Tormach Lathe?!?

[307startup]

Why oh why won't Tormach make a nice CNC lathe? Not a flat bed...but a nice little 30* slant bed. Something that would have a 1.5" through bore and a high-speed spindle option. Think Wabeco 6000e high-speed...on steroids. Not a full-on production lathe...but more than just a retro-fit. Something in say a 12x36 size? Personally I have no desire for anything with up to 40" center to center...but maybe up to a 13" swing? The user could decide if they want to use gang tooling or a sweet little tool changer. It would still be a benchtop design...hopefully with a nice Tormach stand and an enclosure like the Wabeco. I have it kinda/sorta designed in my head, and some napkin sketches. It would be a pretty simple machine. A U shaped bed...a headstock assembly, and a 30* slant plate that bolts to the back to mount the x axis. A tailstock with pneumatic control would be nice and an air-operated chuck. I have already been working on a simple, elegant bar-feeder design that would work with most CNC'd workshop/hobby lathes. It's not brand-specific, but comes with adjustable legs to match the centerline of the lathe's bore. Sorry I don't have any CAD skills. I'll see if I can whip something up in Adobe to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

[307startup]

Does anybody know how I can post a pic on here?

[307startup]

Here it is...I hope it worked. Please don't make fun of me...it took me like 15 minutes to make it and is my first Adobe Illustrator drawing, so...

[MichaelHenry]

That would be nice, but I don't think that they are done refining the mill yet.

Mike

[307startup]

Try this one...

[philbur]

The market is possibly not big enough. A CNC mill has a much wider appeal than a CNC lathe, just checking the relative traffic on the various forums will confirm this.

Regards
Phil

Originally Posted by WYLD Why oh why won't Tormach make a nice CNC lathe? Not a flat bed...but a nice little 30* slant bed. Something that would have a 1.5" through bore and a high-speed spindle option. Think Wabeco 6000e high-speed...on steroids. Not a full-on production lathe...but more than just a retro-fit. Something in say a 12x36 size? Personally I have no desire for anything with up to 40" center to center...but maybe up to a 13" swing? The user could decide if they want to use gang tooling or a sweet little tool changer. It would still be a benchtop design...hopefully with a nice Tormach stand and an enclosure like the Wabeco. I have it kinda/sorta designed in my head, and some napkin sketches. It would be a pretty simple machine. A U shaped bed...a headstock assembly, and a 30* slant plate that bolts to the back to mount the x axis. A tailstock with pneumatic control would be nice and an air-operated chuck. I have already been working on a simple, elegant bar-feeder design that would work with most CNC'd workshop/hobby lathes. It's not brand-specific, but comes with adjustable legs to match the centerline of the lathe's bore. Sorry I don't have any CAD skills. I'll see if I can whip something up in Adobe to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

[307startup]

wow...I guess it's so small of a market that people are CNC'ing their lathes just because they have the parts laying around.

I understand it's not that big of a market...mostly because nobody has put anywhere near as much effort into an affordable CNC lathe as they have with a CNC mill. Just like GM thought there wasn't a market for the Camaro and Firebird...but it's amazing the response they got after they killed it...and again when they did the new concept car. I think that an affordable high quality CNC lathe would sell better than it is being given credit for.

[philbur]

Degree of confidence in a business proposition is often inversely proportional to the level of personal investment required.

Go for it.

Regards
Phil

Originally Posted by WYLD I think that an affordable high quality CNC lathe would sell better than it is being given credit for.

[InspirationTool]

Small CNC lathes come up on eBay fairly frequently and fairly cheaply.

Look for the Emco compact 5 and others.

Personally, I expect I will do the lathe/mill trick eventually.

-Jeff

[kerryveenstra]

For me, even a manual lathe would be good to have. (Am I allowed to say "manual" in the CNC Zone?)

I just added another eBay search. It's time to start looking at the market for these things.

[307startup]

Degree of confidence in a business proposition is often inversely proportional to the level of personal investment required.
Go for it.
Regards
Phil

Actually if I weren't up to my neck with a mortgage and car payment, and a personal business venture of my own I would consider this option. I've never been afraid to risk my own money for the sake of doing the "impossible". If I ever get the CAD drawings done, I'll show everyone a combination CNC machine that I have been spec'ing. It has a decent size work envelope (30"X by 20"Y by 20"Z) and incorporates a vertical mill with a horizontal mill that doubles as a lathe and live axis...

Small CNC lathes come up on eBay fairly frequently and fairly cheaply.
Look for the Emco compact 5 and others.
Personally, I expect I will do the lathe/mill trick eventually.
-Jeff

The only problem with an EMCO 5 is that they are CNC mini/micro lathes...cool for training, not much use for most hobbyist use. Unless you are into turning zillions of .75" or smaller parts. I trained on one at school...the average guy is going to want to turn something in the 1"-1.5" range occasionally and even turn some bigger stuff...swing is important as is a larger thru-bore. Hobby equipment shouldn't mean toy...it should mean that it is capable of supporting the hobbyist's interests.

[dammachines]

Originally Posted by WYLD The only problem with an EMCO 5 is that they are CNC mini/micro lathes...cool for training, not much use for most hobbyist use. Unless you are into turning zillions of .75" or smaller parts. I trained on one at school...the average guy is going to want to turn something in the 1"-1.5" range occasionally and even turn some bigger stuff...swing is important as is a larger thru-bore. Hobby equipment shouldn't mean toy...it should mean that it is capable of supporting the hobbyist's interests.

Yeah, I think my Dynamechtronics DM3000H is pretty much the ultimate "hobbyist" lathe.

It weighs about 1200 lbs, and runs off 220v single phase. It's got a power 5C collet chuck, or a power 3 jaw chuck, and a 6 station tool turret. 0-4000 RPM software controlled spindle speed. I'm not sure the size of the spindle bore, but I'd guess at 1.25" - I know there is more room when using a 1" collet. The longest part you could probably comfortably turn is about 7" at about 4.5" diameter. And the diameter could go a bit larger with some inventive tool mounting...

The Ah-ha retrofit controller isn't the greatest, but it works. Eventually I'll change it all over to Mach3, but probably not until one of the more expensive control boards goes...

Dave