[mwood3]

Anyone around Atlanta (or North Ga) interested in doing a lathe bed cast in Aluminum (think 7x benchtop lathe size) right now im interested in just a proto type but if it works out and I can get some interst I may look at some light production. PM me if you are interested in some work and have the capability. I can provide a pattern or we can discuss your prefered method.

thanks

Mwood

[rowbare]

Have you considered casting it yourself in Epoxy Granite? It is about the same density as aluminum but has much better damping characteristics.

bob

[mwood3]

Have you considered casting it yourself in Epoxy Granite? It is about the same density as aluminum but has much better damping characteristics.

bob

I have not considered this option, sounds like it would not be very resistant to daily shop abuse...I have considered constructing the base from steel tube and filling it with E/G to dampen and add weight.

I have a thread going over in the benchtop forum, here is the link

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/mini_l...ear_rails.html

Right now im trying to get relative prices on each option. I would love to have the base cast in Iron but am thinking the cost would be too high to justify for this project, I resorted to Al. casting due to the high number of DIY home shops casting Al. hopefully they would be easier to work with and less costly than a "real foundry".

[mwood3]

Ok 71 views and no takers...can anyone at least point me in the right direction? I have contacted several foundries with no reply... Im sure this is not an appealing job to the big foundries but shurely there is someone out there that caters to this type of work? I guess if I cant find anyone to take it on I will construct the lathe out of steel tube and fill with E/G...

[Rocco85]

To aid you in your search for a foundry, seek out other people in your area who are in the market for specialty castings, they might be able point you in the right direction. In my case, we were directed to a fairly large family owned foundry through a local marine outfitter who occasionally has antique hardware reproduced there. We were given a tour of the foundry by the owner and he was very willing to work with us to meet our needs. Good luck.

[txcncman]

Uhhh...Since you are going to have to do final machining to a casting anyway, why not start with a weldment (welded assembly)?

[mwood3]

Uhhh...Since you are going to have to do final machining to a casting anyway, why not start with a weldment (welded assembly)?

This option has been considered already, review my link to see the thread about my lathe project. I posted here in the casting section mainly to get info about a casting as another option.

[olfoundryman]

mwood3,
To be honest cast Al for a lathe bed is a dreadful choice (sorry but there is no other way to put it). Apart from softness the main problem with Al is that it has absolutley no ability to damp out vibrations. resonance and hence chatter would be big problems. If you are serious about going down this road consider getting the casting made in A8 Mg alloy. This is the most common Mg alloy sand cast and you should be able to find a foundry willing to give it a go for a price. (Price will be steep I would reckon) Mg has excellent vibration damping -better than grey iron and it machines way way better than just about anything else. Some manufactures of large machine tools use Mg castings because of this and to reduce weight which with big (I do mean BIG) machines can become unmanagable.
Martin
Old foundrymen never die they just dross off

[RomanLini]

Considering the low cost of aluminium plate you could use a slab of 25mm plate of a good quality like 6061 T651 and if vibration is an issue then glue or sandwich another slab of granite or epoxy granite, you can buy both reasonably cheaply cut to size as kitchen counter tops (check in the yellow pages).