU'VE GOT A BUDDY👍

[@CraigLYoung]

Evening Steve! Thanks for sharing 👍

[@leeroyholloway4277]

I might have been tempted to clamp a vacuum hose by the cutter to catch some of that mess. Last hoorah for those two cutters who went out in noble fashion. RIP

[@pepcatch11]

As always, thank you for your hard work and dedication to the channel❤️

[@Uncleroger1225]

Happy Saturday to Steve, Cora, and Grits! Simple solution to an small problem. I never knew there was such a thing as a T slot cutter. Again, you spread the knowledge. Thanks for sharing and educating, God Bless, Happy New Year!

[@bcbloc02]

Good thing you know a guy that can resharpen those cutters😎

[@who-gives-a-toss_Bear]

Nice one. This could be a later model drill table, just saving a few bucks on manufacture costs. Also a bit surprised you didn't under cut the base of the “T” slot with the 5/8 carbide cutter.

[@mdvener]

Starting off the new year right. Those older cultures did the job n the new slots look great and work the way you want them to. Great job, enjoyed the video and thanks so much for a Saturday morning that starts the weekend off right. Thanks for sharing n see you next Saturday morning.

[@jamesboris1233]

Steve you come way a great shop to work in and a good truck and great shop dog

[@SeanBZA]

Probably last one on a Friday, and operator hit the hard spots, and went to go dress the tool to do the finish pass, but instead after the tool shop work it was home time, so decided to carry on Monday. Monday came, he forgot the cut was not completed, took it out and put the next one on instead. Then inspector was also hung over, passed it, and it went to assembly, who did not want to have the hassle, so put it on the next in line.

[@mfletch392]

Nice fix and love the dog thanks for the video

[@starcitizenhumor1260]

I don't comment on many videos, but I have to say I like your dog! Plus the topic is fun. Can't beat the two of them together. Pat that nice dog on the head for me!

[@drzorbo3770]

Thanks for the upload, Steve. Cora is a sweetie.

[@kindablue1959]

Props for the AvE hoodie. His little girl was so right so young.

[@frijoli9579]

Always enjoy watching this channel. What rpm on the t-slot cutter. Seemed fast for cast iron and HS steel. Also, whenever cutting t-slots in the past, we cut full depth with the flat endmill, and only cut the sides with the T-slot cutter.

[@paulbuckberry7683]

Introduced my wife to Cora tonight Steve, second thing she said after aaarrghhhhh! was what breed is she? Of course I was unable to answer her! Another great video from you both..

[@pauldehaan3574]

Nice work.....Great video.....Thanks for sharing

[@TheWhitsboy]

Great vid Steve. Always good to see how problems are overcome & also to read comment of experienced people on other techniques to use. Good to see your support group got nice & comfortable & so relaxed. So hard to find support that are so calm in tense situations. Cheers.

[@elsdp-4560]

Thank you for sharing. Enjoyed.👍

[@ellieprice3396]

Good job machining those T slots. The round boss on the bottom appeared to protrude about the base but I must have been wrong since you clamped the part directly to the table. That's one heck of a heavy duty drill press and milling machine.

[@garymucher4082]

The information is always welcomed. But Cora is amazing dog as well. Thumbs Up!

[@aleastwood1698]

Happy New Year Steve. I trust you and your family had a good Christmas.

[@MrThetaphi]

Nice drill press, even nicer now!

[@donaldmarty8445]

Just found your channel and am very impressed with your knowledge and the quality of your work. I'm not a machinist, just a retired guy doing light fab and auto restoration, but bought a high quality drill press and found that just like yours my T-slots were not machined and would not accept standard T-nuts. I'm embarrassed to say that I solved the problem with disc and die grinders since I don't have a mill. Although I have a copy, it never would have occurred to me to consult Machinery's Hand Book for T-slot specs (and cutters). Will definitely checkout your other videos. Thanks for sharing!

[@SteveSummers]

Thanks for stopping by the channel 👍

[@wags9777]

Well done sir. Now you get to do a video on resharpening your slot cutters with your cutter grinder.

[@RB-yq7qv]

Hi Steve Amazing how those little things can effect the whole work process. It's a good job done and much safer.

[@TheAyrCaveShop]

Nice clean up on those T slots... Cora is sure enjoying her shop time.. Enjoyed !!

[@paulbadger6336]

Well done 👍.

[@alanweir37]

Great video Steve.

[@neilscully6597]

You were right to cut the slots dry. Using coolant with cast iron shortens the cutter life as you get an abrasive paste tend to build up. I had to machine some chilled cast iron parts from a 1905 steam locomotive recently and even carbide was not staying in, tried coolant and they went blunt quicker. The only answer was CBN but what a price to equip a4" face mill and only one cutting edge per insert.

