Advice Needed- Considering converting Japanese Toolroom lathe to CNC

[C&Me]

Hello Everyone,

I am considering converting this lathe to CNC. Confession: I am totally over my head and am going to lean heavily on your generosity, expertise and experience! My CNC experience is limited to a Sherline CNC lathe, and my machining is limited to working with a Taig lathe. So, ambitious and foolish as it may be, I want to convert this lathe into a gang tool production lathe for making small parts in plastics and wood. Part size will be 16mm dia. max and 70mm long. The initial questions I have for you all are as follows:

Collet Closer: Having the ability to advance the stock through the spindle is essential, which is why I chose this lathe. Is there a mechanical way of operating the lever, without relying on compressed air? Like a large stepper motor or servo? If air is the best option, what recommendations do you have for setting this up and integrating it into the control.

Spindle Motor: Would it be advisable to use a servo motor as the spindle drive to simplify controlling speed, on/off etc?

Linear Guides: What size would be best for this setup? The bed is only about 60cm long and I will not need to have guides nearly that long, would HIWIN HGR15 be appropriate? Also, could I mount the guides directly to the bed or would they be too close together? Would it be better to mount them to a plate that then gets attached to the bed? I am concerned about mounting them precisely, as the only machinists I have access to are not known for precision work. Is it really true that the guides themselves are not straight enough to mount directly?

Ball Screws: recommendations for the exact specs and where to locate them? For the Z axis should it be in the center of the bed or in the front?

Stepper Motors: size?

Planning to use Mach 3.

Thanks in advance for your ideas and suggestions,

Justin

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[Bill C]

Justin,

Go to the Artsoft (Mach) website, join and go to the general topic. A guy there called 'Hood' has converted lathes as well as others there. They can and will help you.
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Bill C