Chinese capstan mini-lathe

Stumbled over this little snippet of video and thought it quite clever. The basic principles could be adapted to just about any lathe. I don;t know if you can buy it outside China but looks to have a built-in bar-feed collet set up and dead simple "capstan" arrangement for either/both cross slide and main carriage using nowt more than a disc of steel with offset pin and a bit of flat bar for a linkage.

(Warning: Those of a sensitive nature regarding WHS should look away now or forever hold your peace.)

Could some kind passing mod please remove the extra "s" on the end of Chinese in the thread heading. I don't seem to be able to edit it out. Thanks.

Nice to see you back Hopper. Wondered how you were doing.

I wondered how they made those ARC 1-2-3 blocks

Not  a lot different to any second ops machine you would have seen in the past except they would have been running off a line shaft rather than individual motor

Edited By JasonB on 04/05/2023 12:15:56

Thanks. Been living up to my name and hopping around on one foot after a bit of minor surgery. Glad I did not sign up for anything major.

In North Norfolk, UK, the Hopper is the bus service that runs along the coast.

The cam gives you good leverage, feel, and accurate depthing

EGA, Coast Hopper to be precise ! Are you on its route ? Noel.

Not strictly a capstan lathe as it has no capstan turret, just a work holding fixture, not much different to many second op machines seen in industry back in the sixties and seventies.

Hardly novel.

All the well known makers of precision bench lathes supplied the equipment needed for such lighter repetition and capstan duties. The well known Smart 7 Brown Model L is at the heavier end usually coming with a dedicated cast base but it's still fundamentally the same thing. Plenty more unheralded "industrial only" makers. SouthBend were one of the better known names offering similar accessories to convert lightweight bench, hobby and training lathes for such duties.

Not forgetting the morphologically different but effectively functionally similar small repetition lathes such as the "you're not getting paid until your arm falls off" Britan.

I guess it all got started around 1900 (ish) since then, until the Western de-industrialisation of the late 20th century, the number of parts made on such machines must be way beyond convenient, or even inconvenient, counting. Mostly for the complex, small mechanical devices largely superseded by "do you want it with chips" electronic revolution.

Hafta say I'm surprised that integrating Lego robotics to to the parts handling thing with a simple software programmed powered sequencer on machines of that style as an alternative to proper CNC hasn't become a thing. Basically think EMI-Mec lathe functionality but way cheaper. With a programming ap.

OK it's going to be slower than full on CNC. A Brother would probably blow its fuses laughing. But if you can hit at £5,000 (ish) a spindle plonk on a bench and its ready to go a bunch can produce serious numbers of parts for, probably, well less investment than a proper CNC. Even one running 24/7 could be cost effective for things its not worth setting up a proper CNC for half a day or so a week.

Clive

I think Clive might be right on the button there. The simple flypress can produce a vast range of stuff using simple tools and cheap and unskilled labour along with no power. Part of my mis-spent youth was lost in hanging out of one of those things, bashing out parts for heaters. Was impressed even then by the amount of bits it could produce, so these little machines might be something similar. Simple, cheap, effective.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVc1Zd2682A

Possibly along your idea. A three station capstan and cross slide all powered by steppers

Rainbows

Interesting video but very much a conventional type of CNC turret lathe made small.

Ultimately I can't see the price /performance / speed / size ratios working out for a viable industrial "use several small cheap spindles" machine.

Way I looked at it you'd use cheap mouse power steppers to set the stops and something more husky, but still inexpensive, like a DC motor to drive the capstan et al. The trick is being appropriately clever to keep the price down and afford automated materials and parts handling. Whole thing has to be very "ap dependant" to avoid needing skilled tool setters et al.

10 years back when I took a preliminary look at the concept for reasons that seemed valid at the time it was all do-able, although the human interfacing wasn't going to be nice, but would have been twice or more the maximum viable selling price. Now I'm comfortably retired so another career doesn't interest me. Nor does making one to prove I can do it.

Clive

Sadly, no - just a lover of the big sky county.

Ah, a good old fashioned sweat shop!