Dieselman 63
Forklift Certified
- Messages
- 5,640
- Location
- Wellington, New Zealand
Less moaning, more thinking . You do need a lathe but neither of the parts you need stop the lathe you have from making the parts you need. G-clamps on the rear way in front and behind the saddle will do the same thing as the carriage lock bolt. A file will shape a piece of round stock spinning in the chuck sufficiently to make a top slide pivot.
In the short term, you don't need a top slide at all. A lump of something the same thickness as the topslide, located on the pivot and bolted down in the same manner as the topslide will put your toolpost at the correct height. Then you can make the swivel base (cutting the dovetails is not so easy though). It does not really need the angle graduations on it as both top- and cross- slides are square; thus a a protractor can be used to set the top slide angle.
Read the full thread though, we've got bigger issues than the topslide, numero uno being the two speed three phase motor. But I get what you're saying, there are improvisations I could make for sure.