Beginner MYCNCDIY Mill Build questions

[T0rnado69]

an interesting read this thread has been, and sort of reminds me on when i joined this forum
and wanting to build a dual cnc machine on the cheap.
and after getting much advice from the usual members, i decided to take the advice and not waste money on the expensive cheap route.!! ( as dean puts it :) )
and after seeing a picture of the mill i have converted to cnc.
i thought what a good idea.. so im saving up for good electronics.
that will serve me well and can be moved to another build later down the line if required.

[JAZZCNC]

i decided to take the advice and not waste money on the expensive cheap route.!! ( as dean puts it :) )

Yes strange statement but really is true. The difference between good and Bad electronics unfortunatly does kind of translate into Cheap or Expensive.
Again unfortunatly the Cheap route all to often becomes the expensive route and most anyone who as experienced the performance difference Good quality Digital drives make to steppers will tell you they are worth every penny. Equally anyone who as experienced the hair pulling head banging frustration of cheap nasty electronics will backup that it was an expensive lesson learnt.!

Put decent quality electronics with a good motion control card and you'll have hassle free machine that performs with the best of them.!. . . And will do it 24/7 for years.

[suraj1793]

So do you guys think that a lathe conversion is the way to got for me with my current budget? Is the round bed/old lathe setup I added a link to in my previous post (similar to the one I currently have) suitable for such a conversion?

[irving2008]

In a word, no. That's not to say it can't be done as a purely intellectual exercise, just that the results will be disappointing, plus the cost of conversion will far exceed what the lathe is worth. And it won't be a quick exercise either.

As the owner of several pre-1930 British lathes I can tell you that the backlash in the lead-screws and the lack of rigidity in the bed/headstock/bearings/etc make it pointless. Manually operated, I know the machine's limits so know how far I can push it and leave some slack for the final finishing passes. They were very much a seat-of-the-pants exercise, feeling the tool/bed/headstock/bearing/workpiece deflections to creep up on the desired end diameter. A CNC machine simply cannot come close, it needs the rigidity and precision in the basic machine to start with.

[suraj1793]

Thanks irving, do you know of any other CNC projects I could work on which are within my budget? Been looking at plasma cutters which look interesting but I am guessing they are also expensive. If not, I guess I will have to just hold off until I can put atleast £1000 forward as per JAZZ's advice.