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The Carraige and lead screw are in many ways the heart of the lathe. They hold the tool bit (the part that cuts the metal), and allows for the movement of the bit against the spinning metal. All castings have been scaled up for the larger bed and way size. All screws are of 20 pitch (threads per inch), thus allowing for even division (one turn is 1/20 inch or 5/100 or .05, 1/50 turn is 1/1000 inch or .001), to allow for precision movements of bit to a thousand of an inch. Lead screw is 1/2 - 20, the cross slide and compound slide screws are 5/16 - 20 pitch.

This is the carriages box slide sometimes just refered to as the carriage. Note that the way for the cross slide has not yat been mounted. There are two gib screws on the right side, one on each edge of the back of the slide. The thumb screw in the middle is to lock the slide when doing operations that do not require the leadscrew or when the slide moving would cause problems, for example when surfacing a faceplate. The area where the cross-slide mounts must be flat and parallel to the bed, if it slants to the left, right, front, or back it will cause problems.

The Cross slide fits ontop of the carriage on its own way.

The Compound Swivel & Compound Slide Way

The Compound Slide & Screw

The Tool Post

The toolpost. It might be a bit overbuilt. Made of 3/8 and 1/2 inch steel. Also a holder for boring bar that will fit in the toolpost. also in the picture are a 1/4" and 3/8" unshaped tool bits.

Lead Screw, Apron, and Split Nut