[skrubol]

Quite a few have done CNC lathe conversions. Generally the lead screws are replaced with ball screws, so most can't be used manually anymore. Biggest issue with ball screw replacement is that the ball nuts are usually quite a bit larger than acme nuts, so are hard to fit. Most avoid just throwing steppers on the existing screws because the backlash in most of them is too much for CNC.
I don't think you'd be happy with the surface finish you'd get if you added a CNC stage like that ebay one to your lathe or mill. Nowhere near the rigidity you're used to.

[propeine]

Quite a few have done CNC lathe conversions. Generally the lead screws are replaced with ball screws, so most can't be used manually anymore. Biggest issue with ball screw replacement is that the ball nuts are usually quite a bit larger than acme nuts, so are hard to fit. Most avoid just throwing steppers on the existing screws because the backlash in most of them is too much for CNC.
I don't think you'd be happy with the surface finish you'd get if you added a CNC stage like that ebay one to your lathe or mill. Nowhere near the rigidity you're used to.

Well that is disheartening. Big machines = rigidity but I lack the space for a craigslist morei seki (sp) even though there is one less than a mile from my house for 4k. I would hate to convert my southbend entirely since a lot of my work is down and dirty 20 min job that would take longer to program than machine. The nature of the product doesn't let me outsource it unfortunately. Maybe I will have to look into making some sort of tracer instead. I have a taper attachment on my lathe so maybe there are some options there.