CNC Wood Lathe - Discussion

[TReischl]

Some of the things you list can be done with creative layout in VCarve Pro. You have far more capability with Aspire being able to create 3D models.

Suggest you go through the Vectric rotary tutorials to get started. Begin with a very simple project to ensure your hardware functions as expected.

He says it is a LATHE not a rotary. Very different machine and programming.

It doesn't change the answer.

Change the answer? Of course it doesn't "change" the answer. If he is asking to work with a LATHE and not a ROTARY AXIS your recommendation of studying up on the rotary tutorials is a total waste of time. There is nothing in those tutorials that will help him program a lathe. Just so you know, I started out 50 years ago programming a P&W Star Turn NC lathe. So I understand the difference between a CNC lathe and a rotary axis.

FYI, Vectric products do not support lathes at all. There are no lathe post processors. There are no lathe roughing routines. There is no lathe threading routine. There is no lathe anything whatsoever. Yea, I could hack around and use Vectric to program a lathe, barely one step better than manual programming.

I think the OP knows what he is asking for since he specifically mentioned "2 Axis". Lathes are two axis machines.

[adze_cnc]

Can VCarve Pro 11 be used as CAD for 2 axis jobs such as tapers, baseball bats, smaller bowls, spindles, pens etc.?

It doesn't change the answer is correct but the answer is for the wrong question. The implied question is: Can VCarve Pro 11 be used as CAD for 2 axis jobs such as tapers, baseball bats, smaller bowls, spindle s, pens etc as it applies to a lathe?

Given that the lathe only has X & Z moves available it would be tricky getting any output from either VCarve or Aspire using any 2D toolpaths—fluting maybe. You could create a 3D model and use the 3D Roughing and 3D Finishing toolpaths. But, the 3D model would need to be very narrow in the Y direction so that the toolpaths will only make one pass and no Y moves.

Are there not dedicated programs for these sorts of machines?

[MiloScott]

He says it is a LATHE not a rotary. Very different machine and programming.

It doesn't change the answer.

Change the answer? Of course it doesn't "change" the answer. If he is asking to work with a LATHE and not a ROTARY AXIS your recommendation of studying up on the rotary tutorials is a total waste of time. There is nothing in those tutorials that will help him program a lathe. Just so you know, I started out 50 years ago programming a P&W Star Turn NC lathe. So I understand the difference between a CNC lathe and a rotary axis.

FYI, Vectric products do not support lathes at all. There are no lathe post processors. There are no lathe roughing routines. There is no lathe threading routine. There is no lathe anything whatsoever. Yea, I could hack around and use Vectric to program a lathe, barely one step better than manual programming.

I think the OP knows what he is asking for since he specifically mentioned "2 Axis". Lathes are two axis machines.

Perhaps you can give us an "absolute" description of "lathe", "rotary", "indexer", or other rotational positioning devices so answers are "absolutely" accurate

[SteveNelson46]

Can VCarve Pro 11 be used as CAD for 2 axis jobs such as tapers, baseball bats, smaller bowls, spindles, pens etc.?

It doesn't change the answer is correct but the answer is for the wrong question. The implied question is: Can VCarve Pro 11 be used as CAD for 2 axis jobs such as tapers, baseball bats, smaller bowls, spindle s, pens etc as it applies to a lathe?

Given that the lathe only has X & Z moves available it would be tricky getting any output from either VCarve or Aspire using any 2D toolpaths—fluting maybe. You could create a 3D model and use the 3D Roughing and 3D Finishing toolpaths. But, the 3D model would need to be very narrow in the Y direction so that the toolpaths will only make one pass and no Y moves.

Are there not dedicated programs for these sorts of machines?

Do you mean like the Farmhouse Candle Holders featured by Vectric? They were made entirely with the moulding toolpath . Or maybe I am just misunderstanding the question.

[dealguy11]

Looks like everyone's sort of right. Ted is right that Vectric doesn't have dedicated lathe routines like roughing and thread milling. Those toolpaths would all have to be developed as custom programs, and I don't know if thread milling would even be possible, but it might be. Knowlege of how an actual CNC lathe works would be helpful in generating the programs and I imagine it would be tedious to reinvent the wheel for the missing routines. And Milo is right that some kind of 2d lathe toolpath (albeit, simple) is possible with the VCarve Pro product. Gary Campbell showed this when he retrofitted some Jet lathes with CNC controls several years ago. If I remember right he had the cutter coming in from the side and essentially used something like a profile toolpath on the vector to move the cutter along. It's a bodge, but it's technically possible. Depending on the orientation of the lathe you might have to do some axis swapping in the post-processor.

[TReischl]

It doesn't change the answer.

Change the answer? Of course it doesn't "change" the answer. If he is asking to work with a LATHE and not a ROTARY AXIS your recommendation of studying up on the rotary tutorials is a total waste of time. There is nothing in those tutorials that will help him program a lathe. Just so you know, I started out 50 years ago programming a P&W Star Turn NC lathe. So I understand the difference between a CNC lathe and a rotary axis.

FYI, Vectric products do not support lathes at all. There are no lathe post processors. There are no lathe roughing routines. There is no lathe threading routine. There is no lathe anything whatsoever. Yea, I could hack around and use Vectric to program a lathe, barely one step better than manual programming.

I think the OP knows what he is asking for since he specifically mentioned "2 Axis". Lathes are two axis machines.

Perhaps you can give us an "absolute" description of "lathe", "rotary", "indexer", or other rotational positioning devices so answers are "absolutely" accurate

I absolutely can, why? Are you confused? Seems to be the case. . . . .

