Turbine Building - URGENT QUESTION

[Mourita]

Hi guys..!

Well, i'm about to bid a lathe at ebay, but i have one question, are there any CNC adapters for lathes?

If i don't have much experience doing cuts and stuff like that and drilling pices.. i guess the computer will if i have the abillity to use AutoCAD & CNC with a lathe... well. that's why i would like to know if there are any CNC Adapters for a standard lathe..! :) ( they don't have to control the speed of the mill.. only the 'direction' of it.. well.. i hope i'm not saying something that will induce you guys into mistake...

Regards,

Ricardo Mourita.

[ronmeister]

You may want to post here:http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=131
Or here:http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=210

[mcjustis]

Mourita,

I posted earlier on another thread about a lathe. It was around $3000 and you said that was way too much. Now you want to buy a CNC adapter for a lathe?? You are looking at (for a cheap setup) several thousand dollars. Also if you don't have any experience working on a lathe, you probably won't have much success setting up and running a CNC. As most machinist's will tell you the real work is in the setup. The CNC won't do that for you. You need some knowledge of tooling, where and when to use which tool, the feeds and speeds needed for a cut, etc. You don't just draw up a Autocad file and send it to a CNC. It's not that simple.
To answer your question though there are adapters available to retrofit your lathe or mill.

cadcamcadcam.com
www.sherline.com
www.tormach.com
www.microkinetics.com
www.maxnc.com


These are just a few, and I can't guarantee any of them. I don't have a CNC or a retrofit CNC for my lathe. If you really want to learn machining, I would go the manual route. If you can get a magazine called 'The Home Shop Machinist' I think it would be a useful tool for you.

www.homeshopmachinist.net

There are many books available on the subject of beginning machining. You might also check out lindsay technical books.

http://www.lindsaybks.com/

By the way, show a pic of the lathe you are planning to or have bought. Some older mahcines may not be upgradeable to CNC.
Later...
Martin

[planeman]

"If i don't have much experience doing cuts and stuff like that and drilling pices.."

With 50 years of lathe experience behind me I can tell you having CNC isn't going to make things any better. If you don't have a good feel and understanding of machining, CNC will only mess things up further in my opinion. The programming only runs the machine, you have to tell it exactly what you want it to do - select the right tooling, what speed to run it at, depth of cut, proper angle of the cutting tool, sequence of cuts, set tolerences, etc.

I strongly recommend that you get the lathe and get some time in on it making something like a steam engine. Study as many books and magazine articles on machining as you can. When you feel you REALLY understand how to use a lathe, then consider adding CNC.

Also, for model building and "one off" projects, CNC isn't going to save you any time. You will spend more time making a drawing and getting set up than if you just got your dial calipers, chucked some metal in the lathe, and had at it. Now if you want to make 100 of the same part . . .

Planeman

[Mourita]

Humm..! I see what you mean.!

Well... I guess i will have to read much!

It's a bit complicated to learn these kind of things of course, but i will give it a try..!

I've got a friend who knows how to work with CAD & CNC and of course, i know it's not that simple to set-up a CNC machine. Anyway it's allways good to 'listen' in this case, read, other person opinions.. i'm 100% newbie on this :).

Yeah.. i wanted to buy a lathe not too expensive, true..! Of course if a CNC lathe becomes impossible to buy, i'll will have to learn to go manual ( and even if i had a CNC lathe i would have to learn how to use it manually ) .!

Thanks for those links im sure they'll be usefull..!

I wanted to use CNC to have some 'default' parts like... if for some reason i crash my rc plane and the turbine gets destroyed .. I would have only to make those partes on the CNC lathe again and then it would save me time..! Well.. Just a thought :)

Thanks guys again for the tips..! :)

Regards,
Ricardo Mourita

[v22chap]

With the cost of a lathe ,CNC upgrades , special bits ,education in machining ,, etc .It would be better to go with a Wren kit turbine( you assemble the already machined parts ) .

You can get them for around $2100 .00 or so and the machining is all done for you as is the design ,,,and they run great. The parts to replace anything you might damage in a crash are not that much either.

[redryder]

In all honesty, forget about building a turbine if you are inexperienced on a lathe. The tolerances and accuracy required for a turbine (in particular the shaft and impellors) are beyond a beginner machinist. And you have been given the correct info. CNC will not make it any easier.

By all means buy a lathe and as planeman suggested build a couple of steam engines or such. This will teach you the basics of setup, tooling, cutting, measuring, etc. Then maybe consider building a turbine.

In the meantime if you're keen to get into turbines buy a RTR turbine. Learn how to run it both on the ground and in the air. This will give you the knowledge to troubleshoot your homebuilt turbine when you build it.

Cheers,

red........25 years on a lathe.