lathe conversion, Framco DC motor & G320s

Hello,

I am in the process of adding a homebrew DRO to my 13x36 Colchecter
lathe and thought it would be cool if I could set positions where the
lathe would stop so I don't have to monitor it so much. So I did some
research and found this group and now I am considering adding CNC
control. FYI the DRO is using www.encodertech.com encoders/mylar
strips that have a 0.01mm resolution (about 0.0004"). Currently I use
the HW/SW @ http://ns1.dicomm.net/~axtein/dro/ but would probably use
EMC and a Camtronic board if I did a conversion.

I have the taper attachment screw for the cross slide which gives me a
good position for the crossslide motor. And I think I can work
something out for the leadscrew attachment. I know that the 5TPI
screw I have will have backlash etc and not be the best but I was
thinking with my linear encoder DRO that I could then use a
closed-loop system to 'ignore' the backlash and get true movement
measurments.

For motors I was at my local surplus and found many Fracmo Geared PM
DC motors just like the one to the right at http://www.fracmo.com/.
They will provide 14Nm of force, 110RPM, 24VDC/10A (I have a 24VDC
100A power supply already) and have a manual override that I could
enable if I want to still use the machine manually. I am wondering if
these motors could be used with a Gecko 320 if I added an encoder to
the motor itself. Tech support @ Framco has been unresponsive with
info on the motors.

While asking about encoders/servos could I connect the linear DRO
encoder (0.01mm res) to the G320 or must/should the encoder be on the
motor itself for the best functionality?

I'm just in the thinking/planning phase since I have 3 projects I need
the lathe for before I do any of this. So how far from reality am I.
And for those who might say "do your mill before your lathe" I don't
have a mill right now (next year I hope) since I needed a lathe before
a mill for some projects.

Thanks, Jeff