New Micro lathe built by me (my second lathe)

[Stevie]

Hi Guys

Been a while; but this is why; I've been busy
Keep in mind it's still not totally finished; need to add a few more fasteners etc; also the most expensive part here was the Jacobs #0 chuck at $94


Spindle is from a 5" extended airpowered diegrinder
Added mounting rings to bring the diameter to the same as the drilling machine head from a $58 drill press; I cut the head down and milled the base
Then mounted it on a piece of 3/4 Alum
As you can see the lathe is an upside down design; this the cross slide on the base and the Z axis above
This means the tailstock for drilling has to be mounted off the headstock
Note all ways are linear THK units


Close up of the drive end of the spindle; i drilled the spindle through for the bar feed; that belt is from a singer (hehehe) and it can take the 31,800 rpm
That pulley has 2 steps; the other is 50% smaller; but in this view it's behind the bigger pulley


The drive motor; a angle grinder cut off and the spur gear replaced with a pulley
This will be replaced by a new motor off eBay at 15,000 rpm


Full view; note the 23 sized steppers; the Z axis has a ball screw; the X has a 3/8" SS threaded rod; polished and mated to an antibacklash nut made by me; material is P/Bronze for the nut
There still needs to be a support for the tailstock bar

Please note my goal was to make this from off cuts and scrap; other than the THK units and the ball screw I managed to do just that; if you think the parts i got from eBay are surplus; then all of it is made from discards; and thats so cool

[Stevie]

Close up of the spindle/drill chuck

Note resolutions are set at 0.0001 for the Z axis; and 0.00001 for the X
I need to turn very accurate diameters with X at a high feed in Z; so the slow (16 tpi) thread in X helps and the 3/16" pitch in Z is perfect
Biggest diameter will be 1/8" so high speed is required

[nervis1]

Dang, very very nice. Cool design too.

Tell me how the tailstock works, how does it clamp?

What are the travels?

[Stevie]

for now the tail will not need to clamp; its just for drilling very small holes (0.03"-0.005" diameter) the Z axis travel is about 8" but I only really need 2"
The X axis travel is 4" but again only 1" is needed for the job this machine is made to make

If needed the tail can be automated or locked; i've left material for the attachment of a nut; or clamp screw
The soon to be added tail support will include a spot for a stepper if needed

Note the steppers are Compumotor and the drives are Compumotor AL's with steps set to Zaxis 10,000 Xaxis 18,000
The system is controled by a P1 200Mhz Dell; gave $50 for that
The software is TurboCNC Ver 3.1; I like this version; had problems with later editions

[Ken_Shea]

Stevie, Master of innovation, Guru of precision, Mentor of surplus, Slave of CNC

Outstanding Steve, but then, that does not really surprise me.

[Stevie]

Thanks Ken

a peek at just what this machine is made to do



If you think it looks like a cannon barrel your close

Here's my website

The other lathe I made several months ago is busy most nights; but it has a limit on just how small it can go; this will fill the gap in demand for smaller and smaller barrels
The research on these barrels is quite amazing; about 1 month of digging is not unusual as most are now gone; and only a few photos are left; sometime it can take me 3 months to get all the sizes worked out; then I have to draw in full scale and then re-scale for the barrel program

[Ken_Shea]

Steve, my question is answered before I ask it (since I know you would not use it if it wasn't) but is the run-out on a air die grinder chuck hi-precision ?

OK, off to check out your web site.

[Stevie]

It's very close; the body runs about 0.0015 off; the collet ran even closer with the 1/4"; the 1/8" was more off than the body; but as all of the barrel gets turned down; it's really not an issue; other than balance; and so close to the center line of the machine it is hardly noticable

[Deviant]

You have to turn out the hull, projectile and the ity bity primer.

*grins*

Neat stuff.

[Stevie]

My small mill which I'll be starting as soon as this machine is finished will be made again from off cuts; i have some nice big Alum extrusions for the main sections (channel and I beam) plus 3 sets of THK linears again and 3 nice ball screws; Nema 34 steppers and 3 Compumotor S6 drives; a P3-500 wil handle control

The 3 Power supplies i got yesterday (see electronics forum) I will use to power the Copley drive Amps (4 of) and the MCG servos (also 4 of) on my planned huge mill; travels will be 30" x 30" x 72"

[Swede]

I like it Stevie! That Z-rail makes it look like a little hardinge dovetail bed. Very unique X axis design. Do you find the wipers on the Z-bed work well at protecting those wide Z trucks?

[Stevie]

I have not used it enough yet
I'm thinking over covering the entire lower section with a thick ballon as it only will ever cut brass