As my latheworking skills improved, I found that I was outgrowing my Litton U lathe. I thought about buying a larger one, but decided that I needed a challenge, so I decided to design and make a full size glass lathe, including scroll chucks. This was a hard project. It pushed me and my shop to its limits. The bed parts were too big for my machines, so I had to come up with creative workarounds. I also needed to push my machining skills to the limit. Turning the spindles on my manual lathe was the most difficult manual turning I had ever done, but they came out very accurate. The scroll was a challenge to program, but my CAD and CAM systems provided the necessary tools. To achieve the necessary precision, some surfaces were probed with the Rennishaw probe between operations. Overall, the machining came out very well.
The spindles are driven by microprocessor controlled stepper motors. This was a bit easier, because my background is in motor control software. Much development remains to implement all of the features that I imagine.
Some have asked if it will be produced for sale. This is a very early experimental prototype that I'm building as a personal challenge. If it works well for me, I will invite glassworkers to test it. If they agree that the design works well for them, I will work on a manufacturing strategy. I can't see any way to do production in my shop, but I have at least two other shops available that might be willing to help. After figuring out a strategy, I will work with the other shops to set a price. If there is a market for it at the price we come up with, production will start.
Proto 1