[@richball9576]

I enjoyed the shop build and the truck build so much I find myself wishing for another huge project. I'm sure that's the last thing you wanna do after all that work though. Lol... Keep up the great work Steve!

[@Ron_EZ]

Cora was excited you finished the project, so she could get some playtime 🤣

[@MeUK-s7l]

Hi to all you lovely people from Dorset, UK. My Saturday dose of Steve Summers! 😉

[@McKildafor]

Masterful effects. 😁

[@horstszibulski19]

Worked out great for the price of two ruined cutters! Only thing that the now almost perfect drill press needs, is a coolant system... 😉 Thx for showing! 👍👍👍

[@jobos98]

Awesome project

[@theprojectproject01]

Cora's a very good doggo, and you do pretty nice work. Subscribed.

[@bernardwill7196]

I wish you and your family a Happy New Year. Greetings from germany.

[@lloydbaker7099]

Great content

[@Shnick]

I find that running a mounted vacuum tube next to the cutter head pulls a little air into the cutter and gets rid of the cast iron dust as well.

[@denbusa1965]

Nice work Steve looking forward to the next one UK :-)

[@theundergroundesd]

good job. keep up the good work

[@rollinrat4850]

On Bridgeports and many other mills I worked on, a 5/8 dowel pin fit tight in the slots. We'd use these to line up work on the table quickly.

[@Dudleymiddleton]

Good morning and happy new year to y'all from Cambridgeshire, UK!

[@chrispy3866]

Steve, get yourself one of those HF hydraulic table carts. Your pallet jack is glorious but i bet for smaller jobs like yours in this vid, it would be more applicable!

[@johnlennon335]

I like it when you use your shaper. I have a big Klopp shaper but I'm missing some parts. I wonder what this job would look like if you set up on your Cincinnati. It reminds me of that quip "you can make anything on a shaper, except for money."

[@staciedziedzic8706]

Hi! Just wanted to say that I’m sorry for not watching the video yesterday! I had a bad day yesterday but I’m watching it right now! Cora is adorable but I hope that she lets you do your work! Hi to Elizabeth!

[@bombardier3qtrlbpsi]

That's a great year 61. Nice job 👍

[@UKDrew]

Awedpme as Always.. Great Content Pleasure to watch

[@randythomas8589]

great video agqain Steve thank you

[@patrickcolahan7499]

Nice job, thing about cast iron is that you shouldn't need fluid for cutting. But that fine dust sure can tear up a surface and it gets everywhere. Thanks for sharing.

[@larrysperling8801]

nice series steve. good to see you making chips again. there is nothing to compare to those old heavy duty machines.

[@wmweekendwarrior1166]

Good stuff

[@christoph72761]

On a Friday in the 80s at DoALL they needed one more for the quota of the week. "We'll just take that one. It'll be fine....."

[@rexmyers991]

So glad to see y’all in good health. Enjoyed the lathe work. Oh, yeah, PLEASE get rid of those spikes. Yikes!

[@andrewhall2554]

We had a similar looking drill press in the maintenance shop where I used to work. I'm pretty sure it was a Wilton. The vertical surfaces of the T-slots that intersect the top of table were machined, but all the other surfaces below were rough cast. So, apparently, this isn't the only one out there like this.

[@josephstlouis]

I think they took the table out of the molds to soon and the hard spots cooled to quickly leaving white cast iron therein. Most likely a batch of them suffered the same fate. Rather than ruin a bunch of cutters or discard the tables they shipped them off as cast. That's my theory? Have a great New Yeat!

[@melgross]

I doubt that. If they pulled too soon they would still be hot. As long as they’re cool, it’s fine. You would have to chill the it]ron quickly to have hardness form, and then it would a fairly even surface hardening not random spotting. That happens because of an uneven mix. Why they didn’t get machined is anyone/s gues. A screwup most likely. It happens everywhere, just as they left sand from the mold.

[@ramosel]

Nice fix! But oh man, while you had it on the mill you should have drilled and tapped the back corners for a float lock arm.

[@daveys]

That’s my kind of drill press!

[@wagglebutt]

I've always understood that you're actually not supposed to run coolant with cast iron.

[@Shockedbywater]

I am going with 'not a mistake' but an unpurchased option. In other words all the castings for the tables had the slots cast in but to have them machined was an optional upgrade. I know for machinists T slots are like water, they are a basic need. But for many others T slots are not used. Just a random thought. Have a great week and thanks for posting the videos.

[@martin09091989]

Yea thought the same. We have a old russian Drillpress in our company, and it´s only use is to "punsh" big holes into mild streel tubing and beams to shove bolts true them. The power feed is the only feature besides turning the drill, used on this maschine. If a machinist would see how our guys brute force those dull drills true that steel, he would have a heart attack! 😂

[@chrispy3866]

‘Through’ not true. Not sayin, just sayin.

