On Sunday, November 3, 2013 7:59:26 PM UTC-8, DoN. Nichols wrote:

I have (and use) a small CNC lathe (The Emco-Maier
Compact-5/CNC). I also have a Bridgeport which started live as a
stepper-based CNC, which I was converting to servo motors, before a fire
set me back a ways. I'll get back to that as time goes on.

Don:

Coincidentally, I had a little Yellow Compact Lathe (NOT CNC though).

Just a bit of personal info, I have a CNC Sherline I bought some 10
odd years ago, about 5 years before I retired. It's still in the boxes
it came in. Not sure that toy even qualifies as a real CNC machine.

Well ... I've gotten a lot of use out of the little
Compact-5/CNC, even though it is rather slow. Among other things, it is
the easiest way *I* have to cut metric threads at present. The 12x24"
Clausing manual machine has a set of transposition gears, but is a real
pain, because the half-nuts need to be kept closed from the start of the
thread until it is complete.

But some other things which I started doing on the little CNC
lathe turned out to be a lot quicker on the Clausing, using a bed
turret, and Geometric die head among other things.

Enjoy,
DoN.

I now see what you and Lloyd meant with your suggestion for going with "A minority of 'Home Shops'..." as regards CNC machines.


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#93
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