1270 COMPOUND SLIDE (1LB)

Advantages of the compound slide...

The compound slide is one of the more popular accessories for the lathe. Although the Sherline lathe allows tapers to be cut by swinging the headstock to one side or the other, cutting tapers with a compound slide offers some advantages. For example, using it does not require the headstock to be taken out of square (and then re-squared when done) and cutting certain tapers on long parts that would be difficult by swinging the headstock can be accomplished with the compound.

Use of the compound slide... The Sherline compound, unlike most compound slides you will see is mounted on the "back" side of the table. This eliminates the problem of interference with the crosslide handwheel. By mounting the cutting tool upside down, cutting on the "back" side tends to raise the cutter rather than push it downward, which has the effect of reducing tool chatter. Because of the small size of the Sherline lathe, operating the compound on the back side is not a problem.
Features... The compound features a red anodized base that has a degree scale laser engraved in at 1° increments for accurate angular location. The scale runs all the way around in four quadrants of 90°. A simple tightening of the lock ring screws locks the compound securely and quickly in position. The tool post slide itself has 1.75" of travel. The handwheel is marked in your choice of inch (.001") or metric (.01 mm) increments. The cutting tool can be positioned on either side of the post or in either direction across the end. An adjustable gib on the dovetail eliminates side to side play. Four socket head screws and T-nuts are provided for mounting to the Sherline crosslide table T-slots. A hex key for adjustment is included.

Though not easily quantifiable in a feature list, this particular accessory is one the finest we make. Like the rotary table, it has a high quality look and "just right" silky operation that makes it a pleasure to own and use. For many years we offered a simpler compound slide that, while functional, was far from ideal in several respects. Taking advantage of our current high quality CNC production machinery and using what he has learned about designing products over the past 25 years, Joe Martin set about to completely redesign the compound slide a few years ago. We think you will agree the design he came up with here is a real winner.

Tapers that might be difficult or impossible to cut by swinging the headstock can be accomplished using the compound. Here the compound is suspended off the table using just two of the mounting t-nuts to taper a side on a long part held between centers. For most operations, all four t-nuts would be used to mount the base to the table, but this does show that other options are available.