Thor, or should that be Zeus?

[Chaz]

Has anyone tried one of these, looking for an attachment that I can use to grind on Thor.

http://www.hemingwaykits.com/acatalo...g_Spindle.html

[Boyan Silyavski]

Has anyone tried one of these, looking for an attachment that I can use to grind on Thor.

http://www.hemingwaykits.com/acatalo...g_Spindle.html

That dust will sand the rails and ball screw if everything is not airtight. Just the thought of it will make any machinist shudder . I guess i am becoming a machinist

[Davek0974]

That dust will sand the rails and ball screw if everything is not airtight. Just the thought of it will make any machinist shudder . I guess i am becoming a machinist

Yep, never get any grinding dust near a machine with slides, ways or screws, unless its a machine built for grinding - instant death of many a lathe.

[Chaz]

Ill post some updated pics of Thor this weekend as I complete the new table and a few bits.

I have also bought a lathe (another thread) that I was going to convert into CNC or build a new one. I then started to think of a 4th axis for Thor which I could use the same headstock for. Perhaps not good as as dividing head however this then opened up a bit of a Eureka moment this morning in the shower (one of the many places for inspirational thinking).

Here's my thoughts.

Take the headstock, mount on Thor's table. Find a way to fit a motor and spin the headstock at lathe type speeds.

Create a new Mach 3 profile, I assume that that I can now assign different axis to different channels, using the CS Labs plugin. This means that my current X can become my new Z (for lathe use). I can then either use the current Z or Y to do the lathe X. This will depend on where / how I can mount lathe tools.

For the lathe tooling, this needs to be mounted on the current spindle mount plate. I can move the current spindle and aim to have more than one 'device' hanging off the main Z plate. From this - I can either try and direct mount some tools however the best approach is likely to mount a turret of sorts. This will allow tools that profile and face to be used, as well as anything that needs to drill or bore.

Any reason this might not work or is an obvious bad idea?

Thanks

[Chaz]

Ill take that as a no then ;p

In terms of Acceleration, how much would be considered good or 'too much'?

[Davek0974]

Acceleration needs to be as high as it can take. Acceleration is more important than speed.

[Chaz]

Acceleration needs to be as high as it can take. Acceleration is more important than speed.

Thanks. I had it set to 1500, then down to 750 which is too slow. The machine seems OK with it being 2000 which Ill try for a while and see.

[m_c]

Ill take that as a no then ;p

It is doable, however, the big question I'd ask is, how much effort is it going to be to swap between lathe and router?

[Chaz]

It is doable, however, the big question I'd ask is, how much effort is it going to be to swap between lathe and router?

Understood. If the lathe tools / turrets are mounted to the right of the spindle, it could be as easy as just starting the correct Mach 3 profile, no other work needed.

[Neale]

Has anyone tried one of these, looking for an attachment that I can use to grind on Thor.

http://www.hemingwaykits.com/acatalo...g_Spindle.html

Chaz - that looks suspiciously like a ready-built grinding spindle for the Quorn tool and cutter grinder. This was a design from 1974, sold as a kit of castings and hard-to-get materials. Quite a lot of kits have been sold, and some of them actually built! From that point of view, it's a tried and tested design with nothing exotic about it. The original used labyrinth seals (a series of fine grooves) rather than the lip seals in the advert but maybe materials have improved in the last 40 years By all accounts, they work very well for fine grinding and people use them as toolpost grinders in lathes. Light duty, though - not for heavy-duty work. Plenty of references to the Quorn via Google. I have a set of castings under the bench that have been maturing for the last 30 years or so - come back in 10 years and I'll tell you how it works from personal experience...