I am trying to make a copy lathe work without hand turning the wheel. I make fishing lures and need to speed things up. I run my lathe 8 hours a day and thats alot of turning the wheel. A servo motor that can drive the tool holder left and right and in and out may work. Anyone have an idea. Thanks Lee

If we are just talking about turning hand wheels... take a look at stepper motors. properly sized they will do what you need (cheaper and simpler than servos)

Basic setup: computer w/control software, breakout board, driver(s) (one per motor, gecko or other) and stepper motor(s) (sized to suit load).

That would give you speed and position control.
Just my 2 cents.

thanks for your help. Lee