OK, I admit that this post is partly just a tool gloat, but I do wonder if anyone has done a lathe with two independent X axes?
The gloat: I just bought a Dunham Tool Co, "Optimatic Lensmaker" for $115 plus tax. It was originally used to make contact lenses. It has a normal Z axis, but no X. Instead there was a rotary axis with manual adjustments for tool tip radius (like a ball turning attachment). I took off all the contact lens stuff, and found a gem of a small lathe hiding underneath: Photos: http://jmkasunich.com/pics/lathe-front.jpg http://jmkasunich.com/pics/lathe-top.jpg http://jmkasunich.com/pics/lathe-saddle.jpg Features: 5C spindle taper. Dunham spindles are supposed to be on par with Hardinge. Ways are hardened/ground steel bolted to the cast iron. Saddle has turcite or similar anti-stiction material. Saddle has tapered gibs. Sturdy - it is only about 18" long overall, but it weighs 140 lbs (bed, headstock, and saddle). As the last picture shows, the saddle is very long in the Z direction - about 8.5 inches. But there is only about 4 inches of Z travel. Doing collet work with no tailstock means I won't be running very long workpieces. But normally it would need a lot of Z travel to turn the full length of a part, and then attack the end with a drill or boring bar. Here is my idea - I put one X axis at the headstock end of the saddle, with a turning/facing tool on it. Maybe put a parting tool on the back side. Then put another X axis at the right end of the saddle, and equip it with several tool blocks, each set up to hold a drill chuck, collet chuck, or boring bar. Both X axes would be linear rails. There is about 2.5 inches from the top of the saddle to the spindle centerline - should be enough. Given the quality of the rest of the machine I would probably be using ground and preloaded ballscrews - there are some good deals on ebay. Any thoughts on the dual-X-axis idea? -- John Kasunich jmkasun...@fastmail.fm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Try New Relic Now & We'll Send You this Cool Shirt New Relic is the only SaaS-based application performance monitoring service that delivers powerful full stack analytics. Optimize and monitor your browser, app, & servers with just a few lines of code. Try New Relic and get this awesome Nerd Life shirt! http://p.sf.net/sfu/newrelic_d2d_may _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
