Lathe conversion from stock to CNC

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17 Jul 2012 16:56 #22101 by Soundreflections
Thanks Andy, you do very nice work! I suppose I often do not have exactly the right tools, so there is some compromise, but I always appreciate good work by other people. Your work station also looks very much like mine tends to look! I will check where the slop in my lead screw is, and see what the best solutions are to tighten it up.

I had a second look at the Mayor and Burger link you posted earlier and that has given me a very good idea to have a cross slide like a mill bed and then another bed that can slide in vertically as they do it. I must then fabricate some form of pivoting table to take a QCTP and I can be in business with some milling ability, even though it does render the lathe to CNC only as I think manual would be a little bit difficult, which I believe is not the greatest problem out there.

Regards
Peet

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17 Jul 2012 17:12 #22104 by andypugh
Soundreflections wrote:

good idea to have a cross slide like a mill bed and then another bed that can slide in vertically as they do it.


Vertical slides are a fairly common accessory, there are several on eBay at the moment, including:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261067240022
(OK, so that is in the wrong hemisphere)
You could possibly consider running with a manual Y axis if milling was an occasional thing and you wrote the G-code to wait.
(MESSAGE, "Three turns on the knob")
M1

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17 Jul 2012 18:08 #22106 by BigJohnT
Soundreflections wrote:

even though it does render the lathe to CNC only as I think manual would be a little bit difficult, which I believe is not the greatest problem out there.

Regards
Peet


I use my MPG for manual milling from time to time, works the same (almost but no feedback) as the mechanical knobs. Say I want to face something off, I just toss it up in the vise and use the MPG to move the axis as needed and incremental jog buttons to lower the Z for each pass.

John

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18 Jul 2012 12:11 #22124 by Soundreflections
I have just had an insight to my mill table adaptation. I have taken off my tool holder with swivel base and there is actually quite a long flat steel base for the cross slide. If I can find a mill table top and mount it on some extremely sturdy 90degree brackets I can then drill and tap into my existing cross slide base and bolt the brackets down, - that would give me the option of a vertical mill table I can clamp a piece of work to and do a bit of milling.

Does this sound like a reasonable idea?

Regards
Peet
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18 Jul 2012 12:32 #22125 by andypugh
That's a much better quality compound slide base than mine.

You could make an angle block that allowed you to mount the compound slide vertically (or off-vertical in a range of ways). You could even make it using the lathe and a 4-jaw chuck.

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18 Jul 2012 14:39 #22135 by BigJohnT
Slap an angle on there and bolt the compound to it and fit a vise where the tool holder is and you have a manual horizontal mill. Judging from the spray can a piece of 4" angle would work. Is the tool holder removable from the compound?

John

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18 Jul 2012 14:42 #22136 by Soundreflections
Hi Andy, Glad to know it's not too bad quality! I have a 4 jaw chuck, for which I have started turning an adaptor plate, but stopped when I realised I need highest precision possible for the recesses, as the plate needs to fit my lathe's faceplate snugly, and the chuck needs to snug in as well. I had 2 dial gauges mounted, to try and get X & Z travel, but it was all too rickety for the precision I need! Hence my contemplation of DRO, or CNC!

I am keen to know how you think I can mount the compound vertically, I suppose I could try to copy the mounting circular slot onto some 10mm steel plate I have, then make a rod of some sort in the centre, mount that on a 90 deg bracket? If I then fashion some sort of clamp onto the slide I can then have XYZ movement.

I suddenly realise I may have my terms crossed! Is the compound slide the X2, or the Z axis? (I am yet to remember all the terms and jargon!).

Thanks
Peet

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18 Jul 2012 14:47 #22137 by Soundreflections
Hi John, we were posting at the same time! That clarifies things for me a lot! I have about a 120mm drill press vice, which I will size up shortly, I suppose there is no real need to rotate in the vertical axis. I can make the tool holder removable, anyway want to get a QCTP, so can do things there. So far I think the main advise is if I go CNC drop the compound altogether? I must then just space the QCTP up a bit, and make it removable, the compound can then stay permanently on the angle bracket for milling.
Regards
Peet

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18 Jul 2012 15:08 #22141 by BigJohnT
Yea, no need for the compound with CNC and that also adds slack unless you just bind up the ways. A spacer block for your tool mount will work fine.

John

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18 Jul 2012 15:21 #22143 by Soundreflections
OK, scratching around I found some rather thick C channel, wide enough to take the compound, the vice is a bit big for the compound, but it fits fine on my 10mm plate. My only concern becomes strength. If I use only existing holes in the compound I will be bolting it down with 2 6mm bolts, I do think I will duplicate the 25mm centre pin, probably bolting that down with a 10mm bolt. There is currently one hole to mount the tool holder, though I can add more holes, there is also a raised platform for the tool holder, so a logical place for another hole would require a wide shim. I hopefully attach a picture of what I have in mind. I am not looking forward to cutting the channel iron though, I think it may take a while.
Regards
Peet
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