More printed tools. A handy pulley lathe. With a better carbide tool, a work piece mouting plate, a little sturdier and slightly improved for better accuracy and it would be a handy tool I think.
Not sure why I have’t seen it before, I’ve searched quite a bit for 3D printed lathes. The interwebs are playing tricks again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-f7Dvw6EnA
Indeed. And a high torque low rpm brushless rc motor with fully adjustable speed control and tachometer display would be nice.
There was a 3D printed lathe by Sublime, but he took the design off Thingiverse the first time Makerbot changed their terms and conditions. He probably has it up on Github, somewhere.
@Aaron_Leclair yeah Sublimes’ lathe is impressive in that it is pretty much fully printed, but I think that it’s more pretty than of practical use.
I believe I linked to it earlier when trying to find out what other cool machines people are designing secretly at home.
Ah yes, here https://plus.google.com/106582723758544717904/posts/gxPKi1fFG6j
Just imagine how cool it is for kids today making physical experiments. Just print everything you need and go for it. We just had a teacher who talked about all the stuff, today they really are able to do all the things by real.
I just love 3D printing!
@Shauki that would probably take care of any torque issues. As long as it can produce the rpm needed for the given material and dimensions.
It’s probablly most versatile to design the lathe without any fixed idea on a specific motor. With the motor mounted externally and a pulley and belt drive a wide range of different motors could be chosen.
Using a toothless belt would let the drive slip and prevent the lathe from destroying itself and the operator if pushed too hard. This drive system seem to be traditionally popular and is also what the commercial mini lathes like Taig/Peatol, Sherline etc are using. For good reasons I think.