On 12 June 2013 17:35, andy pugh <bodge...@gmail.com> wrote: > I accidentally bought another lathe from eBay. > It is beautifully made, in the 1920s, with no regard to cost > practicality or logic. One of these: > http://www.lathes.co.uk/rivett/page2.html > > It isn't quite as nice as the one in the pictures, and has no > changewheels or screwcutting box. (imagine is stops short at the back > of the headstock). > > Should I CNC it? > > If I do, I would have to do it sympathetically. (My other hobby is > vehicles from the same era). > As the entire cross-slide pops off at the flick of a lever, it is not > difficult to imagine a slot-on CNC cross-slide, possibly incorporating > a tool turret. In this respect the conversion is easier than the > Chinese lathe I converted. > > However, the Z-axis poses something of a quandry. There is no way at > all to swap the leadscrew to a ballscrew. It sits snugly in a > semicircular slot in the bed. > So, perhaps I could mount a ballscrew on a bracket at the back. Then I > could slot-on the CNC top-slide and bolt it to the nut, and if I > wanted to use the lathe in manual mode I could unbolt it, swap back to > the manual toolslide, and resort to craftsmanship. > > Or, I could just convert it to an electric leadscrew with an Arduino > and sell it on as a working lathe. > > I do think it needs to be mounted on an oak cabinet like the original > Rivett ones. I think that looks great :-) > (Then flat-belt drive to a motor/vfd mounted underneath) > > > If it's a piece of iron to you, then hack away. If you see value in it's authenticity, then why not fix it up and re-sell it, and put the money towards a more 'appropriate' machine. (presumably more recent)
I have a similar dilemma, but with a mint condition Myford 7 that was my fathers'. I haven't switched it on for 3 years because it's a pain to use, but why CNC it and butcher it when I have a CNC lathe already??? Regards Roland Regards Roland ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.net email is sponsored by Windows: Build for Windows Store. http://p.sf.net/sfu/windows-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
