1. Haas T-slot Guide Rail
2. T Slot Guide

Standard metric T-slots and T-nuts Engineering ToolBox - Resources, Tools and Basic Information for Engineering and Design of Technical Applications! - search is the most efficient way to navigate the Engineering ToolBox! TSLOTS is the top choice for structural extrusion and so much more! You can literally have a CAD model drawn, price quoted, pieces cut, assembled, and shipped to your door in the amount of time it takes most companies just to quote. Truly made in the USA, and you can feel the local touch from start to finish.

Many of the woodworking jigs and fixtures I make have at least one length of t-track built into them.

A t-slot aluminum extrusion provides an easy way to make jigs usable for different size workpieces as well as adding an adjustable clamping point for jig accessories such as stop blocks and toggle clamps.

This 1/4' t-slot track has a groove down the middle to keep the drill bit from wandering off center when drilling mounting holes.

A t-slot extrusion can be used in other places besides jigs. Use a pair on a router table to make an adjustable fence. Or use one on the fence to hold a featherboard or two.

Use them whenever you need to clamp anything anywhere along a straight line.

The two most common t-slot sizes are 1/4' and 5/16'. These two sizes will cover most every woodworking application. In fact, I use 1/4' most of the time because it's cheaper and plenty strong for what I use it for.

These t nuts and t bolts make it easy to attach clamps and other accessories to the t-track.

It is best to use t-nuts and t-bolts when attaching accessories to the track. Regular nuts and bolts can wreck the slot if overtightened.

If you have to use a regular hex bolt, use a small washer to prevent the head of the bolt from digging into the soft aluminum.

I like to get my t-bolts extra long and cut them down to the length needed for each application. This way I only need to keep one length in each size on hand.

Mounting the t track

No matter what your application, you'll have to cut a dado with either a table saw or router to mount the track flush with it's neighboring surface.

A 3/4' x 3/8' deep dado is cut to keep this t track level with the top of the workpiece. I cut this dado with the table saw.

The 1/4' track that I use requires a dado that is 3/8' deep and 3/4' wide. The 5/16' track needs a dado 7/16' deep by 7/8' wide. I think these are fairly standard sizes, but always measure first before cutting.

Some t-track comes with pre-drilled mounting holes, but the version I like to use requires you to drill your own holes. They do however, provide a small groove in the center to help keep the drill bit from wandering.

Drilling your own holes takes a little extra time, but allows me to place them where it's convenient or necessary. I found with the other stuff, I was drilling extra holes where I needed them anyway.

Where to buy

I live in a small city of 35,000 people with only two major building supply centers. Trying to find stuff like this is maddening, so for years I've been ordering hard to find items online.

I get a lot of my jig parts from Lee Valley here in Canada. Look under hardware -- Jig & Fixture Parts. They have a very nice selection of top quality goodies, even if they are a bit pricey.

With the Canadian dollar hanging pretty close with the US dollar these days, I find myself hopping across the virtual border more often when I find great deals online. Online stores like Amazon carry a large assortment of t-track and related hardware.

One of the advantages of living in a large city is selection and availability of products. For those of us that prefer to live in smaller centers, the internet has evened the playing field. We can often get things shipped to our door cheaply and quickly for the same price a guy in the city might pay for gas running around to collect the things he needs. No white knuckle driving or one finger salutes... I love it.

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Haas T-slot Guide Rail

T-Slot / V-Slot

T-Slot has been around for many years. It has matured to a solid building system using in industry and by hobby engineers to build everything from machine enclosures to CNC machines, 3D printers and robots! It is strong enough to withstand many industrial stresses and modular enough allow for universal designs.

The T-slot system consists of extruded aluminum of various sizes with a “T” shaped slot on one or more of its sides. The shapes, sizes and designs may be different, but the “T” slot is common to all. The “T” slot allows of a variety of hardware to be connected to the extrusion so that complex structures can be constructed.

Types of T-Slot

There are many types of T-Slot available on the market. Some of the most common for small scale engineering include:

• V-Slot
• MakerBeam
• OpenBeam
• MicoRax

As show above, these 4 type range from 10mm to 20mm square profile. Each profile has its unique features, but all share the “T” slot function.

The profiles are not limited to square. V-slot, for example, comes in 4 sizes 20x80mm, 20x60mm, 20x40mm and 20x20mm :

Some manufactures produce larger square and other shaped profiles:

MakerBeam can fit a screw into its T-slot:

MicroRax is small, light and uses t-nuts and screws:

OpenBeam can fit a standard nut into its t-slot:

T Slot Guide

V-Slot uses t-nuts and is different from the other profiles because has “V” grooves that fit special “V” wheels and allow for easy linear motion:

Above are four different approaches to T-slot, there are in fact many more.