Mill router for turning

[Charles Davis]

Just thought you might find this interesting. I have a customer with a CNC router, but no cnc lathe. He needed to make some turned parts and didn't want to do them by hand, being completely spoiled by the quality and speed of the CNC.

 

So, we mounted an old manual lathe on the table, and changed the gearing so it only turns about 20 rpm.

 

Using the 3D project toolpaths, we drive an end mill along the rotational axis of the part. The parts came out perfect. Just remember you need to turn the part VERY slowly when doing this since the total feedrate is the linear feedrate of the machine added to the rotational feedrate of the part.

[Rob Holowack]

Great idea! We could use something like that at our school. Would it be possible for you to post a digital picture of the setup?

[Charles Davis]

No time soon. Just mount the lathe on the table aligned with the Y or X axis. Set up a fixture offset at the center/face of the lathe spindle.

 

Take really light cuts, and again, keep the lathe spindle SLOW (typically 20-40 rpm).