[widgitmaster]

My best friend has a thriving business which uses large CNC routers to make it's products! The problem is the length of time it takes to cut a full 4'x8' sheet of products! So I agreed to help him by custom designing all the mounting brackets to and up to five spindles on one machine! One of the criteria in which he insisted on, was the tight spacing between spindles! So after a few days in CAD, I created a design which placed the spindles 3.65" apart!
After he approved my design, I ordered a large block of aluminum 4"x4"x26" and a 1"x4"x26"

First thing I did was to put ink on the large block, scribe lines, and push the bar through the bandsaw using lots of wax! Now I have three pieces of from the large block, and the one smaller piece. One of the pieces from the large block is 3/4"x4"x26, and will not be used!

Now I plan on making the two T-Slot plates, using the 1"x4"x26" bars. So I put two vises on the mill table and dialed them in. Next I milled the edges of both plates to exactly 4", so they can be held in soft-jaws. Now I can remove the hard steel jaws from both vises, and install the long set of soft-jaws. Next I milled a step in both jaws, while a plate was clamped on the vise floor.

Using a large 5" diam face mill, I cut both sides of each plate to exactly 1" thick.