Smithy conversion.

Hi-ho,

Anyone out there had a shot at doing a CNC conversion on one of the smithy 'CB-1220' mill/drill/lathes?

I'm looking at options for a better lathe in my workshop, as the current one is more of a toy than the Smithy type 3:1's. I can't actually get a smithy here, but there is a very similar unit available locally at a reasonable price, and it looks the same.. (I'm in New Zealand, hence the Smithy is too $$$ here with current exchange rate).

I only want to machine plastics and Alloy for small projects and model stuff, so the size and rigidity should be fine, I'm really looking for success/failure stories about the Z axis retrofit using large steppers.

I'm either going to get a 3:1 or a big lathe and continue to rent time on a Bridgeport at a local firm, but the bridgeport is a sledgehammer for the size of work I play with. Play being the operative word, some of the things I do would probably make a "real" machinist roll in his/her grave.. :-).

Cheers, Chris.

* Design engineer, Assembly worker, Cleaner.
* Ohmark Electronics. PO Box 5302, Christchurch, New Zealand.
* http://www.ohmark.co.nz


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]