want to build a DYI CNC Glassblowing lathe

[william menzies]

My name is William and I am glassblower with 18 years experience. I also have a moderate amount of manual machining experience.

My goal is to build a small CNC glassblowing lathe, but I lack any practical DYI CNC build experience.

I am reaching out to folks that might have build and coding experience to help me realize this project.

While not a "Big Business" , there has been a modest budget set aside for this project.

Any help is appreciated.

William Menzies

sa...@americanhelix.com

[dan...@austin.rr.com]

Well I'm the guy who designed, built, and programmed the big CNC in back.

I'm intrigued, how would this even work?

Danny

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[Brad Selph]

So the big CNC is finally done and ready to go???

[Riley Cassel]

Just out of curiosity, do you already have a manual glassblowing lathe?

-
Riley

[M.H. Collins]

Like Danny. no saying it wont work but wtf?  Please show us.  I was a machinist for 30 years and still aint used to 3d printer slime

--

Black diamond strings and a Catalog guitar.....

[Albatross Hotel]

A glass blowing lathe is one thing, but a CNC glass blowing apparatus sounds kinda ridiculous. 3D printing glass makes much more sense and actually has been done.

[Martin Bogomolni]

Hey, a healthy skepticism is always a desirable thing in an engineer... but this discussion is bordering on negative discouragement.

I'd like to hear more about what you'd like to accomplish, and see what our collective expertise can do to make your idea something real.

-M

[Riley]

Not at all, just tricky to operate.

I've seen an automated glass "lathe" on one of those how it's made shows but can't remember which one. I want to say for lead crystal but it seems much more likely something to do with making light bulbs. Maybe dishes? Optics? Probably a lens grinder...

That's why I asked about an existing manual process. Depending on how much skill is required adding CNC may be easy or wicked hard.

LinuxCNC is free as in open source, can control pretty much any type of machinery and gcode routines can read sensor data to adjust program operation.



William, take a look at the builds section at openbuilds.org for CNC designs that are relatively easy to build. Great big Lego's ;-)



Riley







This email was sent from my KLü Tablet

[william menzies]

The difference between a glass lathe vs. a metal or wood lathe is that the head stock and tail stock move in unison via a spline shaft.

On a smaller version, two steppers might be utilized to run in unison. I have built a smaller unit out of parts from a Taig lathe.

Would you have an interest in speaking to me about this project?

Thanks

On Friday, June 10, 2016 at 4:22:39 PM UTC-5, Danny wrote:

[william menzies]

Yes, I have several, ranging in age from 1942 to 2015...

[william menzies]

here is a small DIY machine built off of synchronized stepper motors. This is the scale I am looking for except that the spindle shaft is to small (13mm) on this particular unit.

http://pw2.netcom.com/~sjnoll/glasslathe.html

Here is an 1980's Litton autolathe. These are very rare and is pretty outdated. The gentleman in the video is using a 1988 Mac to program the machine. Littons are great machines (I own 3 manuals) but for this project, they are not cost efficient and oversized.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO-dL-dIu7g

This is a video of a Herbert Arnold, which is the crème de la crème of all glassblowing equipment. State of art but well out of my budget....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfyaHqhQp1w

[william menzies]

A few of other points to this proposed build:

1. A glassblowing lathe does not require the torque that a metal or wood lathe requires, nor the top end speed. Top RPM requirements are 350-400 rpm.

2. I look for this build to make one specific part. It would not require to be customizable beyond the one part. My thoughts are if the build is cheap enough, I can dedicate each machine to a specific purpose.

3. We are already forming this project manually in house. I would be glad to video the manual process and post it for your alls review. Our business has the opportunity to expand, but to do so, I need to overcome the lack of skilled glassblowers and reduce costs to compete with importers.

Please keep hitting me with the questions. I appreciate all input, skeptical or not....

[Albatross Hotel]

I guess most of my skepticism lies in the profitability aspect of a glass blowing start-up. If you're going to start making simple, small symmetrical glass objects, I don't see how you can enter the market and complete with existing foreign & domestic manufacturers that crank out bottles and jars by the millions for pennies. Building expensive CNC lathes won't really solve this problem.

Asymmetrical glass art is pretty popular and has a large profit margin, but it doesn't seem like it would be at all practical with a CNC. In the time it would take you to program it, you could just hand blow the piece. Every town in America has glass shops which showcase local glass artists, there seem to be a good number of them here in Austin too.

I'm curious what direction you want to take this glass blowing enterprise in, if you don't mind sharing?

[william menzies]

This is in no way a start up. I have been manufacturing and distributing this particular design since 2007, with retailers carrying our product in 35+ states.My issue is that I need to increase production while reducing cost to keep up with my market. Importing is not an option I am willing to explore.

@Albatross, the time for a person to make the piece vs. a cnc machine is not the issue. The issue remains that there are not a lot of trained glass latheworkers in the country and the cost for me to train someone coupled with an attrition rate is not the most stable approach. Learning to blow glass is by far the hardest craft I have ever engaged. Not that easy...

[william menzies]

If it helps quantify for everyone, I presently employ 19 people, with 13 of them being glassblowers. We run 5 manual glassblowing lathes, with 6 dedicated latheworkers and 7 freehand or "bench" workers that finish the pieces.

All work is formed on the lathe and then finished by hand, 2 separate processes.

William "boxfan" Menzies
Chief Stepanfetchit
Flow Publishing
www.theflowmagazine.com
visit our sister publications
www.profitableglass.com
www.glasspatterns.com
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[Danny Miller]

OK, what I see so far is just dual-ended synchronous rotation at a relatively low RPM to make an even flame along a seam.

That in itself wouldn't seem to benefit from CNC.  So I'm figuring you've got something more in mind.

Danny

[william menzies]

I do. We use graphite silhouette molds to form particular shapes of glass in the lathe. We also need x axis movement of the tail stock.

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[Albatross Hotel]

It sounds like you may be looking for a CNC controlled torch head, if I am understanding this correctly.

A head that can move almost 360° around circular axis x of the rotating shaft of the lathe, a y axis that moves up & down the length of the rotating lathe shaft, and a z axis that moves the head closer or further from the rotating material....

[william menzies]

Not at all. Please refer to videos I linked earlier. A torch that runs parallel with the head and tailstock with x axis linearly. The glass tube rotates...

[Albatross Hotel]

I found the video you linked with the mini lathe. For some reason I kept picturing the product something asymmetrical like sculpture.

So would you want to build this from scratch, or could you retrofit/modify your existing lathes?

[william menzies]

My existing lathes are large and made from cast. I am thinking that to build from scratch will keep the build lighter weight keeping actuation parts more accessible and inexpensive.