New Tormach 8L CNC Lathe

Paul_Morley · September 17, 2021, 1:43pm

The new lathe is looking great. For anyone interested in starting to learn, you should begin by going to https://hub.pathpilot.com, create an account and you can connect to a virtual instance of the Pathpilot controller software. It’s a great way to begin learning as you can control a virtual lathe, or any of their machines for that matter.

The manual can be downloaded on the main 8L documents download page here.

Or direct download here.

Several of us tried some operations on the machine last night (without reading the manual first). Considerable hunting and pecking occurred. Ha ha.

Nick, these 2 bullet points from the manual would have saved us a little time…

This is taken from the Facing section of the guide:

To cut with a rear tool, the values used in the Initial X DRO field and the Final X must be positive. The tool works on the positive X side of the spindle center (the side away from you).
To cut with a front tool, the values used in the Initial X DRO field and the Final X must be negative. The tool works on the negative side of the spindle (the side closest to you).

TBJK · September 17, 2021, 1:47pm

I noticed that last night when I looked through the book.

John_Marlow · September 17, 2021, 5:29pm

Thanks for the info. I’ve copied it into the wiki.

Dedicated page for the Tormach 8L
Linked from the Machine Shop committee page
Summarized on the DMS Tools page

Does it have a DRO?
If someone will tell me about any other accessories I’ll add them to the wiki page.

SWA · September 17, 2021, 7:36pm

Some pics of the new awesome CNC Tormach lathe being setup.

nicksilva · September 18, 2021, 5:13am

yes the DRO is built in. you can’t really reset the zero. It is always based off the machine zero.
ok, not entirely but you’ll see what I mean once were running.

nicksilva · September 18, 2021, 5:15am

yeah I saw those too this morning. we were close on our impromptu tests last night. I got closer today and @TBJK figured out the tool offset problem. Of course once I had time tonight, I found a good video on it. cheers!

nicksilva · September 18, 2021, 5:40am

Not there yet, but we did check and compare some of the Sherline tools and find we can use some of the things such as boring bars and cutoff blades as offered by Sherline for smaller projects. That will be cheaper than going thru Tormach. We’ll be working on the tool list and tool purchases hopefully before the next committee meeting. cheers!

Hanna_Kessler · September 18, 2021, 1:11pm

If I might make a suggestion for a easy project: dogs for the wood CNC! I don’t remember the exact measurements @SWA but it’s a single operation. We will need lots of those and anticipate some disappearing and getting destroyed

TBJK · September 18, 2021, 1:19pm

Its in the queue already. We will probably make a stop block to make the setup easier & quicker to crank them out.

They are 18mm x 1” by 1” tall. They are split 50/50 for it. We will probably add some more features as it will make it easier to move them. By hand on the manual lathe they take about 10-15 minutes to make 1.

SWA · September 18, 2021, 2:48pm

Good thinking ahead. You do realize that some of us (Multicam) will need to become trained on the lathe? I imagine at some point the machine shop folks will loose interest in making dogs for us.

John_Marlow · September 18, 2021, 7:54pm

For the “demo program” you might consider using the pawn that @Mrholthaus used for the Sherline CNC lathe. It demonstrates why you would want a CNC lathe (i.e., curved surfaces). It’s 2" long and 1" diameter (but of course it would be easy to change it to any size you want).

SWA · September 18, 2021, 9:19pm

I will assume this is larger than a penny.

Paul_Morley · September 19, 2021, 3:01pm

No…

Yes…

Well, either. :-). It’s a CNC/CAM so it’s completely adjustable.

Paul_Morley · September 19, 2021, 6:25pm

Well played sir!

Paul_Morley · September 26, 2021, 10:28pm

@nicksilva An interesting problem we’ll need to watch out for…

Limit switch hit by stray chips. Tormach 8L limit switch error - YouTube

nicksilva · September 26, 2021, 11:16pm

Interesting error. at least we now know what to look for. cheers!

nicksilva · September 26, 2021, 11:32pm

I’ve created a new folder on the Wiki under the machine shop training folder for the Tormach 8L. I have put the Fusion 360 post processor there. More will be added as we create content. cheers!

Paul_Morley · September 27, 2021, 12:15am

This is a much better video JSaunders does talking through the process of the offsets and multiple operation conversational GCode. Even though it’s on the bigger Tormach lathe, the methods are directly relatable to the 8L.

TBJK · October 1, 2021, 11:56am

The new tool holders have arrived.

nicksilva · October 1, 2021, 1:19pm

I’ll be there later and will get some into tool holders and get them leveled. I tried to level the drill last night and discovered that there is a lot of slop in the height between the tightened and untightened tool holder. It raises at least 1/16" when tightened which isn’t bad but it’s a lot of back and forth getting it right. cheers!