For folks who are not familiar w/ machine shops, the lathe is a fundamental tool in a shop, and is the only tool in a shop which can replicate itself --- there is even a book series which uses this conceit, the "Gingery Books":
where Vol. 1 has one setting up an aluminum casting foundry in one's backyard, and Vol. 2 has one using it to make a lathe which is then used to either improve itself or make a better lathe, then one uses it to make the balance of the tools in a machine shop.
jjk166 · 22m ago
A lathe can't actually replicate itself completely. Specifically, a lathe can only make ways smaller than its own cross slide's stroke. It would also be impossible to make a typical lathe bed on a lathe, though you theoretically could design an unconventional lathe bed that is possible to make on a lathe, even if grossly impractical.
The real starting point for machine precision is rubbing 3 granite plates together.
IAmBroom · 16m ago
Lathes can certainly make cylinders, and a tube-based lathe bed is not a stretch.
A lathe can't replicate its own assembly, of course. It can't seat the spindle in the constraint bearings, for instance.
A CNC (without the word lathe) can make most of itself, and possible all. Nope: certainly all, if two of its dimensions fit within its work volume.
class3shock · 5m ago
It's so cool to see Cylo get posted here. I remember finding his channel via an air bearing video years ago and being so impressed at what a (then) kid was doing, cool to see him still doing stuff and getting recognized for it. For anyone enjoying this Dan Gelberts video on his lathe, which I think inspired this, is worth watching. Robin Renzetti also does cool precision focused stuff but I don't know if he does Youtube much anymore.
rfrey · 2h ago
People interested in this might also appreciate this small channel: a no-holds-barred 5 axis machine with expected sub-micron precision. I've learned a lot about what kind of components are available when budget is not an issue (I'll bet this machine will cost 100k by the time it's done).
https://www.youtube.com/@kasramehraky9283
IAmBroom · 15m ago
Those are the kind of CNC kept in isolated rooms, and covered in gold foil to reflect heat. No humans allowed during the measurement cycle.
rtkwe · 2h ago
For a more rough and ready, but quite entertaining, version of the DIY CNC (mill however) build there's the sage of Not An Engineer's build of a DIY CNC mill.
Normally I would assume that a YouTuber claiming to have built a more accurate DIY CNC lathe than Dan Gelbart's was full of shit, especially if he didn't mention Gelbart in the title. But Cylo's Garage is an exception. His objective is diamond-turning optics. So he does need tighter precision than Gelbart's 1μm, and he's been working toward achieving it in an astounding fashion for years—inspired, he tells us in the video, by Gelbart.
This video, though? You know how people say "this meeting could have been an email"? This video could have been a web page. Or an email. It's just a set of slides with a voiceover. Save yourself the time and just read the subtitles:
yt-dlp --write-info-json --write-sub --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en --restrict-filenames https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEr2CJruwEM
Worth noting that the lathe project itself is on indefinite hiatus right now as I understand it, so don't hold your breath waiting to see finished results.
Joel_Mckay · 1h ago
Most do not understand how difficult these machines are to handle, but there are some completed specialty CNC builds around.
"High precision air bearing CNC lathe and grinder" (Dan Gelbart)
Cylo's Garage spent a lot of time exploring these designs. =3
fusslo · 2h ago
I've been following Cylo's Garage for a while. I'm excited to see where he goes. Reminds me of Applied Science meets Tom Lipton, Robin Renzetti, or Dan Gelbart.
https://gingerybookstore.com/
where Vol. 1 has one setting up an aluminum casting foundry in one's backyard, and Vol. 2 has one using it to make a lathe which is then used to either improve itself or make a better lathe, then one uses it to make the balance of the tools in a machine shop.
The real starting point for machine precision is rubbing 3 granite plates together.
A lathe can't replicate its own assembly, of course. It can't seat the spindle in the constraint bearings, for instance.
A CNC (without the word lathe) can make most of itself, and possible all. Nope: certainly all, if two of its dimensions fit within its work volume.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uallSKJGoug&list=PL3NwjxPeyb...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2wdo5vU7bPBNzyC2nnwmNQ
This video, though? You know how people say "this meeting could have been an email"? This video could have been a web page. Or an email. It's just a set of slides with a voiceover. Save yourself the time and just read the subtitles:
For reading the subtitles file Building_the_most_accurate_DIY_CNC_lathe_in_the_world-[vEr2CJruwEM].en.vtt, http://canonical.org/~kragen/sw/dev3/devtt.py may be useful."High precision air bearing CNC lathe and grinder" (Dan Gelbart)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFrVdoOhu1Q
Cylo's Garage spent a lot of time exploring these designs. =3
https://drive.google.com/file/d/178KoqYAQUScSW27opubo9K794Pe...
Another awesome video on precision engineering resources in the same channel:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FM9X_gjnleY