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I've been reading up alot on the build projects here and also on the epoxy granite thread. It wouls semm that building a good size lathe at home wouldn't be all that hard.
I have access to alot of structural steel and a 72" long set of linear slides. Now if I took and built the lathe bed from structural steel to get the general shape of the lathe and filled it with epoxy granite, will it dampen the vibrations enough to be accurate?
I was planning on making the rails out of a pair of 10" wide pieces of C-channel 1/2" thick. I want to space the far enough apart that I can use the 12" Atlas parts I have. Then fill the voids with epoxy granite for weight and vibration dampening.
Eventually I plan to add a QC gearbox and a few other things.
The biggest problem I have right now is the fact that I cannot find a headstock.
Does anyone have any direction or thoughts on where to go with this?
Well to start with if you think building a lathe from scratch won't be that hard, I think you have a rude awakening coming. Personally, I would find a used lathe and start from there. Even if you have to fix it at least your not starting with nothing.
kling8
Now, I remember why I get most of my info from practical machinist.
My mostly from scratch lathe is almost done. I've learned a lot doing it. Building from scratch does not make sense unless you have a lot of time on your hands or enjoy the process.
I dont know anything about epoxy granite but there are granite surface plates out there waiting to be turned into machine tools.
I used a Dunham 5c headstock from ebay. Sounds like you are going a lot bigger. My plan before I found the headstock was to build the rails and use them to machine the headstock in place.
Good luck.
i thinking the biggest question is what kind of tools do u have available to use. the better the tools the faster it will come together. u could make a tank with a hack saw, a box of files, welder and a couple tons of steel to bad it will take your whole life. i beleive the idea thats the idea of starting with a a premade machine and shoring up its structure vs starting with nothing. i have went through the same design process u are now doing. u may want to consider doing something smaller with peices you could transfer to a larger machine build by the first. that may be harder to do with a lathe vs router table.
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I a sense I want to take what Dave Gingery did with his Metal Shop From Scrap series to a whole new level. I have a basic design already drawn out. I wnat to build something that can be done with basic hand tools and a cheap drill press. So far, the design I have looks like it will be workable for anyone with basic measuring skills and a few precision instruments.
I've been a machinist for too many years now and a machinist/millwright for about the last 15 years.
If I wanted a store bought lathe, I could have one sitting here tomorrow. But no one builds what I want without getting into a series of lathes that won't fit in the average garage. Try finding a 12" series of lathe with a 2" spindle bore. And if you could, try finding one that doesn't need a truckload od moglice or threee solid weeks on a Blanchard to make it workable agian.
Like I said, I have a basic design built out of cold rolled bolted together. All bolts would be hit with read loctite and torqued to SAE specs. Then filled with epoxy granite to dampen vibration since steel really stinks for vibration dampening.
I have a design for the headstock and tailstock, but I need to see if it can be machined on the lathe as it is being built.
Work will be hectic for the next few weeks, so this might get put on the back burner for a bit.
sounds good. big spindle bores are great and hardly ever happen in the home shop I guess because they need big bearings and those are pricey.
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