7x12 Mini Lathe CNC conversion

[Don B]

Blackhawk,

I installed my spindle index Hall effect sensor today and was very surprised that the mach3 rpm reading was within 1rpm as compared to my handheld Ametek RPM meter. I ran some threading gcode and it seems to do what it is suppose to. I don't have a threading lathe bit so can't cut metal yet.

Hi Jfong

This looks really interesting, I'd like to have a go at this myself.

Does the "Hall effect sensor" allow the lathe to be used with the original motor? (i.e. Manual selection of RPM and this is read by the Hall effect sensor for timing purposes)
With your setup are you starting the spindle manually?

 

[Jfong]

Original lathe motor and speed control was used. I didn't modify any of that.

All the sensor does is to let mach3 know how fast the spindle is turning. I still have to manually turn on and adjust the motor speed control knob. Now I can see how fast the chuck is spinning on the computer screen.

 

[Andre]

Nice job! Now part of me wants a CNC. But I know I'll never get around to it!

 

[Jfong]

Made some tool holders for those new inserts this afternoon

 

[Jfong]

Andre,

Thanks! I've been saying the same thing to myself but instead it's a 3d printer. I want one, I just need the time to make one.

 

[Jfong]

I did a simple turning last night. Small handle to replace a broken plastic one. Took about 15 minutes to do. Could never have done this manually or rather this nice looking while turning the lathe handles by hand.

 

[Jfong]

Made a replacement part for a pretty old john deer tractor engine for a friend. He will tap the inside thread himself. It was nice to be able to do this.

 

[Jfong]

Made this floating drawing pen holder out of UHMW plastic and 3/8" steel rod. A spring is used to hold the pen down for uneven surfaces. I also made a slightly larger one for bigger sized markers. Inspiration was from reading a Hackaday.com post about a neat DIY Spirograph machine. Drawing done on my gantry router I made last year.




http://youtu.be/5jd_TfeR4Fw

 

[Marco Bernardini]

Made this floating drawing pen holder out of UHMW plastic and 3/8" steel rod. A spring is used to hold the pen down for uneven surfaces. I also made a slightly larger one for bigger sized markers. Inspiration was from reading a Hackaday.com post about a neat DIY Spirograph machine. Drawing done on my gantry router I made last year.

This will save you a lot of time hand-signing greetings cards for New Year
Jokes apart, a pen holder is an invaluable tool to physically materialize the tool path when working on existing complex parts which would require a lot of time to be totally digitized: better to crash a sharpie than an end mill.