Eric, awhile back there was a thread where you refered to a lathe/mill that you, or someone you know uses for motorcycle work. It seemed to me it was a smaller unit will suited to our application. I did a search, but couldn't find it. What was this machine and where would one go to find one? Maybe someone else remembers the thread and could answer the question?
Question to Eric about lathe
- Thread starter JTT
- Start date
- Mar 8, 2000
- 1,993
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EricGorr
Super Power AssClown
- Aug 24, 2000
- 708
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I use a Smithy Granite, I bought it fully loaded with all the milling and lathe accessories and a rotary table for about $3500 Its great, nice and tight, works so simple. This is the basic design of a lathe/mill/drill that is fueling the industrial revolution in China where it originated. The machine is also 2 axis CNC capable for under $2,000 with software that makes a toolpath from AutoCAD.
At under 600lbs. its basically bench-top and tiny by machine tool standards. It runs on 110v, the only cons of the machine are that you have to be carefull about vacuming the metal chips from high wear surfaces and it has a DC motor for convenient speed control via a reostat switch. The DC motor wears fasts when you have the rpm set low,like for turning cylinders with off-set mass that prohibits high rpm turning due to balance issues.
I've had several lathes in my worklife including the popular ENCO and JET models. I rate the versatility of this machine tool way above those other models.
Watch for specials on Smithy's site www.smithy.com they run deals on packages. They're techs are real good at product support, down to Earth and willing to spend time to time and recommend the right solutions to maintenance and machining issues. They even have training videos for small engine applications.
Happy shopping:)
At under 600lbs. its basically bench-top and tiny by machine tool standards. It runs on 110v, the only cons of the machine are that you have to be carefull about vacuming the metal chips from high wear surfaces and it has a DC motor for convenient speed control via a reostat switch. The DC motor wears fasts when you have the rpm set low,like for turning cylinders with off-set mass that prohibits high rpm turning due to balance issues.
I've had several lathes in my worklife including the popular ENCO and JET models. I rate the versatility of this machine tool way above those other models.
Watch for specials on Smithy's site www.smithy.com they run deals on packages. They're techs are real good at product support, down to Earth and willing to spend time to time and recommend the right solutions to maintenance and machining issues. They even have training videos for small engine applications.
Happy shopping:)
B
biglou
Eric or John-This may be a stupid question, but are the AutoCad CNC files you referred to .dxf files? Thanks.
