Question for the PRE-CNC machinists

Gallery, Projects and General > How do I??

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HS93:
I have used lots of wood turning lathes with copying devices they would work on metal lathes if the material was not to hard , they mainly had a tool that was spring loaded (in and out) which was controlled by a follower ether a single rounded end or very small ball race depending on the item being turned , you will find that you have to play with the follower and patterns as you will find an exact copy of what you want to turn will not be the ideal shape especially if you use a ball raced follower

Peter

Rob.Wilson:
Not bad John :coffee:

Rob :)

Was thinking about making an attachment to fit on my tapper turning dood dad :dremel:

Lew_Merrick_PE:

--- Quote from: SPiN Racing on July 14, 2011, 11:57:34 PM ---Ohhh very nice!

I have done some more research.. and lathe duplicators seem to be the term.. mostly wood lathes though.

That looks like a nice piece.. but how do you control the depth is my question.. since its a compund curve..
--- End quote ---
Spin,

In terms of a traditional machinist's mechanical tracing attachment (we also had hydraulic tracing lathes and mills), think of it as a free-form taper-turning attachment. Instead of a single bushing or block bearing following a straight bar, it is a pair of spring-loaded roller bearings that follow a template's contour. With practice and standard care, you can hold +/-.002 on such a set-up. With more practice and massive attention to detail (and more than a bit of luck) I once held +/-.0005 on such a set-up (note the modifier once -- across four parts).

The "pointer version" shown above can be quite challenging (to say the least). If you replace the pointer with a travel dial indicator, you can stack the deck a bit more to your side of the handwheels. It all depends on how "close" is "good enough."

SPiN Racing:
Wow.. I really appreciate the input.

I have been thinking hard about it for a while now. And the ideas and thoughts are appreciated.

Im thinking that the setup you made on that lathe there John is exactly what I am looking for.

Now to try to decide if I wanna make a changable setup for my existing lathe.. or just pony up and buy one of the cheapie chinese lathes from Harbor Freight, or WHolesale Tool, and convert it over, and park it in its own spot.. so I am not taking my main lathe offline.

Thanks again everyone.. When I start making the conversion, or new parts, I will make up a project log of it. (I have three projects in the works, that I am building, but have not started threads yet LOL)

Scott

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