On 2/10/2015 4:37 AM, andy pugh wrote: > On 4 February 2015 at 12:34, Gregg Eshelman <g_ala...@yahoo.com> wrote: >> Someone needs to put the Denford ORAC back into production, with updated >> controls of course. > > I have wondered about getting in touch with the new owners of Myford > about creating a Myford-based CNC lathe for the modern model engineer. > I think it is an idea that might fly.
It wouldn't have to be at a huge premium over a manual version of a lathe. Firstly because several parts used on a manual lathe would not be required. No quick change gearbox, no gear drive or other mechanical connection between the spindle and carriage ballscrew. No compound slide, no half nuts, no carriage rack or crank and all those gears, nor any of the power feed drive that runs on the rack. Just a simple long ballscrew and nut attached directly to the carriage replacing all those mechanical pieces. The second savings would be from using a common and very affordable tiny computer like the Beagle Bone Black or the new Raspberry Pi 2 (for which Microsoft is going to release a free version of Windows 10 for ARM CPUs) and Chinese stepper drivers and power supplies. Why design proprietary hardware that will be a few generations out of date by the time it gets fully sorted out, when there's a huge selection of off the shelf hardware that can do as good or better job for a fraction of the cost? Done with budget in mind, a benchtop CNC lathe could cost less to produce than a full featured manual engine lathe. Such a lathe should be aimed at the hobby, education and light production markets, not priced like some of those Taig and Sherline sized machines in big enclosures. With LCNC, the buyer could opt to pay a bit more for software support for a time, or join this list or CNCzone or any of the other free forums. 'Course the manufacturer's support would be specific to their machine and the LCNC setup they ship with it. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dive into the World of Parallel Programming. The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
