T-Slot Nuts: Minimum Effort Edition

Kind of humbling to have to make one's own T-slot nuts in this era. I did it once before using this method when I first started machining at home.

Couldn't find Taig-sized nuts from the usual suspects so I decided it would be best to just make them myself. I initially thought the style on the left (above) would be fast to make, but without a square collet and a rigid lathe it's a slog.

Yesterday I started bucking off 1/2" pieces from a bar of 1018. Absolutely unremarkable in every way except for the little fixture I made for drilling and tapping them this morning:

Nope, I think I was right the first time, absolutely unremarkable in every way. You may notice the slightly over-sized aluminum sub-plate there. I intend to use it for other things, have needed one for a while.

I made a dozen of the nuts:

one two three four six seven twelve

Despite being so rough and rushed, they ain't bad. The threads are square to the shoulders, they are steel, they are all nice and deburred, and there's more meat there than the 1/8" thick ones that came with it.

If the last ones are any indication, they'll do just fine for the next eight years.