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New CNC lathe idea
PekkaNF:
I have been reading this OP leasti three times.
For some reason I am thinkking "Swiss" type sliding head lathe concept.
That has too many axes, CAM might be interesting, but interesting slide arragement.
Those are optimized for pretty close tolerance bar, but I am thinkking that if you don't need a automatic bar feeding and extreme rigity for high production a collet chuck traditional or capstan type lathe spindle arrangement might suffice?
You don't say what dimenssion of parts you are planning and do you need a bar feeder or something excotic for HMS.....but here is the reason for my suggestion:
* You are thinkking of sh%t load of gang tools and live tooling for "cross slide" no problem there, but if you want to trash that around on two axis, it needs a whole lot of power.
* My reasoning is that put two "crossslides", roughly on same plane, businessends facing each others and facing spindle axis....I would first check both vertical. Downside is that can't work at the same time (antique designns had multiple slides radially out of spindle axis, but no gang tooling.
* To move spindle horizontal relative leisure speed and adequate accuracy does not need that much energy for acceleration. Short movement does not take that much space and structure probably would be more compact than traditional lathe derivates....OP says that real estate is in premium.
Do you need a second spindle? That would complicate this scenario considerably.
Am I completely off the mark?
mc:
The big issue with swiss/sliding head lathes is you need accurate bar stock to begin with, as accuracy is highly dependant on stock/bushing tolerance.
To give you a rough idea of the most complex common part I make at the moment, it's around 40mm long and 16mm diameter, has a threaded centre hole, and two flats. At the moment, it takes 3 tools on the cyclone (OD turn, drill, and parting), it then goes in the manual lathe to get tapped, then in the mill to get two flats added, then deburred by hand.
I'd like to do that on a single machine. Load a length of bar, walk away for a period of time, then come back to collection of parts that just need minor finishing. To achieve that, I'd need an OD turn tool, static drill, rigid tap, mill, chamfer
That part gets paired with another part that takes 4 tools on the cyclone, and needs one of the drills swapped an offset reset between part runs.
I have plans for more items of a similar size, where one requirement is an offset centre hole, and also likely need the use of a rollerbox to get the accuracy (it is one part that would work well on a sliding head lathe, but a roller box is far simpler!), but a roller box won't fit the cyclone.
I also have a tentative idea for some parts around 50mm diameter, that could be machined more economically from bar stock on a lathe, than flat plate in a mill.
I could very likely go and buy a shiny new suitable lathe on finance, but I don't want that monthly headache, plus it would take up a fair amount of floorspace, and that's even if it would fit in the available height.
I'd think I could build something capable of what I need that would fit within a 4x6' footprint, and be no higher than 5'.
Another thing I do keep thinking about, is would I be better going for a slant bed (the cyclone is slanted), knowing it would be harder to make, or will a flat bed with suitable covers be good enough to handle swarf.
PekkaNF:
Bar stock feeder changes things....I just though that if you get away without busking business then there are some DIY benefits. But you need the whole shebang.
MetalMagus:
Depending on the size of the parts you are making. Would a Taig lathe work.
https://taigtools.com/product/taigturn-4029-dsls-full-cnc-lathe/
TSutrina:
How about a 'Pocket NC 5 axis CNC machine for your desk top
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1090944145/pocket-nc-the-first-5-axis-cnc-mill-for-your-deskt?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=CNC 5
I believe this did make it into production And at least you can use it as a starting point.
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