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Messages - Jfong

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Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / 7x12 Mini-Lathe converted to CNC
« on: June 03, 2014, 02:48:43 PM »
Made this floating drawing pen holder out of UHMW plastic and steel drill rod. I used the lathe to turn down 1/2" rod to 3/8" to fit a ER collet. A spring is used to hold the pen down for uneven surfaces. I also made a slightly larger UMHW holder for bigger sized markers. Inspiration was from reading a Hackaday.com post about a neat DIY Spirograph machine. Drawing done on my gantry router I made last year.



http://youtu.be/5jd_TfeR4Fw

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Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / 7x12 Mini-Lathe converted to CNC
« on: May 27, 2014, 10:08:15 PM »
I downloaded lazy turn and it seems to work good but I like cambam interface a bit better. Both are much better than trying to write gcode manually.

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Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / 7x12 Mini-Lathe converted to CNC
« on: May 25, 2014, 10:26:28 AM »
Great ideas Rich!  I like the drill holder.  Correct me if wrong but I thought lazycam/lazy turn was no longer being developed. Hate to drop any money on a program that will no longer be updated.

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Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / 7x12 Mini-Lathe converted to CNC
« on: May 25, 2014, 12:20:37 AM »
Made a handle so I can put it on the rear of the stepper motor. Was cutting fine but near the end the X axis didn't retract enough and the tool bit hit the part.  Made from drill rod steel.  Have to reprogram and rerun the job. 

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Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / 7x12 Mini-Lathe converted to CNC
« on: May 24, 2014, 01:00:16 PM »
I downloaded the cambam eval and it has a beta lathe turning add on. For this simple part, it seems to work fine.  I haven't found any other inexpensive CAM program that can do lathe work yet.

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Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / 7x12 Mini-Lathe converted to CNC
« on: May 23, 2014, 03:33:43 PM »
I did a simple turning last night. Small handle to replace a broken plastic one. Took about 15 minutes to do. Could never have done this manually or rather this nice looking while turning the lathe handles by hand. 

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Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / 7x12 Mini-Lathe converted to CNC
« on: May 21, 2014, 01:55:29 PM »
I downloaded deskproto eval but I can't seem to get my head around lathe operations. It's not as simple as 3axis milling like cambam.   I'll keep using the wizards for now. 

I made a bunch of  those dovetail holders a few years ago. The one on the right is original that came with the tool post.   I figured it would be quicker to make some insert holders instead of ordering a set from LMS.

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Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / 7x12 Mini-Lathe converted to CNC
« on: May 21, 2014, 12:56:59 PM »
I made some tool holders for some TCMT inserts I got for cheap on eBay. They cut aluminum better than anything I've used before.

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Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / 7x12 Mini-Lathe converted to CNC
« on: May 21, 2014, 12:50:05 PM »
Thanks!
Ya it's the original stock motor and speed control.  I think having the larger 5" chuck helps to smooth it out, flywheel effect. 

The hardest part now is the CAM software. I haven't found any at a reasonable price yet so I am using the built in MACH wizards.

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Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / 7x12 Mini-Lathe converted to CNC
« on: May 20, 2014, 10:59:40 PM »
After converting a unimat lathe to cnc for my buddy, I decided that my own 7x12 mini lathe needs to be converted too. I had this short thk kr26 linear stage that I got for about $40 on eBay. To small for anything else but perfect for the lathe cross slide X axis. The carriage Z axis is a 10mm diameter THK ground ballscrew purchased from eBay for $115. Stepper motors are 300oz-in nema 23 that was given to me. Stepper drivers are Gecko210 also purchased used from eBay for cheap. Power supply is a diy 36 volt output from a transformer salvaged from a old broken desk lamp.

Backlash on both axis is minimal due to the high grade THK ground ballscrews. Rapid speed is set at 100ipm. I had tested it at 200ipm but thought that was ridiculously fast for such a small lathe.

Mach3 Turn running on a old P4 desktop using parallel port step/direction output.

In the video roughing pass is at 5ipm and the finished pass is 1ipm.

http://youtu.be/zuGZxvZJS_w

First time threading

http://youtu.be/2HpvWgHT8To




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