# My slant bed CNC



## poppy_au (Dec 30, 2016)

Hi
Here are some screen shots of my slant bed CNC lathe. The design I have taken a bit here and there that I have found around. 
The spindel is turned from a 120 mm solid bar. Spindel bearings are double angular contact bearings on chuck side and deep grove ball bearings on drive end.
Frame plates are 20mm, ribs are 15 mm. All screwed together. No welding in order to avoid stress and tension. 
Rails are 20 mm and ball screws are 16 mm with 5 mm pitch. 
Motors x and y are NEMA 32 direct coupled to ball screws.
Base are made of 80 mm alu profiles.


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## poppy_au (Dec 30, 2016)

Boring spindel frame plate om my X3 mill


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## poppy_au (Dec 30, 2016)

Milling and treading the frame ribs. This is the limit that my X3 mill can handle. Sorry the photos came in upside down. How do I correct this?


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## poppy_au (Dec 30, 2016)

Milling motor bracket. Got an SEW servomotor with gearbox from ebay.


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## poppy_au (Dec 30, 2016)

Frame assembled.


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## poppy_au (Dec 30, 2016)

Spindel and spindel bearing housing.


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## poppy_au (Dec 30, 2016)

Spindel and motor mounted


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## poppy_au (Dec 30, 2016)

Rails mounted


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## poppy_au (Dec 30, 2016)

Auto tool change housing, index plate and toolholder. This has been one of the most interesting design and machining tasks I have done.
I took my toolmaker training back late 60ths but have not practice machining since I got my hobby late and mill about 6-7 year ago. I really enjoy, figuring, designing and then machining. First i used Autodesk Inventor in design but this year I switched over to Fusion 360 that I just love.


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## John S (Dec 30, 2016)

Very nice, I shall be following this  but can a moderator please rotate the pictures please ?


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## rodw (Dec 30, 2016)

Very impressive. I'm finishing off a scratch build CNC plasma cutter that has been going on since June.  The last pieces turned up yesterday  and I hope to have files to my laser cutters next week.


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## Cogsy (Dec 30, 2016)

Interesting stuff. 

As for the pictures, I assume you're using an iPad or iPhone which are real sticklers for being the right way 'up' when taking photos. They're difficult to fix after you've taken them but when you initially take them have the 'home' button on the device to the right (if shooting landscape) or the bottom (if shooting portrait). Then they should 'stick' when you rotate them.


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## blighty (Dec 30, 2016)

great build thread. looking forward to see this beast up and running.

been trying to put one together me self over the last few years, been having problems when it comes to the base of the lathe.. as in the bit you put your Z rails on. not so much problem but going over the options.

what have you used for yours?


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## DICKEYBIRD (Dec 30, 2016)

Wow, tackling a lathe build _and_ a toolchange turret.  You da' man!

Let me guess...LinuxCNC too, right?


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## poppy_au (Dec 30, 2016)

Yes, the photos are taken by ipad and iphone. If I can do anything before posting? They are ok when I view them.
I am going to run it by windows and Mach3 that I have been using on my combined cnc router/3D printer that I made before I started on the lathe.


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## DICKEYBIRD (Dec 30, 2016)

poppy_au said:


> I am going to run it by windows and Mach3 ...


Thank goodness for that!  Us Mach3 lathe operators have to stick together.:thumbup:


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## poppy_au (Dec 30, 2016)

I am very happy with Mach3.


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## poppy_au (Dec 30, 2016)

Here are some more of my twisted photos:fan:
To get the center hight right I found it was easier to make the tool holder my self.


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## poppy_au (Jan 6, 2017)

I'm starting to power up the machine. One of the stepper motor drives did not work. It's the one for the ACT turret. It's a Wantai DQ860MA stepper drive. Tried everything switching wires and drives from the other two axis but it is obvious that there are something wrong with the drive. But when I contacted the suppler they came back and told me they are sending a new one right away. Good service. I bought it from "Lucky Shop-Caroline" via AliExpress.
Than I tried to fire up the SEW Movidrive and the SEW servo motor but this I gave up. I got one Vacon NSX 12A drive instead and this was a piece of cake to set up so now the spindle, X and Z axis are running. Just need to connect the signals between the VFD and the BOB and couple the motors to the ball screws, than I'm ready to make some chips.
Still got to get the ATC turret macro made and the new stepper drive. Then cover the rails etc.


