[shorton]

Guys, I'm not sure where to best post this, figured I'd start here.

I'm a mentor for a small high school robotics team. I have a CNC router that I let the kids use, but I really need a lathe to make some one-off small parts from time to time. The kids don't have any budget so whatever they get I buy for my shop. I've got a pretty small space and I really don't want a huge lathe with a large footprint. I've studied this for some time now looking at the Asian mill variants. I had narrowed my choice down to a Micromark 7x14 or a Little Machine Shop 7x16, which seem to be the better 2 of the 7xN lathe family. Sized right. I also looked at Proxxon which looks like a nice unit of that size range, albeit pricy. If I'm going to have one sitting around though, I'd be tickled if I could get one with a little character and one that looked nice. That led me to vintage lathes but for the most part the jackshaft assemblies are just too big for my space. And with kids around I'd need the belt assemblies covered. A south bend heavy looked interesting with it's undermount motor but it's still a little big. So I started looking a the smaller Schaublin and Hardinge lathes. And a couple of older vintage lathes that have similar no-lead screw designs. I think they are considered second operation lathes and the ones I've looked at (can afford) don't have a leadscrew system. I realize they are collet oriented but some are available with jaw chucks and I'd only consider one that had or can have one.

For my one-off parts, I think I'd be fine with no leadscrew. I can't cut threads the old fashioned way is the downside I see (can I?). Now being familiar with CNC routing, and being naturally impatient to take a million cuts by hand anyway, what I'd really like is a small lathe I can setup as CNC. Ideally while retaining manual ability. I think I can handle the mechanical design aspects. And for an older lathe, even try to keep the CNC parts to the rear to keep the machines character.

My question is this... It appears the Schaublin 102 lathe's saddle? is locked after moving via a knob under the bed. Not sure what holds the saddle from jumping off the ways when it's loose, I didn't see a V to lock it. Would it be possible to use the normal saddle/cross slide assembly and move with a ballscrew? Or is the nature of these 2 lathes saddle not designed to be moved along the bed "live" and not locked down.

Hoping someone with more lathe experience than I can assist/advise.

Thanks,
Scott

[shorton]

Update, I think I found th eanswer to my own question and verified. These cross slides (Hardinge 5C and Schaublin) do move only when a yoke know is loosened. SO the carriage can be lifted right off when the yoke is loose. no way to use the stock carriage and convert to CNC. One guy added linear rails to the sides of a Schaublin and made his own carriage movement, I'm not sure how that would affect accuracy but it was interesting. I assume sine I've never seen a lathe with linear bearings for the carriage, it must not be a good way to do things generally. Still...really good bearings on a really true bed should work pretty smooth.... ?