Lathe conversion from stock to CNC
- Soundreflections
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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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- andypugh
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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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- BigJohnT
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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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- Soundreflections
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Does this sound like a reasonable idea?
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Peet
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- andypugh
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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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- BigJohnT
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John
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- Soundreflections
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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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- Soundreflections
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Regards
Peet
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- BigJohnT
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John
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- Soundreflections
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Regards
Peet
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