Reply with QuoteCool idea! From first looks you probably will want more Y travel and beef up the Y axis in general.
What are you planning on using for CAM? Fusion360?
Are you also planning on being able to hold lathe tooling for mill-turn operations?
7x10 Mini Lathe to CNC 5 Axis
So I've gotten far enough in the design stage that I'd like to start sharing my build. I've got the lathe itself and the basic CNC components. I've managed to install LinuxCNC and get the motors moving. Tomorrow I start hopefully bolting some components on.
I'll start with a rendering
Far from finished with the design but far enough along to start on the Z axis. Plan right now is to keep it as cheap as possible. I'll start by 3D printing all the custom components and make them in aluminum,steel or cast iron when I'm happy with them.
Some bullet points:
-For the motors I'm starting with a chinese ebay special 3 axis nema 23 kit and BOB.
-16mm z & y axis screws and a 12mm x. Looks like I could fit a 16mm in the x axis as well so may change my mind.
-Re-designing the top slide to a T-slot bed and adding tapered gibs to the x and z axis.
-Using MGN rails on the Y axis for simplicity
-Have a worm gear reduction modeled in the back of the Y axis currently to do A axis rotation. They can be found for cheap from China.
-Not sure what I'll use for a spindle. Currently have a cheap chinese spindle in the model. Was trying to find maybe a cheap lathe live tool block. Or make my own?
-Plan on mounting a servo motor for the spindle and having a couple pulley options for it but think I've bitten off a good amount to work on for now.
That's a start, hope to update more soon as I make progress!
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Re: 7x10 Mini Lathe to CNC 5 Axis
Cool idea! From first looks you probably will want more Y travel and beef up the Y axis in general.
What are you planning on using for CAM? Fusion360?
Are you also planning on being able to hold lathe tooling for mill-turn operations?
Re: 7x10 Mini Lathe to CNC 5 Axis
Thanks, the Y axis you see above isn't finished. It's just arbirtrarily mated to the x axis to get all the pieces to fit up. Still have model up something for the lead screw and finish up and I'll see what I can do about how I'll mount and brace it. I've already changed some stuff around since the picture above. The X axis I've made longer and added a tapered gib design as well. A lot of the Z axis stuff had to change slightly as I downloaded the lathe model from Grabcad and it didn't match my lathe 100%.Originally Posted by CS900
CAM I probably will use Fusion360. I've programmed with it for lathe and mill up to 4 axis so I'm pretty comfortable with it.
For lathe turning there's still enough room on the x axis for tool holders. End goal I think it would be cool to have a spindle in the A axis that could hold them. Similar to an integrex, but that would be a ways off.
