Bridgeport T Nuts

Bridgeport you say? Well, I might have gone out and bought a 1973 Bridgeport. Ooops. One of the first project on the mill was to make some T Nuts. I have a hold down set for the Shoptask that is 3/8" but I think normal size for the BP is 5/16"...so I set about making a set of 3/8" T-Nuts.

 

 First op was to get a chunk of steel squared up and hit it with the face mill. I love face mills!

Nice finish. Endmills are lame for this sort of thing.

I measured the height I would need...

...and proceeded to whack the top off. I have enough material to make 5 pieces out of this one blank.

Yep, chamfers are nice.

I cut the steps with a 3/4" Seco indexable mill that had a bit of corner radius.

I used this setup to true up one side on each nut. Note that I clamped two pieces in order to even out the pressure on the jaws.
To get them all the same length I gang milled them down with a face mill.
Nice eh?
Just need to drill and tap. I set up my indicator base as a work stop and used my LC/EF to indicate in the first part. After that, just rinse and repeat.