I have a Clausing 6913 14x48" lathe. I agree with the sentiment that retrofitting it for CNC would amount to bastardizing.
However, I have an "idea": what if, instead of modifying existing leadscrews, etc, I make a "CNC attachment". It would not disturb any existing lathe mechanicals. What I mean by this is as follows: I would move tailstock and carriage as far to the right as possible to make room. I would take a big aluminum plate and mill it to fit on the lathe vee-ways, so that if I clamp it to the lathe bed it will stay solidly in one place. Then the entire CNC would be made on top of that plate, using it as a "CNC bed". Two slides would be on it for Z and X. I would, obviously, lose some swing and some length, but I do not particularly care. If, say, I end up with a 8x24" CNC lathe, I would be happy. I could remove and reinstall this "CNC attachment" with a shop crane as necessary, by unclamping it and lifting it up. Then I would have my original mechanical lathe back. IN OTHER WORDS, I would make a glorified X-Y table, which would clamp on vee-ways. For enhancement, I could use the space between the vees as extra room to mount the Z lead screw lower to improve swing. Adding an encoder on my spindle is not a problem. Any thoughts? i ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beautiful is writing same markup. Internet Explorer 9 supports standards for HTML5, CSS3, SVG 1.1, ECMAScript5, and DOM L2 & L3. Spend less time writing and rewriting code and more time creating great experiences on the web. Be a part of the beta today http://p.sf.net/sfu/msIE9-sfdev2dev _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
