ELS on Mini-Lathe?

devils4ever said:
Yeah, this is a tough decision. Having more space and basement access would have me sell this lathe and go for a bigger one. If nothing else, I'd get more rigidity and mass.

I'm not familiar with GT2 belts and pulleys. Are there any that would fit the main spindle gear? The pulley's ID would have to be matched to the spindle's OD. It looks like a set of special wrenches are needed to remove the current setup. I'm not as concerned with the lead screw shaft since it's a lot smaller.
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Good thing you have a lathe to machine those pulley hubs :)

GT2 is a small pitch curvillinear profile pulley. They are good to about 2HP and have lower running noise than most belts. Fabric faced belts add to the noise reduction.

You could probably get a 10" lathe down to the basement without too much hassle. The headstock can be removed to save weight.
 
I wouldn't mess with the spindle directly. Those nuts probably set the preload on the main bearings. I doubt you could purchase one to fit directly anyway, and it's tough to measure and such without taking it apart.
 
ttabbal said:
I wouldn't mess with the spindle directly. Those nuts probably set the preload on the main bearings. I doubt you could purchase one to fit directly anyway, and it's tough to measure and such without taking it apart.
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You may be right, it's hard to tell looking at it. It would be nice to remove all the gears though. Lots more space to mount the encoder and stepper.

I could possibly mount the encoder on the first change gear (small one above large 80T gear).
 
devils4ever said:
Yeah, this is a tough decision. Having more space and basement access would have me sell this lathe and go for a bigger one. If nothing else, I'd get more rigidity and mass.

I'm not familiar with GT2 belts and pulleys. Are there any that would fit the main spindle gear? The pulley's ID would have to be matched to the spindle's OD. It looks like a set of special wrenches are needed to remove the current setup. I'm not as concerned with the lead screw shaft since it's a lot smaller.
Click to expand...
With the lathe you have....you could make about any pulley fit! ;) If it currently has a 60 tooth, you be looking at a pulley only i dunno, 1.25" in diameter. WHat's the diameter of your spindle on the geared side? But if you had to go bigger for hole side of the spindle, the gear you choose on the stepper side could bring rpm's back to where you need it. The more the convo progresses, the more I feel like it may not be worth it.
 
The main spindle diameter is about 1.040" measured at the end which is threaded. I can't measure the shaft diameter without taking off the nuts and gear.

"The more the convo progresses, the more I feel like it may not be worth it."
I'm not sure I get what you mean with this statement.

I was thinking of leaving the 3 gear train as is and attach the encoder directly to the shaft shown below. It should be easy to mount the encoder there since there is a mounting bracket for the gear shaft.

I started pricing things out and I was shocked to see the encoder costs over $400 from US sources. eBay and other importers are much less.

IMG_5597_highlight.jpg
 
There is a huge variation in encoders with resolution, data format, packaging, and durability. You need a low count encoder with small packaging and durability.

Here is a mid price one from a US company.


And a $20 import one from eBay:

www.ebay.com

NEW Incremental Rotary Encoder 1000p/r 6mm Shaft 5-24vdc | eBay

Shaft: 6mm Dia, 13mm Length.
www.ebay.com
 
I feel like you already know the answer to the second question. This is definitely one of those "just because you can doesn't mean you should" situations.

Find a better lathe and if you have to hire someone to get it into the basement, and move out some other stuff, it will still be better than trying to improve what you have there. If you really only have that much room to work with, and want to go ahead with this project why not just make it full CNC? It wouldn't cost much more or be that much harder.

FWIW when I put out a call for help on moving a lathe on this forum I got two very competent volunteers right away and now I have absolutely the largest lathe that will fit into the available space:grin:

Where there's a will....


John
 
ttabbal said:
I can't make a 4" deep cut like Abom, but I don't really need to either. :)
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Ok admit it...if you could, you would, right!?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I guess the other option is to go ahead with ELS conversion on this lathe and if I decide to get a larger one, remove it and put back all the old hardware to sell. I would think 99% of the project would work on a larger lathe.

I do have a wood lathe taking up a lot of space that I don't use that much. Hmmm. ;)
 
devils4ever said:
The main spindle diameter is about 1.040" measured at the end which is threaded. I can't measure the shaft diameter without taking off the nuts and gear.

"The more the convo progresses, the more I feel like it may not be worth it."
I'm not sure I get what you mean with this statement.

I was thinking of leaving the 3 gear train as is and attach the encoder directly to the shaft shown below. It should be easy to mount the encoder there since there is a mounting bracket for the gear shaft.

I started pricing things out and I was shocked to see the encoder costs over $400 from US sources. eBay and other importers are much less.

View attachment 331766
Click to expand...
I bought my Omron encoder on eBay for $21.03. https://www.ebay.com/itm/152211269839
 
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