[AVRnj]

I am in the market for a lathe again, and I really want to do a CNC conversion as I just finished a mini mill (X2L) conversion, and I am quite fascinated with the potential for what CNC can do for me.

I am looking for some opinions on whether or not its worthwhile on a lathe.

My thought is if I am going to CNC a lathe, I am probably going to buy a Grizzly G0602, as it should be big enough for me, and I don't want to spend a lot of money on the lathe itself for the gearbox, only to not use it.

If I am not going to CNC the lathe, I will probably go with a full gearbox, something like a G4002 or G4003, or the g4003G the gunsmith version.


It seems like for a milling machine CNC, there is a ton of reasonable CAD software and toolpath generation software that make it really a no brainer for me at least.

However, I cannot seem to find much in the way of CAD or toolpath generation specific to the lathe, which makes me wonder if it is worthwhile doing a CNC lathe conversion.

I am not a good machinist, and machining is a means to an end for me to be able to do other things. I enjoy machining, but it is a very, very time consuming thing to do right, so, I don't envision ever being anything more than a competent machinist, which is why CNC is so attractive to me. I can design pretty well in CAD, and I can learn enough machining, or already know enough, to produce great parts without becoming an expert in machining.

Sorry for the ramble, just want to pull the trigger on a lathe, but want to work this out first. Any opinions would be great!

[pippin88]

It is harder to find reasonable priced lathe CAM software. CAD is the same for both. CamBam have recently implemented lathe support.

A lot of large stuff can be done via conversational cnc in the controller. I use LinuxCNC http://7xcnc.com/software/linuxcnc/n...rsational-cnc/

[wizard]

You can do a conversion on some of these manual lathes but I'm not real thrilled with the approach. Why? I don't think the payoff is as big unless you have trivial lathing needs. Mind you I've though seriously about CNC'ing my 9x20 lathe but I realize there is less flexibility with a lathe upgrade to CNC. Why do I say that; well one you are limited to gang tooling or a limited, add on tool indexer. Two; you cross slide has limited travel. Three; it is far more difficult to get a ball screw installed for the cross slide.

If you do go this way make sure you go with a machine with a solid chuck drive. You do not want a screw on chuck on a CNC lathe. Along the same lines a CNC lathe can really benefit from 5C collet capacity.

I am in the market for a lathe again, and I really want to do a CNC conversion as I just finished a mini mill (X2L) conversion, and I am quite fascinated with the potential for what CNC can do for me.

CNC is fascinating! However the vast majority if people get more out of CNC milling type machines. You did not explore your needs here but you should also consider the electronic leadscrew solution.

I am looking for some opinions on whether or not its worthwhile on a lathe.

That depends upon you and what you are doing and making.

My thought is if I am going to CNC a lathe, I am probably going to buy a Grizzly G0602, as it should be big enough for me, and I don't want to spend a lot of money on the lathe itself for the gearbox, only to not use it.

I'm not sure which lathe that is but make sure it is amendable to CNC conversion!

If I am not going to CNC the lathe, I will probably go with a full gearbox, something like a G4002 or G4003, or the g4003G the gunsmith version.


It seems like for a milling machine CNC, there is a ton of reasonable CAD software and toolpath generation software that make it really a no brainer for me at least.

There are a lot of reasons for that. For one you get more millage out of a CNC mill. Likewise what is the draw for a low end CNC lathe. CAM software for lathes is largely oriented to production environments. In contrast CNC mills are easily employed to do one off projects.

However, I cannot seem to find much in the way of CAD or toolpath generation specific to the lathe, which makes me wonder if it is worthwhile doing a CNC lathe conversion.

The worth has nothing to do with available CAM software. The value comes in making it easy to do things that you can't do manually or would require special tools or fixtures. If need be g-Code can be generated manually.

I am not a good machinist, and machining is a means to an end for me to be able to do other things. I enjoy machining, but it is a very, very time consuming thing to do right, so, I don't envision ever being anything more than a competent machinist, which is why CNC is so attractive to me.

Big mistake. You seem to suffer from a common misconception that you can do CNC machine with out a background or the right experience.

I can design pretty well in CAD, and I can learn enough machining, or already know enough, to produce great parts without becoming an expert in machining.

Sorry for the ramble, just want to pull the trigger on a lathe, but want to work this out first. Any opinions would be great!

Think long and hard about what you will make on the lathe.