[@mrpanda876]

I appreciate the amount of DOALL equipment you have, Drill press, Drill press, bandsaw, horizontal bandsaw(maybe still have it), Milling machine, and im sure plenty of DOALL tooling

[@dhxmg]

I don't know enough about machining to comment beyond saying I enjoyed the video. I do know that's an adorable dog though.

[@SteveSummers]

Thanks for watching bud. Cora is a great pup. We are glad to have her

[@BruceBoschek]

Wow! I love that mill. It's really a biggun. It certainly is strange that the drill table was made without T-slots. I remember using a T-slot cutter many years ago, so that was my first thought when I saw what the problem was. Good that you got through those hard spots. Cast iron can sure be goofy some times. Best wishes for the new year from Germany, and our GSDs Halgrim and Bella send greetings to Cora!

[@melgross]

I run a vacuum, not air. You’re just blowing the fine iron dust everywhere on and in the machine, even at low pressure. While iron dust doesn’t cause as many problems as some think (everybody is just repeating what they hear from others, round and round), it’s still never a good thing to get microscopic particles of metal in between the moving surfaces. And believe it that those tiny bits of iron dust does float in the air for several seconds. Enough time to float far enough to find those interfaces.

[@glennmoreland6457]

Good video

[@TrPrecisionMachining]

good video steve

[@bcwrangler]

Cora is a perfect shop dog!

[@samrodian919]

First! Happy New Year Steve and Elizabeth and family. Great job on the tee slots Steve, I think that I would have at least gone down to the full depth in the centre with that 5/8" carbide cutter to at least relieve the tee cutter from doing the centre slot work. That may well have been the hardest part of the casting directly under the sprue. Was the sides of that part where it was hard as polished as the centre looked? The cutters could have been damaged as they traversed radially over the actual 5/8" slot base where you said it was glass hard. Anyway that's my tuppeny take on it lol .cheers from the UK mate

[@ÁREAJ27]

Olá amigo Steve muito bom trabalho!!! Feliz Ano Novo com muita saúde e cheio de realizações!!! Abraço

[@Farm_fab]

Of my 4 cats, two play fetch. One very persistently, and his sister that plays whenever she feels like it. Growing up, we always had a dog, but none were ever as good as my cat bringing the toy back.

[@FSEAirboss]

Always a great Saturday project to learn something from. When you started I was wondering how much of an issue would be caused by the cast iron dust getting recut and causing issues with the tooling and cut itself. I assumed after you stopped and added the air it would be a problem. Especially that long of a cut. Appreciate the time to setup all the shots and editing time you spend on these. They just keep getting better!

[@jamesreed6121]

This is a great project. Cleaning up the slots in the table makes the Drill more useful. Maybe, if you have the time and inclination, resurfacing the table lightly with the shaper. Just a suggestion. Glad you found the spare t-slot cutter. I love that you are back in the shop making chips and swarf. KOKO!

[@t.d.mich.7064]

Those hard spots are Carbides of the iron mixture that didn't resolve in the pouring of the mold. Carbide cutter may have broken on contact.

[@robertschauer376]

Using the DoAll mill to fix the table of the DoAll drill. I love it

[@verycoolranch]

I bought a brand new Jet branded Arboga drill press last year and had to do the same thing to the t slots in the table. One thing I found when removing the table was that they had stuck a shim between the table and the mounting spigot, I guess to tram it with the spindle. Around the 4:10 mark, something falls to the ground as you're sliding the table onto the cart. It may have just been some crud, but it might be worth putting an indicator in the chuck and sweeping around the table. Thanks for making these videos.

[@garymallard4699]

Might be more cast sand that came loose..but yeah..it looks interesting? 🤔🤨

[@raymondhorvatin1050]

nice improvement

[@chrisstephens6673]

A magnet by the table drain would have collected the cast iron dust if you had used coolant when milling.

[@1ginner1]

Hi Steve, Happy new year to you and yours. Cast Iron generally doesn't need coolant, hard spots are a pain but it happens. You might have run a dovetail cutter to remove the burrs on the bottom part of the T slot, and a countersink cutter on the top of the slot, just so over time you dont get any burrs or bruises stopping the T nut sliding freely. Looking forward to 2023 content. Best wishes, Mal.

[@leehaelters6182]

1ginner, you and Steve Summers (who immediately got my subscription after a few minutes of watching) both pleasantly reminded me of the vertical mill I had charge of when I was a shop technician at Wentworth Institute in Boston, Mass. When it arrived in our shop as a bone from the engineering school program, the t-slots had been so badly mangled from improvised hold-down nuts and bolts that we could hardly pass a proper t-nut through. No t-slot tooling, but I cleaned them up with a straight endmill that I ran down the slot at a 1 degree lean of the head, so that I would not alter dimension of the top of the slot. Worked well, and I was quite satisfied with myself for such a minor accomplishment.