I decided to build a dual turn CNC lathe. I'll walk you through the design and construction process, as well as explain what I learned along the way. Hopefully, this will inspire you to build your own cnc lathe in a similar fashion, or perhaps even spark some ideas on improving an existing one you might have on hand
The first step was to decide what kind of equipment I'd need. I had a lot of options available
An old Delta twin-turbo lathe that was being used for a different project, but hadn't been used in years. This would be ideal because it would allow me to reuse all of its components and save money. But unfortunately it was missing some important components that are required for general milling operations such as indexable collets or indexable tooling inserts
A new CNC milling machine that had been purchased by an acquaintance (thanks Dave!) whom I knew wanted to get into metalworking and saw this as an opportunity to learn about CAD/CAM software as well as how these machines work under the hood. Such machines typically come with all sorts of accessories like tooling inserts and even gantry support systems which can increase their value significantly over just having a complete milling machine sitting on
cnc dual turn lathe
