Greetings, totally new to machining, fairly decent mechanical aptitude, CAD experience, looking at some fairly simple (I think) projects related to diving/rebreathers for myself and friends, materials initially will be type 1 PVC, later on delrin.
Been browsing the internet and Sherline seem to have complete packaged solutions. My initial projects probably only require a lathe, but future ideas would require milling, so I'm wondering if a mill w/ rotary table would be all I need to look at. (or maybe CNC ready and upgrade later)
The tricky parts to my initial projects I think are size. Future projects would require some threading (internal and external).
One project involves machining 6" dia. from a sheet of 1" PVC, a fairly narrow slot just shy of the outer circumfrence, a few cutouts, and three tapped holes.
(Detailed sketches here - http://www.rebreatherworld.com/megal...-scrubber.html)
A future project would involve machining a rebreather lid, 7.25" dia. from Delrin, adding some grooves to house o-rings.
The video's and docs regarding rotary tables havn't painted a clear picture how they are used, other than as a lathe mounted horizontally.
I'm wondering if I'd be able to work with these larger pieces?, but I'd think fixing the Y axis, I'm really only bound by what will clear the and the X-travel, and even then that would only limit the radius? (i.e. half the piece could overhang, since the rotary table moves it under the tooling...)
The Sherline 2000 w/ it's adjustable headstock looks like it would accomidate my sizes...
This leves me w/ the following: can I accomidate a 6" or 7.25" dia piece on a 4" dia rotary table....? The guy who put together the plans I'm working from used a 3/4" mandrel, I imagine the same could work vertically....
Is this do-able? Thanks for reading...
-Tim