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Dear Sirs, I need the help and experience of the members of the forum, to suggest me which is the most convenient benchtop cnc lathe with mach3 software to buy. I have a small workshop where boring engines block and grinding crankshafts. Im looking for one cnc lathe only for mechanize valve seats for a cylinder head damaged and manufacture new from a steel bar 1020 or 4140 and replaced.
Thanks in advance for any help
Rocco
If you have the money larger is always better. Small parts can be made on big lathe but big parts cant be made on small lathes.
Since you will be CNCing it dont wory much about the options that come with it. Allot like the Grizzly 9x20 and 10x22 series lathes for cnc. I have a 9x20 but would love to have a 14x40 I think that would be perfect for me.
You would be surprised just because the task at hand is a smaller job when you own a cnc lathe you will be making allot more so plan for the future not for today.
Grizzly.com 9x20
Grizzly.com 10x22
Grizzly.com 14x40
Thanks RMS for advice, 9 x 19 is good. I need small and economical as it, is only for machining valves seats and guides. You know who have one in good condition for sale with cnc convertion and mach 3 ready for work. Thanks
Not already cncd .
There a few places that sell the conversion kits though. You would have to buy the kit , electronics (break out board , drives and what ever options you wanted), motors , ballscrews and put it together.
If you have a mill I would just make it yourself unless you need it right away.
ThompsonMachine.net is one place that sells kits.
AT the price of a new lathe , a kit ,Cooling system , Screwballs , electronics with motors and mach3 I would just buy a used "real" CNC lathe deals are out there if you look around.
Look for a used one and cnc it ..
Thanks for the tip, I send an email but the administrator returned as a nonexistent email.
Whom did you send an Mail ?
to ThompsonMachine.net
The vast majority of bench top lathes really aren't suitable for CNC conversion.
First you want either a bolt on chuck or a spindle with a bore suitable for collets. Collets of course need to be large enough for the raw stock you intend to use, generally 5C is a nice collet size for light lathe work. If you intend to chuck your stock you can use just about any chuck suitable. You want the chucks bolted on to support running the spindle in revers and breaking operation.
The second issue is finding enough space on the cross slide for all of your tooling. Obviously most bench types lathes are setup for a single tool post on a cross slide. For simple jobs you can gang tool which might work in this specific case but it can be very limit. In any event you need a cross slide that can easily support gang tooling.
Lastly the saddle and cross slides on these manual machines are less than ideal for CNC usage. You would be better off buying a used CNC lathe or building a special applications lathe.
Wizard you are right i then designed a toolchanger for Mine in 3d print finnish ed but After vacation i Do it in Steel ..
Hi Sir, I'll take your comments in consideration. Thanks