# Project cnc lathe



## T. Ben (Jun 13, 2020)

Last weekend I picked up a 14x40 harbor freight wood lathe with some stepper motors and control board,very crudely put together and semi functional,for $100. No software to actually run it. Brought it up to my dad yesterday,and the rebuilding has begun.

Reactions: Like 2 | Way Cool 2


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## Sprung (Jun 13, 2020)

Troy, was that one down in, or near, Sleepy Eye, by chance? If so, it was for sale for some time. I remember looking at a listing for it some time ago before we moved but the asking price was well beyond the $100 you paid for it. For $100, I'd have probably gone to look at it too...


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## barry richardson (Jun 13, 2020)

looking forward to seeing what you do with it, projects like that are beyond me....


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## T. Ben (Jun 13, 2020)

Sprung said:


> Troy, was that one down in, or near, Sleepy Eye, by chance? If so, it was for sale for some time. I remember looking at a listing for it some time ago before we moved but the asking price was well beyond the $100 you paid for it. For $100, I'd have probably gone to look at it too...


Yes it was in sleepy eye,he wanted $200 a while back. Dropped his price to $100. His assembly was crude to say the least.


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## Sprung (Jun 13, 2020)

T. Ben said:


> Yes it was in sleepy eye,he wanted $200 a while back. Dropped his price to $100. His assembly was crude to say the least.



When I first saw it listed - some time ago, at least 6 or 8 months ago, if not more - he was asking $500 for it! 

His assembly certainly is crude, but I'll be looking forward to seeing what you are able to do with it.


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## T. Ben (Jun 13, 2020)

Sprung said:


> When I first saw it listed - some time ago, at least 6 or 8 months ago, if not more - he was asking $500 for it!
> 
> His assembly certainly is crude, but I'll be looking forward to seeing what you are able to do with it.


Wow,I didn’t see it at that price. My dad is working on it,I’ll help out a bit but my dad is the brains of this operation.

Reactions: Like 1


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## trc65 (Jun 13, 2020)

Looks like an interesting project!

Reactions: Agree 1


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## T. Ben (Jul 2, 2020)

I was hoping there would be more to report by now,this was my dads first idea,he kind of got it working but didn’t like it so he’s onto idea number 2.

Reactions: Like 1


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## T. Ben (Jul 11, 2020)

Here is what I think will be the way it’s going to be,some fine tuning still to do. He beefed up the bottom with some square tubing,it had a flat piece there before but the whole thing would bow up in the middle and throw off the alignment of the tail and headstock.

Reactions: Way Cool 2


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## Brandon Sloan (Jul 11, 2020)

This is cool, can’t wait to see it in action.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## T. Ben (Jul 17, 2020)

A Little more progress,it runs on my dads computer,so I’ll be getting a laptop dedicated to it,hopefully not to much longer and It still needs some fine tuning.

Reactions: Like 2 | Way Cool 2


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## trc65 (Jul 17, 2020)

Very Cool!

Do you have projects in mind, or is it just a really cool new tool with which to explore?


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## T. Ben (Jul 17, 2020)

A little of both,Started off as,for a$100 what the hell,and now has morphed into,hmmmmm I could do this or this or this or........

Reactions: Like 2


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## Brandon Sloan (Jul 20, 2020)

IT’S ALIVE!! Very cool, I’m sure you will find plenty of things to use it for.

Reactions: Like 1


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## T. Ben (Nov 9, 2020)

Not much of an update,we finally got all the limit switches hooked up and setup in the program same with the the spindle on/off.I will be bringing this home on Friday,I have to learn to write Gcode,not to hard to do. Will update as I make progress.

Reactions: Like 2 | Way Cool 1


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## Maverick (Nov 9, 2020)




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## Gdurfey (Nov 9, 2020)

very interesting! I am assuming the simplest is reproducing spindle work?? I love projects like this.......except, I get stumped. I should say, I like projects like this when I have a good friend to dive into it with me to keep me going!!!


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## T. Ben (Nov 9, 2020)

Gdurfey said:


> very interesting! I am assuming the simplest is reproducing spindle work?? I love projects like this.......except, I get stumped. I should say, I like projects like this when I have a good friend to dive into it with me to keep me going!!!


That’s why I brought this to my dad,him and my brother built a cnc router. I can do the work I lack the vision. Straight work will be the easiest,I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Reactions: Like 2


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## T. Ben (Dec 22, 2020)

I got everything calibrated last wknd,wrote some simple code to make a simple taper and had one motor start skipping which throws off the measurements. There’s a few things I have to move and adjust. Is getting pushed aside for now as I finally got my snowmobile in the garage.

Reactions: Like 1


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