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I am thinking about getting a small CNC wood lathe. I do not see many for sale on the web. Does anyone have one? Or any experience with STYLECNC?
Mini Benchtop Wood Lathe for Small Wood Crafts & Arts | STYLECNC
I have spent a good amount of time following some of the threads here and have become intrigued. I will be starting from scratch with CAD. Our Career Center has courses.
Thanks, Maurice
Gary Campbell is a good resource. You can pm him on this site.
Doug Rasmussen has posted some interesting cnc "turned" work on the AAW forum (eliciting considerable pushback from some participants). Search there for "cnc oval bowl", "seeing the curve" and "slow adopters of technology".
Thank you Kevin! I am enjoying checking those two out! I will join AAW.
Maurice, AAW membership includes a ton of benefits including projects, articles and videos along with online access to all back issues of the American Woodturner magazine and new issues mailed to your house ever other month. The AAW forums though are open to the public and do not require AAW membership. I am an AAW member and feel the benefits are worth the membership.
Thank you Chris! I have joined AAW. I have not spent a whole lot of time looking around yet but see that CNC tool holders can be an add on to a traditional lathe.
I think I will start looking for a real lathe while I see if I can make any headway learning software.
I happen to have just purchased a STM1530C 5’x10’ CNC from StyleCNC. The giant container ship carrying my machine finally is close enough to have a firm arrival date of Feb 28th. I would be happy to give you a review of the delivered quality when it is in my shop. But they gave me the phone number of a previous customer in the states and he has had no issues with his CNC over the past 5 years.
Overall the company was easy to work with and let me design a machine with the specifications I wanted. You can feel free to ask them to change around parts or size, they build the machines so they can customize the size, length, motors, etc. Just ask for exactly what you want and do some research on specific parts that you want it built with.
Ask for Therese and tell her Matt Rogers said Hi.
Wow a 5' X 10'! That is exciting. If you post A review or demo I will enjoy following along.
I found this missed opportunity yesterday. The StyleCNC is more like what I have in mind
Velocity CNC lathe in Halstead, KS | Item LU9399 sold | Purple Wave
Very interesting and the price is right also. The other person has ordered a CNC router direct from China and its going to be over $20,000 but its not a lathe.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Mcmurry
Unfortunately I started a post about my purchasing experience already, but Bill George decided that he thought I was a paid salesman for the company and was advertising, which couldn’t be further from the truth. The thread got shut down after many people here started bashing all Chinese machines and saying that they are crap and you get what you pay for and that I must be paid by the company to promote them.
I also ordered an on-the-bed 4th axis rotary attachment from them. It is an option on all the CNC machines in a variety of sizes from the small portable one I got 4”x6’ ($500) up to 20”x10’ sizes ($2000) as an addition to a 3 axis machine. I do not have many uses for it, but with the time is takes to go through the entire process, $500 was a small price to pay to at least have some 4th axis functionality. I did not want to take up extra room in my shop for a full size unit that expends the size of the machine bed, so I opted for the movable unit that I can store away when not needed. It is more setup, but hopefully will be easily doable when necessary.
My machine should be ready to pickup a few days after Feb 28th and back in my shop my March 5th, but delays are always possible. Setup is only supposed to take a few hours, but it depends on how far I want to place the vacuum pumps and the associated plumbing. But there is only supposed to be a few sheet metal covers to install, level the machine, hook up air line, power cables, and duct collection hoses. No assembly required other than basic setup.
All the CNC machines have 4th axis lathe attachments either as a standalone fixture, or a bed-mounted heavy unit. Lots of options the mount either along the short X-axis or along the entire Y-axis (up to 20” swing), or a small inexpensive removable set of ways, indexing headstock, and tail stock like I got (available in 4-10” swings and lengths of 6-10’).Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill George
So it is a 4th axis lathe as well. The upgrade cost was $500 for this option. I was quoted $1500 for the full size Y axis model on a 4x8 machine during the quoting process when discussing options.
Interesting how the Thread got changed, the OP is posting about a lathe. But its changed to buying from China again, you do have to wonder? Ask for Therese and tell her Matt Rogers said Hi.
I have a OneFinity. They recently added a new controller to their lineup. One of it's advantages is it has a 5th axis. With that 5th axis they added an inexpensive CNC lathe from Amazon (about $300). They had to swap out the stepper motor but the end result was very good. I can do it with mine as long as I swap the cables going to one of my axis over to the lathe's stepper. You don't need to have an X and Y so it's not a big deal. The only reason I haven't done it yet is the cheap Chinese lathes usually have a metal chuck. Sooner or later I'm going to buy one and see if I can modify it so it has a standard 1 1/4" x 8 tpi threads. That way I can use my Vicmark chuck along with all my jaws.
