C.N.C. Lathe
I have built a few woodturning lathes over the years.
I am thinking of building a C.N.C Lathe. Something like 1M between centers, 6" dia work. I have 3 nema 23 motors and control board from my first mill. I made a 6:1 reduction drive yesterday and it seems to work well. I also have a headstock and tailstock from my current lathe Some of you have made lathes before, so the question is did you do your own design or use existing plans ? Any information, tips, or pitfalls to avoid. Horizontal or slant bed ? Front or rear tooling ? Horizontal or vertical bedway ? If I did my own design based on the MechMate and wanted to log my build on this forum would there be any objections from Metalhead ? Let me know please.:) |
The very first MM in the USA was a MM Lathe.....
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Al....
Are you referring to an indexer (cnc incremental positioning of the rotary axis) or a true lathe (cnc knife cutting between centers on a true lathe bed)? I have done both. Lathe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=126hNJ9CEi0 Indexer/Lathe combo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrHzP4FWOSc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-5_ZMINDEU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yznJrzd730 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPp1itlsbnI |
Thank you for the links GC.
I will watch them later. I want to build a true lathe. |
Hi Gary,
It always been interesting seeing your CNCing jigs, tools & "toys" ! like this new indexer version, care to share more photos and info so we can be inspired & see the feasibility in making one ?! Tks |
Robert...
Thanks. This project is a cnc wood turning lathe, not an indexer. The 2 terms are often confused. An indexer will incrementally turn a blank between the centers for cutting with a router/spindle, but steppers will not have the power to spin a blank at speed to enable knife cutting. I almost always have addition info and pics of most of my projects in my "Locker Room" section of the CAMHeads Forum: http://www.camheads.org/forumdisplay.php?f=113 I usually post there most of the info that I am willing to share. Based on consumer interest, many of my projects end up as commercial products in one form or another, so often fine details are omitted. That said, as a "do it yourselfer", I post these projects to possibly get others off the couch and into building their versions. Most DIY guys don't budget as high for components as I do, so most of my specs and research wouldn't apply. |
Thanks for your reply and the link Gary, but yes, I was correctly referring to your indexer, not the lath, although your indexer may not be the latest...new toy !! :p
I'll register to Cam heads and see from there, thks ;) |
Registering at the Camheads forum is worth doing.
I went to an Aspire camp at Jim McGrews last year hoping to check out Garys lathe in person, but he was unable to attend. At the dinner the night before the official camp started, we were talking machines and I hesitantly said I own a self built MM, thinking I might be poo-poohed, but The Camaster guys were very complimentary of the MM. Great group of guys there, just like here. Edited to add: If I ever upgrade, the Camaster would be top of the list. Very well built machines. |
Well, I tried to register at Camheads to look at the photos.
Failed because the answer to the question about the 16th President was not in the correct format.(you must be joking, was not acceptable) Might have well as asked, who was the 16th King of England. Looks as if I will have to do my way. Thanks anyway.:) |
Al.....what is this, you among many....Mr determination .....letting it go, letting it "frustrate"...for such a little mistake of yours :eek:
I got in easy....you should get too :rolleyes: Comm'on al.... |
Al. Go and have a look at my thread no. 23. Made my own stand alone.Did own drawings.
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Coming along
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Coming along slowly.
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Very nice work as usual, Al.
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This look very nice…..and promising !!
Looking forward for more pics and some of your work from it !! Congrats…;) |
Update.
Motors wired and working. I had a problem with only one motor working . It turned out to be a printer cable problem. One pin had pushed back, sorted. On to the homing switches and e stop. |
Nice work
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Absolutely gorgeous work Stefan. Did that leg really take less than a half hour to make, or was there time lapse involved?
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Thanks for the video Stefan.
Superb job on a superb machine. My own workings will be much more mundane. Homing switches and E stop wired and working. Movement and reference :) Very impressed how smooth and quiet the 6:1 reduction drives are. Cables cut to length, ends soldered. More to do tomorrow. |
Nice machine Stefan, is it a self build? do you have it documented somewhere?
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The CNC is made by myself,
Stepper Motor :Hybrid Servo Drive HBS86H+86HS80-EC-1000 Lathe motor 1,5 Kw /1450 +frequency converter ABB Spindle 2,2kw+frequency converter Danfoss linear rail : 2x KSF35-R-1-1796 mm +6 block 1x THK SHS45 + 2 block Ball Screw: 1x THK 32/10 ,1600mm 2x Rexroth- Star 25/5, 530mm |
Impressive work Gents.
