CNC for mini-lathe by SIEG (Micro-mark, HF, etc)

Hello All,
As you mini-lathers probably know, the mini-lathes supplied by Micro-Mark, Harbor Freight, Grizzly, Homier and others are all made by the SIEG company in China. Sieg paints them to spec for the retailers and does some customization, but basically, these lathes come from here: http://www.siegind.com/Products/blackred_lathe.htm

My thread involves getting a decent CNC kit for these lathes. I don't even mind buying motors and making brackets myself, and buying a separate controller. These lathes don't have ballscrews, and the stock screws aren't real smooth, so oversizing the motors or gearing them down would be a good thing to discuss. It would be nice if someone has an alternate solution to hanging a big stepper motor off the tiny little cross-slide on these little lathes.

Also, I'm thinking about automating the tailstock for automated drilling and am looking for ideas on how to best motorize the tailstock.
Happy Turning,
John.

Id be interested in any idea people come up with alsi as I just bought a Sieg C3

DJH

Try here:

http://www.stirlingsteele.com/latheplans.html

I converted mine with these plans and a HobbyCNC driver kit. I use Mach3. Works real well together.
I want to do the motorized tailstock too, but I haven't given it a lot of thought yet
HTH

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mark c

Try here:

http://www.stirlingsteele.com/latheplans.html

I converted mine with these plans and a HobbyCNC driver kit. I use Mach3. Works real well together.
I want to do the motorized tailstock too, but I haven't given it a lot of thought yet
HTH

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Can you post a few pictures of the motor mounts and parts you made?

I want to do the same setup but would like to see one before I purchase the plans.

Thanks
Bill

There are some pics here that show the mounts without a lot of detail, but you can get the idea.

http://www.mcoates.com/cnc_lathe1.html

I'll try to get out and take some better ones later today

These give you a better idea about the mounts. Nothing is terribly difficult

HTH

Hello mark,

Yes, that does help. What size of screw have you added for the Z axis?

Thanks
Bill

It's a 3/8"-8 acme 2 turns per inch