Info about the StyleCNC company in general is very welcome! I have a few things that were purchased China direct and they have worked out. The price point of the StyleCMC mini lathe is part of the attraction. These are the main items I am thinking about this for. The taper and tip of drumsticks, end pins, and bridge pins.
Attachment 495478
I would have no issues ordering from them, there are no USA makers that I can see. This one might be a little small for your needs. You saw this Link? I am sure input your name and see what they can do for you. https://www.stylecnc.com/wood-lathe/...d-turning.htmlQuote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Mcmurry
I ordered direct from China a Rayfine Galvo Fiber laser and did the payment in direct wire transfer, but that was 10 years ago!
The OP specifically asked about purchasing a CNC lathe from the company StyleCNC in the initial post, Bill. It is exactly on topic to answer his question with my purchasing experience as that is what he is looking to do likewise. And telling him my sales person gives him a person to contact at the company who I found to be responsive and easy to work with.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill George
This is what I am talking about. I posted exactly answering the post, the OP's direct question, and I get flak from you. Can you just give it up? Apparently not. This is what retired guys have time for apparently.
There is a difference between a CNC lathe and a 4th axis rotary on a flat CNC. The former is more for turning with automated tool action which brings "yuge" repeatability and the latter is for ornamental carving. Ornamental carving can emulate turning in its simplest form, but it's not the same thing as turning with constant rotation. Rotaries (the second one) are not particularly well suited to actual "spinny" work like a CNC lathe is. What's kewel about a 4th axis setup is the ability to transfer/wrap complex 3D designs "around" the project workpiece. Different animal...
StyleCNC has an extensive video library. A lot is lost in translation. This one shows a slightly larger one. It is a bit tedious, but answers a few of my questions.
https://youtu.be/5TXxsJ3NDrs
I picked up a 4th axis for mine but have yet to do anything but make a 3” dowel LOL. It’s on my list of things to explore this summer when I have some free time.
Very true. Good point. It all depends on the specific projects that are desired and volume required. I would bet that they could make a combination machine that combines a standard 3 axis CNC with a 4th axis lathe bed, but instead of the stepper motor, use a VFD lathe motor to allow high speed turning with the CNC spindle motor. But I have not seen this specifically created yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Becker
I know of one individual who wanted the spinny thing combined with his CNC, so he removed the rotary from the side of his CNC and replaced it physically with an actual standard lathe, carefully positioning it so that the spindle center matched exactly with what the recoil rotary was. In that way the 4th axis on the CNC could control tooling movement while the "real" lathe simply spun the material. The goal, I believe, was to automate repeatability. I do not recall if lathe motor control was integrated into the software or not. My opinion is that if this is the kind of activity required, an actual CNC lathe or a standard lathe equipped with a CNC controlled tool system, much like what is on a typical metal lathe but automated, would be the better solution.
I like this idea! I have also wanted a small metal lathe for a long time. Starting with metal lathe would be a way to get the 4 jaw chuck. A previous shop had a small metal lathe that was often used for wood.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Becker
Did you get any prices on that larger one?
The one in the video does not match their current offerings. Currently the mini is $2800 to $3100 and the small is $4980 to $5180.
If I did not already have a Shop full of toys I'd be interested in ordering one!Quote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Mcmurry
You will get horrible surface finishes on your lathe work with a scraping cutter like that. Very few species of wood get a suitable finish, and open pore woods will just be horrible.
As I read more, I become more intimidated. I think as many as 3 tool changes may be required.
We do that naturally when we turn manually. But for "production" spindle work, if the tooling in the carrier is designed well and kept sharp, it should give a reasonable cut for your application. This stuff is done all the time out there in wood manufacturing land for spindles lf all kinds. If you choose your material carefully, the results will be fine.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Mcmurry
I have decided against the STYLECNC mini lathe. I hope to find a vintage made in the US tool room lathe and experiment with analogue duplicating. I think I can make a duplicator something like the one in this video work.
https://youtu.be/j_cON-WIkow
If your interest is in duplicating simple turned spindle shapes, cnc is unnecessary, but it does offer almost unlimited possibilities for embellishment. It would be worth chatting up Doug Rasmussen on the AAW forum about the bits he uses for clean cutting.
When I was working in the tool and die trade we had a tracer lathe that was pretty slick. It had on the backside a mount to put templates and a second tool post that was hydraulically moved into the work. You still adjusted how much you were removing with the regular cross slide. It was pretty slick but was mostly used for some dedicated parts that were needed for production. Attached link for the same brand one but the one we had was more like a 20" swing. HES was the brand however.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maurice Mcmurry
http://yodermachinery.com/inventory.aspx?ti=61478