Homebuilt CNC Lathes

CNC lathes, or turning centers, as they are sometimes called are probably the least common of CNC machines in a home workshop.

This isn’t because they are not very useful tools, but because repetitive turning operations are usually more the realm of manufacturing companies, rather than home hobbyists. If you have a hobby that involves a lot of small turned parts…. something like possibly model railroading, where you want to make a number of turned wheels for your rail cars and locomotives…. or something like making turned ball point pen bodies from exotic hardwoods… then a CNC lathe is probably for you.

Of course, if you become a dedicated CNC addict (and there are a LOT of us around!), then you may want to have a CNC lathe… just because.

Fortunately, many of the more popular machine control software packages (like Mach3, for example) come complete with controls for operating a CNC lathe, so you won’t need to add anything to your existing machine control hardware interface and your computer do to do lathe work.