Shopsmith to CBC conversion

holsgo · Post by **holsgo** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 5:57 pm

I was looking at some parts on eBay and stumbled on this guy. He's done some conversions to a full CNC machine using a shopsmith. Very cool and once again, proves how versatile this machine is. Look at all his vids for inspiration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmuOBBVVXNo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mc7-AQLT4Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiOpn117pGI
No he's doesn't seem to be a member.

wlhayesmfs · Post by **wlhayesmfs** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 6:13 pm

Too bad he is not showing us how it made the CNC lathe using the MKV. Would love to see that also. But it appears to work just fine for him.

holsgo · Post by **holsgo** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 6:56 pm

Maybe we need to send him a message on YouTube

paengland · Post by **paengland** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 11:45 pm

holsgo wrote:I was looking at some parts on eBay and stumbled on this guy. He's done some conversions to a full CNC machine using a shopsmith. Very cool and once again, proves how versatile this machine is. Look at all his vids for inspiration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmuOBBVVXNo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mc7-AQLT4Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiOpn117pGI
No he's doesn't seem to be a member.

There are more than those three videos if you go to his channel.

This video show more of the machine itself: http://www.youtube.com/user/pesbes6062# ... vLrat1hRkA

wlhayesmfs · Post by **wlhayesmfs** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:39 am

I was going through his videos and most were showing it in action but I have not found one showing a over view of the machine or how it was built. Am I missing something?
Thanks

holsgo · Post by **holsgo** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:42 am

I actually sent him a message via eBay. Hopefully he will respond or come to the forum to view the post of his links. Maybe then he can give us some insight as to this monster he created.

joedw00 · Post by **joedw00** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 10:02 am

My shop is not big enough for that. It would take all the fun out of using a lathe.

pesbes6062 · Post by **pesbes6062** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 10:08 am

I took pictures as I was building the machine. I will create a slide show (may be a while) and post it to youtube. I found that the speed of the ShopSmith was too fast, so I took off the belt and hooked up a stepper motor to turn the machine. This lets me slow the machine way down for turning and also to do the carvings.

I don't have any real plans for the CNC addition and I am not an expert on CNC. I built a CNC machine with my son from a kit I got at buildyourcnc.com. I took the parts and what I learned from that machine and transfered it to the ShopSmith add-on. I could have added the rotational axis to the original CNC machine, but I liked using the ShopSmith because I have the functionality of the lathe and use of all the chucks I have collected over the years.

I have two machines worth of stuff to sell off on eBay and then I want to get back to making things on the CNC machines. I will continue to post as I try new and differnt stuff. The reason I posted in the first place was I could not find anything like what I had done other than very expensive commercial machines. But I am a hacker, so don't expect any great insites or a complete set of drawings any time soon.

holsgo · Post by **holsgo** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 11:37 am

Thanks for playing. I think all of us would love pics. Even if you are a hacker (like me). Any instructions etc. There are a few of us who dabble in creating our own monsters. Maybe a list of parts you used would help or maybe that's on the site you mentioned.

pesbes6062 · Post by **pesbes6062** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 12:42 pm

joedw00 wrote:My shop is not big enough for that. It would take all the fun out of using a lathe.

I still enjoy turning and if you look at the finished project, you will see a few turned parts that I used to finish off the candlesticks. The pens were basically all done with the CNC machine. I built the CNC because I wanted to make a hollow spindle like some guy shows doing on a ShopSmith. I looked at the process he was going through and realized there had to be a better way, and there is.

As far as CNC goes in general, the things I can do with the CNC machine only enhance my woodworking capability and let me be more creative and accurate. Look closely at my profile picture on eBay and you will see a carving of the US I did to hold the state quarters. This detail and accuracy would have taken days or months by hand, but with the CNC I was able to make some for family and friends as Christmas presents.

Shopsmith Forums

Shopsmith to CBC conversion

Shopsmith to CBC conversion

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I still enjoy turning.