[MiloScott]

Change the answer? Of course it doesn't "change" the answer. If he is asking to work with a LATHE and not a ROTARY AXIS your recommendation of studying up on the rotary tutorials is a total waste of time. There is nothing in those tutorials that will help him program a lathe. Just so you know, I started out 50 years ago programming a P&W Star Turn NC lathe. So I understand the difference between a CNC lathe and a rotary axis.

FYI, Vectric products do not support lathes at all. There are no lathe post processors. There are no lathe roughing routines. There is no lathe threading routine. There is no lathe anything whatsoever. Yea, I could hack around and use Vectric to program a lathe, barely one step better than manual programming.

I think the OP knows what he is asking for since he specifically mentioned "2 Axis". Lathes are two axis machines.

Perhaps you can give us an "absolute" description of "lathe", "rotary", "indexer", or other rotational positioning devices so answers are "absolutely" accurate

I absolutely can, why? Are you confused? Seems to be the case. . . . .

We can move this great discussion to another post so we don't further dilute the OP and continue to exchange solutions to the original question.

[dale.davig]

First up thank all of you for your replies. I'll try to import a picture of the lathe to give a reference. CAD software was supplied with the lathe but it is very basic and after consulting with the company I purchased through I discovered there are no tutorials or even manuals to assist. The lathe is supposed to support most CAD/CAM programs available these days though I am having difficulty downloading Mach 3 on my new laptop (unrelated to the topic).

[TReischl]

Gee, looks like a lathe to me? How about that.

Now that we know it is in fact a lathe, I am interested in having someone explain to me how watching the Vectric rotary tutorials will help to learn how to program this machine.

There needs to be some clarification about rotary axis and lathes. Right off the bat, Vectric has never supported lathes. Vectric also does not support a true 4th axis. What they do support is wrapping a surface around a diameter. This is not a limitation by any means. If one looks at the thrust of Vectric's marketing, it is targeted at carving models. Decorative pieces. They do not advertise mechanical parts at all.

The OP is not going to be "wrapping" any surfaces around that lathe. For that he will need a rotary axis on his cnc router. The lathe he bought will produce things like a baseball bat way WAY faster than can be done on a rotary axis.

Dale: That is a decent looking lathe, keep us up to date on how it goes.

[dale.davig]

Thank you very much. I have been documenting and videoing everything from sourcing, uncrating, assembly, software issues I ran into ect. I will absolutely share the information once I've gotten everything together.

[Jimcad]

Have you looked a Roger Webb's videos?
I know he converted this metal lathe to CNC but the basics should be similar for wood.
I spent 10 years on a Fanuc 5T system and Mach3 turning reminds me of those bad old days.
Safety first always.
Run the program with the spindle stopped and nothing in the chuck before you just "let it go".
Much safer that way.
Bits flying out of a lathe is generally far worse than breaking a small end mill.
Jim

[IslaWW]

Here's a bit of "ol fat guy wisdom": I have always chuckled at the confusion in the CNC router world between lathes and rotary 4th axes. Between 2014 and 2021 I built a good number of both rotary and lathe machines on both router type and lathe frames. A few of them used AC servos to provide rotation for the chuck that would operate in dual mode, position (step & direction) for rotary 4th axis type cutting and velocity (0-10v) for lathe type cutting. My favorite was a dual control machine that I was paid to develop for an OEM that never made it to market due to their being purchased by a large tool group.

Forgetting the cutter differences and which direction that they approach the tool, the main difference is that with a rotary 4th axis the exact rotational position is controlled and with a lathe the turning rpm is controlled. They both use 2 axes to control the cutter.

I have a number of videos of all 3 types of machines on my YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@Islaww1/videos ... shelf_id=2

FYI: Every toolpath for each and every cut was generated with VCarve Pro. A few had some hand codded additions, like the following, to allow a toolchange. It's true that Vectric does not support lathes. That doesn't mean it won't generate the toolpaths, it simply means there isn't an easy button and they don't want to answer any questions about it.

Assuming you understand the nature of incremental, often parallel, cuts that lathes normally use to cut material to a finished size it is not that hard to use VCPro to generate cutting paths for a lathe, but there are a number of purpose specific software titles that will do it easier. These software brands will of course use X (in/out) and Z (L/R) to follow CNC machine convention. To allow Vectric use and not have to overly complicate the issue X and Y, or X and Z were used.

The process is relatively simple: Use a bit that is 2x the radius of the lathe tool cutting tip and generate profile side cutting toolpaths on open vectors. Enjoy

[IslaWW]

First up thank all of you for your replies. I'll try to import a picture of the lathe to give a reference. CAD software was supplied with the lathe but it is very basic and after consulting with the company I purchased through I discovered there are no tutorials or even manuals to assist. The lathe is supposed to support most CAD/CAM programs available these days though I am having difficulty downloading Mach 3 on my new laptop (unrelated to the topic).

Looks nice. If it were mine, I would convert it to Centroid Acorn Lathe control and use a lathe capable (or specific) CAD/CAM program if you have any commercial aspirations. If it's just a toy I would use Centroid Acorn Router and use VCPro to toolpath.

[TReischl]

Have you looked a Roger Webb's videos?
I know he converted this metal lathe to CNC but the basics should be similar for wood.
I spent 10 years on a Fanuc 5T system and Mach3 turning reminds me of those bad old days.
Safety first always.
Run the program with the spindle stopped and nothing in the chuck before you just "let it go".
Much safer that way.
Bits flying out of a lathe is generally far worse than breaking a small end mill.
Jim

And what is far worse than that is a piece coming out of the chuck. What is really exciting is ripping the chuck right off the spindle, or the toolpost. Just so everyone knows, people get killed regularly by lathes. Usually it is the piece coming off and smashing them in the head. And no, a face shield does not protect anyone from a 50lb piece of wood going about 100MPH hitting a person in the face.

[Jimcad]

Indeed Ted.