On 25 March 2011 10:26, John Thornton <[email protected]> wrote: > One option and I'm still considering it for my Samson lathe is to build > a small X Z table to clamp onto the ways for CNC work and be able to use > the manual tooling for long work.
CNC-converting the Z of a manual lathe is trivial (and if you put the servo on the tailstock end, non intrusive). If you replace the leadscrew with a ballsrew with a fast enough lead then the power feeds will still work (assuming they are on a separate shaft). Alternatively you could make the nut demountable and park it at one end.. I doubt you would _ever_ thread cut manually so losing that option seems a non-issue. I admit that motorizing the X is harder, and does rather assume that you can find/make space for a ballnut. One option there is to mount a ballnut off the back of the slide if there is not enough space under the slide. (This wasn't an option for me as the milling column was in the way). You can then put the thrust-bearings in a modified handwheel housing, and probably a belt-drive for a servo too. I used _some_ of these ideas on my lathe (http://www.cnczone.com/forums/mini_lathe/63621-mini_lathe_cross_slide_ballscrew-2.html ) as I was keen to retain manual use. I have never used it manually, as the lathe macros make CNC use so much easier than manual use. -- atp "Torque wrenches are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Enable your software for Intel(R) Active Management Technology to meet the growing manageability and security demands of your customers. Businesses are taking advantage of Intel(R) vPro (TM) technology - will your software be a part of the solution? Download the Intel(R) Manageability Checker today! http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-dev2devmar _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