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You have built a Rolls Royce, Stefan.
I will continue building my Tractor. |
Nice! Is the cross slide able to rotate? I see in the pic on the left that the spindle is in front of the machine with the tool post at the back and in the pic on the right it is on the other side?
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Little Yellow Tractor(Apologies to Joni Mitchell)
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Finished off the energy chain.
Tidied things up a bit. Just as well today was a public holiday. |
Must. Not. Get. Sucked .In. To. Another. Build.
Stay strong Darren, yeah its cool, yeah you could make neat stuff with it.... OK too late. That's a great job Al. I'd love to build something like that. Can't wait to see what comes off such a sexy looking machine. |
Resistance is futile.
You will be assimilated into the collective. Just ordinary round tractor parts. Machines to make machines, made the energy chain on #114. Back to my day job tomorrow. |
Ah man!!! now you got me wanting one too!!! :eek:
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Motor and start switch mounted.
Using the motor from my pillar drill until I can afford another. Minor clash points being resolved. Small adjustments to make. |
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I found a second hand motor for not a lot of money.
I think it is 500w. Cleaned it up, painted it. I had to increase the distance between the wheels on the Z slide. It was tipping under load. Made a live center and an extended driving center. 0.5mm taper over 265mm. It looks like I have a usable machine. The biggest problem now is Mach 3 turn. On the original screen the Single block button did not highlight. I downloaded the blue screen for turning, same problem. After a lot of searching I found the Mustang blue screenset that worked. A major problem is that G70/71 are not supported. That roughing and finishing cycle must be one of the most used cycles in turning. You end up with several programs instead of 1. Time taken, hours instead of minutes. The Wizards leave a lot to be desired. You have to manually enter any work offset (G54 etc) also toolcall (T0101) for offsets. Both wizards to put a radius on the front of a job are no good for my purpose. Solutions. Keep looking for something else. Write it myself. Get my friend to write it. Thats the weekend gone again. |
I really like what you've got going on here, nice back knife system Al. Hope you can figure out the code. Does anyone know if Artcam handles this better?
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Al, I will post and explain how to do a rough cut later with pic`s.
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Eding cnc has a good lathe section and you can also easily write macros. But you need their controller which will cost you.... But the software is free to download so you can play with it for a while and see if it might be an option ?
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one word.... linuxcnc :)
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Ezilathe
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After a lot of searching I found 'Ezilathe'
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/ind...topic=27514.20 R1.4 on page 3 with a PDF file as well. It is free and it works. The only thing to look out for is a G28 at the end of the program. If you are turning between centers remove the G 28 or it will try to send the Z axis home through the tailstock.Also make sure Z0 is he front face of the job otherwise you will get an error. There is also a thread on CNC Zone. http://www.cnczone.com/forums/uncate...cnc-forum.html If you want to turn get this software. |
Blank cleaning
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This might be difficult to snap the first time but hope it helps as this is the way I clean my blanks.
I first draw it in cad and export it in a dxf file. Lets say that the blank is 30 mm x 30 mm square and 100 mm long. Work out the Pi value in this case 94.2478 mm.You will see that I have drawn a pink line on the right side of my blank.I know that I will use a 12 mm dia cutter to clean or do my rough cutting ( or use the cutting width of your chisel). I then draw 2 lines the length of the Pi value ( x-axis 0 + 6 mm ( radius of cutter) + 6 mm ). From the 6 mm ( y-axis 0 point ) draw a line at an angle so that it cross the second line (12 mm x -axis value and 94.2478 y-axis (Pi value ) line in green see drawing. draw this line so that it crosses the pink line.This point will be the point where the cutter will stop an start again to return. Import the dxf file to arguments sake to vectric cut 2d. do a cut on the line away 1.5 mm deep ( not to much ).then return it on that same line cutting another 1.5 mm deep , do this till the required depth is reached.This way one can control the cutting speed and it will reduce the time spent to clean the blank. Keep in mind that the value of my y-axis is the same as the Pi value = to 1 revolution of 360 degrees.( do spread sheet to work it out ) pic of a 1860 mm post |
Thank you for sharing your procedure Hennie.
I have got Ezilathe working well so I will stick with it. |
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Guys...
One last look before it goes to the new owner: https://youtu.be/4j_GFr0spSE Toolpathed with VCarve Pro (or Cut2D) |
Very nice indeed.
I hope one day to build something that cuts and looks as good as that. Not easy I know. Dedication, that's the word. |
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