Machsupport Forum

General CNC Chat => Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) => Topic started by: Overloaded on December 19, 2007, 11:24:21 AM

Title: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: Overloaded on December 19, 2007, 11:24:21 AM
Hello everyone,
Here is my little lathe that I put together with stuff on hand. I had a variety of components lying around and the cnc bug bit me in the butt so I  sort of slapped it together. The headstock is a right angle gearbox housing from an old Hytrol conveyor, the bearings are new surplus. I got the Idea for the tool plate from Ian Ralston in a previous post. The spindle is 5C. I may get a small chuck for it. All I had to buy was a BOB and pulse card from CNC4pc and of course the license from Artsoft.
This is my introduction to the world of CNC. I'd read a bit about it but wanted something to self teach with hands on lessons. I get a better grip on things if I can make some chips fly. (Luckily, none are from the spindle... YET !)
I hope I don't "BUG" everyone too much in the forums, I'm eager to learn and have many questions. I DO search first but haven't picked up the language proficiently yet, so please bear with me.
I have run several of the wizards with surprisingly GOOD results and have hand written several simple codes.
I'm a little bit more amazed every day.
Mach, IMO, is a fantastic product. Even though I have nothing to compare it to.
Bye for now,
Thanks
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: zarzul on December 19, 2007, 11:49:40 AM
Nice work!!

Arnie
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: Chaoticone on December 19, 2007, 03:10:57 PM
Good job!  :)

Brett
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: Hood on December 19, 2007, 03:26:55 PM
Looks great, how good is the line of the X and Z?
Hood
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: Overloaded on December 19, 2007, 04:24:06 PM
Thanks for the compliments.
The base plate, headstock and all of the axis rails were drilled, tapped and dowel pinned in a BP vert. mill with a DRO.
Everything is true and square to .0005". I even surface ground some of the plates. (If that's what you mean Hood.)
It really moves too freely on the rails. Only .007" backlash but no "sticktion".
One other problem is setting the tool heights, shimming is the only way I know to do it. Pain in the hump.
Any suggestions ?
This is just a learner, I'd like to build a good rock solid Lathe/Mill combination rig next.

Here is a couple of pics. of some sample parts Mach made for me. I was most impressed with the thread cutting. 48 tpi at 1300 rpm, 3 cuts, 1 spring.

Thanks again
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: Ian Ralston on December 19, 2007, 06:07:02 PM
Overloaded,

That is a remarkable job you have done there! Not many people would have designed a lathe from scratch. I, in turn, got my inspiration to try a toolplate from Omniturn.

http://www.omni-turn.com/Pages/Videos/Video%20page.html

In particular look at the Pill Case Demo, magic!

The toolplate I use is a standard Boxford item but not seen very often, mostly the 8 position turret or a quick change toolpost.
Packing is a major nuisance, I would suggest you make the height from the toolplate standard, sized to use standard size tools, then all tools are on the same centre. Or, use standard carbide turning inserts.

Ian
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: Overloaded on December 19, 2007, 07:01:28 PM
Thanks Ian,
My connection is WAY too slow to dnld the vids. I requested a CD from them.
I machined the tool holders so 1/4" square HSS are the perfect height  but whatever is ground from the top has to be made up with shims.
I guess carbide is the way to go, maybe next time.

Thanks again for the inspiration and input.
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: zarzul on December 21, 2007, 09:36:53 AM
For the hose barb, did you hand code that or use a wizard?
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: Overloaded on December 21, 2007, 11:32:51 AM
Hey zarzul,
That was coded by hand. Pretty basic learning experience for me. I did all of the threading, turning and radius codes also just to learn how. Wizards are cool but I want to know the in's and out's first. Me and this forum are my only teachers.....and I'm probably not the best student.
I later wrote the code to chamfer the ID, face the end to a small radius on the OD at the end, then the tapered cuts.
It is tubing to begin with, no drilling or boring necessary.
Can't wait to do something REAL.
Thanks,
RC
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: ftomazz on January 03, 2008, 04:14:45 PM
Hi.

Can you please tell what are the necessary hardware to make threads ?
I have a small lathe almost done, with a frequency inverter to control the spindle speed, and two axis. No problem to move the axis or to control the spindle speed, that I am currently doing manually.
I think that Mach MUST know with precision the position of the spindle. How this is achieved ? With an encoder ? Some special hardware ?

This makes some confusion to me ???. Since you did it, maybe I could achieve my goal more quikly.

Thanks, Filipe
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: zarzul on January 03, 2008, 07:00:36 PM
Mach controls the x axis based upon the spindle position,  this spindle position is reported by a once/revolution pulse from a pickup you need on your spindle.

If you know your speed you may already have one?

Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: Overloaded on January 03, 2008, 08:15:32 PM
Hello Filipe,
All that you need to cut threads is an index pulse on the spindle.
This is the one that I used.  http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=129 
It's not clear in your post how far along you are.   
And of course you will need motors and drivers for each axis, a power supply and a breakout board.
You can research the tutorials link at the top of this page for system requirements and the like.
Everything else is done with the Mach software. You can write the code by hand or use the wizard in M3Turn. The thread cutting function is dissabled if you do not have the license file.
Download the "Using Mach3 Turn" manual. It explains everything pretty well.
 
Regards,
RC
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: ftomazz on January 04, 2008, 02:40:11 AM
Thanks.

I have everthing done, execpt the tread function.
I do not need it for the lathe that I am working on, since it will be making especific parts all without treads.
But I am also working on a larger machine that would be cool to open treads on it (this is probably the most amazing thing that a lathe can do in automatic mode (conic treads !)).

Thank you very much. The index / per revolution seens little to make quality treads (poor information), but since you have done it, it is the right thing.

Filipe
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: ftomazz on January 04, 2008, 02:42:24 AM
Mr zarzul.

The speed is obtained using a potenciometer connected to the variable frequency. I think that is not accurate enough.
I have the lathe in painting, so I can not test anything, but I will ckeck later.

Thank for the info.
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: ynneb on January 13, 2008, 03:14:18 AM
Superb !
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: RICH on July 26, 2008, 09:05:59 PM
RC,
Your lathe is what i had in mind for a custom CNC lathe. Got most of the parts needed, rails, ball screws, 5c head from a mill, variable speed dirve and a 1 hp DC motor. I have put the project on hold since I got a free CNC Sherline and don't need another ( good grief, 3 lathes, and still playing) at the moment. So would like your thoughts on the future project.
If you were to do it over what are some of the things would you do or change?
RICH
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: Overloaded on July 27, 2008, 07:38:56 PM
Hey RICH,
The MAIN thing that I would do different, and did for my next one, is to at least start with an existing bed and headstock/spindle assy.
I bought an old OLD Hardinge production lathe. Flat belt, 4c collet, threaded spindle nose and a lever type collet closer. GOOD spindle bearings. It was an excellent platform to build from. VERY rigid and the bulk of the build is done at this point. $129.00.
I need to post a pic and see if anyone recognizes the model, maybe provide the vintage or year of mfg. I don't think it's as old as Ron Ginger's railroad lathe..but it might be a close second place for the "Oldest CNC Lathe" award.
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,5654.0.html
I also got lucky and found some Gilman dovetail slides..BRAND new and real cheap. I used 1 of these for the Z and used THK rails and trucks for the X. Also used THK ball screws instead of the cheaper Thomson.
These are perfect for what I do, nothing over about 2 " long.
Someday, I hope to get a REAL lathe. Till then, I'm just tinkering.
Good luck,
RC
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: Overloaded on December 22, 2008, 06:00:28 PM
 :)
Here is that "Old Timer" I mentioned earlier.
Since version 008 when threading really stabilized, it's been working real well.
9000 parts run in succession with NO bad ones. Tight tolerance on the threads too.

Guards removed here during PM.

Next oldest to Ron G's.

RC
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: budman68 on December 22, 2008, 06:31:24 PM
That's excellent, RC, but ......with those lights, it looks like you're using it in a strip club  :D

Dave
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: Overloaded on December 22, 2008, 10:27:21 PM
 ;) Blue Light Special
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: Chaoticone on December 23, 2008, 12:07:15 AM
 :o  Blue light special on old sexy tools? Am I on the right forum?  ;D

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Brett
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: RICH on December 23, 2008, 08:15:59 AM
RC,
Thanks for posting pic of latest lathe. One showing the cross slide would be valuable.
Still havn't decided which way I am going to go for mine. That's the problem when you have
too much good junk and options.
RICH
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: Overloaded on December 23, 2008, 08:37:25 AM
Hi RICH,
 Here is another view.
Made up with stuff on hand.
I also made a 4 pos. tooling block.
The wire wheel really dresses up the final thread nicely.
The oil is mineral and lard, excellent for brass.
This is a real "tight" little rig.
Quite small cap. but it was made for small parts.
RC
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: Sam on December 23, 2008, 05:38:17 PM
Quote
with those lights, it looks like you're using it in a strip club
Prolly the one next to the Home Depot!

That's a real slick setup you have there. Good stuff, RC. Makes me want one even worse now.
Title: Re: "HOMEBREW" Lathe, My Intro. to Mach and CNC
Post by: Overloaded on December 23, 2008, 05:45:40 PM
Good one Sam....real good ! :D

Thanks

My wife insists that I only go to Lowes now ::)
 ;D