Has anyone done this or have some direction I can be pointed in ? Its a Hills machine it was sold on here. Works great just want to make things easier.
CNCing a saw machine help
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That was my old saw machine before I got dust control on it.
JC
Coos Cues
If you are a decent machinist and can make the mounts and such for the steppers it will still be a bit of a project.
Here's what you need for sure:
Controller and steppers $550
Dedicated PC to run it and software. Doesn't take much of a machine but it needs to be reliable. Maybe $100 for a decent xp box and whatever Mach software costs now days. $150-200?
Add in all the materials for brackets and what not for the steppers and a grand would be a reasonable estimate to get it running nicely. That's if you can fabricate it all yourself.
Or you could do what I did and buy a CNC machine that was supposed to be "like new" from a crook and spend most of the above anyway.
JC
by nature a saw machine is just a terrible design for cnc retrofit. The fact that one of the axis pivots is kinda "catch me fkkk me" in my opinion. I would want to raise and lower the entire assembly but doing that accurately will likely be pretty tough.
Take the money and retro a wood lathe. Will be alot less expensive to do correct and accurate.
Take the money and retro a wood lathe. Will be alot less expensive to do correct and accurate.
Or a metal lathe?
JC
Coos Cues
I have considered moving the x axis stepper to the up-down screw on the table saw blade. There appears to be almost no backlash on that mechanism on my saw Has anyone considered or tried this?
Thanks,
JC
I'm going to suggest that cue-tapering on a metal lathe may not be the best approach.
First, it's a waste of a good machine unless you don't care. Too many moving parts.
I think that's where a lot of entry-level enthusiasts make their first mistake.
Well, maybe the second mistake, first being the decision to do cues at all.
You don't need an expensive 40" lathe unless it's the only turning machine in your shop.
A tight, solid (and short) iron lathe for precise and a T/S are the basics for a CM.
Your T/S can be manual or CNC if you prefer, it's task/function isn't complicated.
I'd only go CNC if I had to do many different tapers.
But then I'd have to learn programming. Lol
JC
Coos Cues
This reminds me of another recent thread where it was pointed out that a large portion of new cue builders decide that building cues just isn't for them. So instead of buying anything "unnecessary" to just get a cue lathe and go to work to see if you actually enjoy it.
After thinking about that I realized that if I had not bought the saw machine and turned squares to rounds with a router and my cue smith, I probably would have quit before making my first cue. It's no fun making due. At least not for me. And if it's not fun why do it?
JC
You haven't seen Searing's Jet lathe converted to cnc taperer.
The monster turns out wood like they've been sanded with 600 grit.
Old steel can be had for a song these days. Don't even need one with a threader. Don't even need a chuck for a taper. MT5 dead center would do for most . So, a 36" would be fine .
JC
Coos Cues
I have the blades ground by a local guy and they are under .001 runout. I did a couple of other modifications to help with "slop" on this thing too. Bludworth built the live center end with a couple of bearings and a center made of drill steel and it has way too much runout. I replace it with a much longer piece of hardened steel and I do not allow it to spin when doing finish cutting. Just lube the wood in the point and that eliminates the runout from it. By using a longer center with a selection of wooden dowels as shims between the collar and the spring I can have several inches of latitude on lengths of wood without having to move the drive end and taper bar to a different screw hole as long as I hold the center from spinning. It has no problem holding tolerances for my mandrel.
This thing also turns out smooth pieces about like 500 grit sanding.
JC
That's .001" on his arbor.
How about on your machine ?
How about on your machine ?
JC
Coos Cues
I haven't measured it on my machine but when I make the final cut on the butt and shaft @ .844 for my .850 mandrels the lip feels consistently overhanging the mandrels to the touch and finishes up nicely. I think if it was more than a thousandth or so difference I could feel it with my finger. Using that as a measure the tolerances seem very acceptable. It wouldn't surprise me if my saw has more slop than that and I'm not cutting that final cut with all the teeth but it's only wood so it seems plenty good to me.
JC
Yes.
Can the blade hold epoxy for the epoxy coat ?
Slather epoxy all over the blade then let it apply epoxy .
Is yours set-up or still collecting dust?
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If I knew what I know now I would have never bought a table saw machine. I'm in it as much as I would have been with a gantry and, not only does it take up 10x's the space, it scares the crap out of me every time I spin it up.
Mine used to trip the breaker.
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