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## rodw (Jan 6, 2017)

DICKEYBIRD said:


> Thank goodness for that!  Us Mach3 lathe operators have to stick together.:thumbup:



Ooops, I started out on LinuxCNC with a Mesa ethernet card. :fan:


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## poppy_au (Jan 6, 2017)

rodw said:


> Ooops, I started out on LinuxCNC with a Mesa ethernet card. :fan:



rodw
Are you happy with the LinuxCNC/Mesa card? It seems to be a bit hot? But summer in Brisbane is normally hot I recond


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## kvom (Jan 6, 2017)

Over at the Novakon subforum on CNCZone, there have been a couple of users who have been able to replace mach3 with Tormach's PathPilot control running under Linux with Mesa card.  Supposedly PP is a superb control, and the software is under a GPL license.  The threads over there document the process very well for setting up for a mill.  I suppose lathe should be similar.


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## DICKEYBIRD (Jan 6, 2017)

rodw said:


> Ooops, I started out on LinuxCNC with a Mesa ethernet card. :fan:


I envy your Linux abilities Rod!  Mach is working for me but I'd rather use LinuxCNC.  I've tried & couldn't fathom it.  The Linux setup is too complex for my meager computing skills.


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## rodw (Jan 7, 2017)

poppy_au said:


> rodw
> Are you happy with the LinuxCNC/Mesa card? It seems to be a bit hot? But summer in Brisbane is normally hot I recond



So far, I am very happy with my choice. I am using a Mesa  7i76e ethernet card. The mesa  step gens are getting 50% more speed than  I was expecting (21 metres per minute.) I've  just configured MPG hand  encoder wheels using the built in encoder drivers included for that purpose. They also have so many inputs and outputs but Iam slowly using them up. I  still have to configure the plasma Torch height control which is based on  mesa THCAD card that interfaces to the 7i76e. 

The support from the Linuxcnc forum guys have been fantastic. There is a dedicated Palm pilot section  there and I think Tormach contributed significantly to the trajectory planner. The other new feature that is important for me is the new Joint axes module that greatly improves multi stepper motor axes such as I will be using in my gantry. JA automatically squares the gantry when homing.


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## poppy_au (Jan 14, 2017)

Way protection more or less ready.
I also did the first cut and it run very smoothly with hardly any noise. So far so good. I got up a warning when I used the lathe Wizard..FilletRadius is too big.. I did not enter any fillet radius. Any one know what is wrong. I use Mach3


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## poppy_au (Jan 14, 2017)

Sorry for the twisted fotos again.


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## sbdtasos (Jan 14, 2017)

hello very nice machine
can you tell me where you find this slide bed protection?
i also have made a cnc lathe and i need to protect my motion rails and ball screw
thanks


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## kjk (Jan 14, 2017)

attached an archive of the thread photos - rotated. 

View attachment slant bed lathe design.zip


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## DICKEYBIRD (Jan 14, 2017)

Ck. the fillet radius box in the rt. upper corner of the wizard.  You can type in a 0 and press return.  All Mach entry boxes must have an "Enter" key press to accept the new entry value.

Usually that error message simply means that the fillet radius is too large to properly join the two diameters.  I think there is a default fillet value of .1 that comes up until you change to a new value & click save settings.

Great looking lathe!


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## poppy_au (Jan 15, 2017)

sbdtasos said:


> hello very nice machine
> can you tell me where you find this slide bed protection?
> i also have made a cnc lathe and i need to protect my motion rails and ball screw
> thanks



Here you get them made to your size:
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1202171?spm=2114.10010108.100005.5.jQsMlq


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## poppy_au (Jan 15, 2017)

DICKEYBIRD said:


> Ck. the fillet radius box in the rt. upper corner of the wizard.  You can type in a 0 and press return.  All Mach entry boxes must have an "Enter" key press to accept the new entry value.
> 
> Usually that error message simply means that the fillet radius is too large to properly join the two diameters.  I think there is a default fillet value of .1 that comes up until you change to a new value & click save settings.
> 
> Great looking lathe!



Thank you, I have entered 0.1 and 0 and "Enter" but it´s still there.


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## poppy_au (Aug 4, 2017)

Hi
Just designed the tailstock. I was planning to weld it up by steel but may be I can bolt it together as I did with the lathe? Than I can use cast iron for the barrel housing? Otherwice I belive I need to adde bearing sleeves for the barrel. Any suggestions. Or silver soldering or brazzing?


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## xpylonracer (Aug 16, 2017)

Hi Poppy, some nice work done to date but have you checked that the whole unit will be stable on the support shown as there seems to be a chance of tipping over backwards with the weight of the spindle motor and toolholder fully retracted ?
xpylonracer


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## poppy_au (Aug 20, 2017)

xpylonracer said:


> Hi Poppy, some nice work done to date but have you checked that the whole unit will be stable on the support shown as there seems to be a chance of tipping over backwards with the weight of the spindle motor and toolholder fully retracted ?
> xpylonracer



It is very stable, there is no way it will tip. The weight is inside the legs. Yes, it´s a bit heavy. When I run the spindel at 3000 rpm it is very quiet and vib free.


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