Lathe (2023)

Motivation:

I took Machine Design in my first year of graduate school and worked with a team of 5 other students to build a lathe.

Description:

I did a large amount of the analysis (pre-FEA) and design for the cross slide. I was also responsible for all fabrication done on the waterjet. I also was responsible for the overall CAD and worked to make sure that none of our systems interfered with one another. The lathe withstood a drop test, sledge hammer to the chuck, and was able to actuate with my weight on top of it. A full write up of the lathe can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LWisVuTZfHK2zEyI2s3X9i3S8WOkOmTPVZ0b1ZQNGzs/edit

The lathe cuts upside down and backwards in order to have an indexable tool post. This tool post uses a kinematic coupling and flexures to have a high repeatability.

Lessons Learned:

I learned many things, including how to get more accurate parts on the waterjet and the value of adding grease to machine components. I also learned that you can’t necessarily trust parts that are given or provided. One of the limiting factors with our lathe is the ability of the chuck to grasp the part. If we were to do this project over again, we would likely switch out the chuck. Unfortunately, due to time and budget constraints, we stuck with this one. The cuck required parts to be lined up almost perfectly for the lathe to hit all the functional requirements we set.