[lcvette]

Hey guys,

I have been in the process of doing the treadmill motor and belt drive conversion on my G0704 and have had some streaks of bad luck. the latest was receiving the treadmill motor and after half a day of trying to remove the pulley, it finally gave way and revealed why it wouldn't "unthread"... It had a tapered shaft anf the pulley was pressed onto it rather then having the standard reverse threads most others had on their motors.

After some conversation with Hoss (who's excellent plans I am following...Thanks again for your help Hoss!) I decided to try and use the motor anyways. well, making a taper without a lathe is not easy, and with a lathe that isn't cnc's can't be easy so i started on my trek to convert the G0704 into a cnc lathe as well. I ordered an R8 4" 3 jaw lathe chuck from Shars tools (on sale for $81 right now by the way) as well as their $80 quick change tool post kit ~$80 bucks also, and some lathe tools and bits to fit and a boring bar.

after some reconfiguring in machturn, i had it up and runnings. a few minutes of adjusting and tramming and i was ready to give it a whirl. Below are the videos i took using the G0704 coverted to a cnc lathe with Machturn and the lathe wizards which are pretty awesome!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-JRTDdSTWE"]Turning a taper[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IokXuAicx_A"]Tapered pulley fitment and results[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLw5sh9A6P8"]ID boring and facing[/ame]

Forgive the poor camera work in some of them, it was taken with my phone and the audio isn't the best. will get better next go at it!

Also, This is my first go at turning so i am sure the feeds and spindle speed could be adjusted but the finish was amazing so it worked fine this time!

Thanks for looking,

Chris

[hoss2006]

Totally awesome!
Who needs a lathe when you have a g0704.
Hoss

[CncNor]

That was great! I want one!!
Only problem is that my mill is MT3, not R8. Anyone seen this setup for MT3??

[lcvette]

Hoss,

Yeah it was pretty sweet watching it get the taper cut, saved me some money of having to get a different motor for sure! shouldn't be long now, gotta make the spindle sleeve next!


CncNor,

I am sure they have one to fit your MT3, if not I am sure one could be put together. they offer quite a good but of stuff, shars.com is where i got mine. loads of fun to cnc turn stuff!

Chris

[hoss2006]

Hoss,

Yeah it was pretty sweet watching it get the taper cut, saved me some money of having to get a different motor for sure! shouldn't be long now, gotta make the spindle sleeve next!

Chris

Cool, looking forward to it.
That's a good sale shars is having, I should grab a 4 incher for mine.
Hoss

[lcvette]

Cool, looking forward to it.
That's a good sale shars is having, I should grab a 4 incher for mine.
Hoss

No doubt! between the chuck and tool post and basic tooling, i have about $230 to have a cnc lathe... I have had my eye on the 10 x 22 grizzly, but the money just isn't there right now to pull the trigger on it. when it is i will be getting it but for now this will suit just fine for what i need to get done.

Next is setting some additional tools up for being able to do multiple operations in turning. I would like to have it setup for completing some other parts for my business with only having to chuck a piece of stock up and let it eat and spit out a completed part. will work on that monday!

Chris

[Random Gadfly]

I found the chuck for sale, but I am having trouble finding the tool post kit for $80.00. Is it still on sale?

[lcvette]

I found it through their ebay store.. discount machine shop... here is the link, it is actually $89.95... but close to what my memory was telling me..

here is the link!

6-12-PISTON-QUICK-CHANGE-TOOL-POST

Chris

[Bob La Londe]

Would you be so kind as to post a link to the R8 lathe chuck or a Shars part number?

[lcvette]

here is the link! 4" 3 Jaw R8 Taper Lathe Chuck

Chris

[Bob La Londe]

Thank you.

[lcvette]

No Problem! glad to help!

Chris

[1HobbyMachinist]

What a great idea! I've been using my rf45 as a lathe for a while now, but I've been limited to what I could fit in an R8 collet. I did buy a 1" collet, but those things don't have much clamping force, and are really just good for aluminum.

I run mine vertically, with the lathe tools clamped in a vise. I think the extra capacity of that chuck will be just what I needed to move forward with my cnc plans.

Thanks for posting this!

[lcvette]

No problem, you know what they say... necessity is the mother of invention..lol like you i needed to turn some things and this seemed to make sense. I turn the G0704 on its side simply to gain some more distance. until i do the z-axis flip mod, it would have been a bit tight trying to get the boring bar stood up underneath the 3 jaw chuck.

It worked out well enough for me! look forward to getting back to work tomorrow to try and get some more tooling setup for it!

Chris

[Random Gadfly]

Thanks all!

[Connor]

here is the link! 4" 3 Jaw R8 Taper Lathe Chuck

Chris

That looks different than what I have. Mine has a R8 Arbour on it. That one looks to be shorter and has threads on the outside ??

[hoss2006]

That looks different than what I have. Mine has a R8 Arbour on it. That one looks to be shorter and has threads on the outside ??

They are just using the 5C version pic, the title says R8.
Hoss

[Connor]

They are just using the 5C version pic, the title says R8.
Hoss

I hate when they don't put the correct pictures with the item..

[Bob La Londe]

I hate when they don't put the correct pictures with the item..

It is a little disconcerting. I ordered one anyway. If I get a 5C taper I'll let you know... after I let Shar's know. LOL.

[lcvette]

I had the same concern when i ordered mine but it is correct, fits perfectly. the threads are internal and the G0704 draw bar fits them as intended. no worries!

But yeah, it would be nice if they put the correct pictures with each product.

Chris