Vevor 8 x 14 Mini Lathe CNC Conversion

[PFarm]

I had found a few mini-lathe CNC conversions online, but I decided to build my own version. One reason is that I already have some CNC parts on hand; they were purchased years ago to build a router-type CNC mill, but the project was never completed.

Here is the plan and some of the parts on hand. Going to cut these linear rails to fit the ways.

Use these linear rails with the ballscrew assembly I have on order for the X-axis crosslide.

1210 Ballscrew replacing the leadscrew, ordered a NEMA 23 motor mount with bearing for the ballscrew, a ballscrew nut adapter

Electronics: order this 5-axis motherboard, although I'm only using two axis, it will be running LinuxCNC. Already have M5 proximity switches

Nema 23 stepper motors

Have on hand stepper motor drivers with heatsink and fan, and PSU

 

I've got a quick change tool post ordered, an additional tool holders, carbide tools, carbide parting tool.

[claudermilk]

Is that a...parallel port connector & cable I see?! 

[PFarm]

7 hours ago, claudermilk said:

Is that a...parallel port connector & cable I see?! 

Yup, old school connections are going to run LinuxCNC software requires a parallel port, and a USB-to-parallel adapter won't work. I'm using a Raspberry Pi and a parallel port hat.

Got the ST-V2 motherboard and the DM 542 stepper drivers on a 3D printed mounting bracket.

 

[PFarm]

Here is the parallel port hat for the Raspberry Pi, it's designed for CNC 5-axis use only and not a full parallel port function.

 

[PFarm]

Ordered a 1000W (1HP) Servo Motor for the conversion this morning. This will interface with the ST-V2 motherboard to control spindle speed for LinuxCNC.

[PFarm]

Cut, tapped and drilled 2020 extrusion to build an enclosure for the upcoming CNC lathe conversion electronics. Need to order DIN rail and 3D print front and rear panels.

[PFarm]

The 1KW servo motor, driver, and cabling arrived today. I can start mounting components inside the enclosure.

[PFarm]

Got the 24V, 12V, and 5V PSUs and the servo driver mounted. Temporarily routed the wires to the termination strip, don't want to leave any loose wires dangling. Built a Clanky Clank door for ease of access. Got some 1.5x1.5 wire duct ordered for cable management.

CNC

The stepper driver, Raspberry Pi 5, CNC motherboard and parallel port adapter are all ready to mount inside the mini lathe.

 

 

[PFarm]

Just waiting for the wire channels to arrive to complete the wiring in the electronic box. Got a Plexiglass installed in the E-box door and the Casa E-bay. Install the 10A recommended breaker for the servo motor/driver.

[PFarm]

To control the servo spindle motor from LinuxCNC, the 0-10V needs to be wired to the DA+ - Pin#26 and the DA- Pin #11, but there were no wires connected to those pins. I soldered a wire to those pins of the 44-pin parallel connector of the driver. Wired and installed LEDs for the E-box.

 

Installed servo motor, encoder, 5V-24V and 0-10V cables in the electronic box.

 

Next, I'll wire the steppers, stepper drivers, proximity sensors, Pi 5 5V power and the 5-axis board to test software and hardware (steppers and servo motor) before installing it inside the lathe.

[PFarm]

Got everything wired and powered up, ready for programming/testing. No sparks or smoke!

 

[PFarm]

If anyone is considering using these 5-axis boards with the ByteBot Pi Hat, don't waste your time and money. Spent two weeks trying to configure the board to work with the Pi Hat. Can't get the 0-10V spindle analog output to work, even when following the ByteBot blog. The ByteBot blog is also confusing to follow. 

I've scrapped this setup, and I've gone with the Flexi_Hal board, which may be a bit overkill for the application, but it should suit my needs. A cool fact is that they're a Canadian company out of Vancouver, BC, Canada.

[PFarm]

Here is the LinuxCNC GUI for the Flexi-Hal, a little more complicated to learn, but worth the effort with all of the features. I'll need to configure it for a Lathe application with only two axis X/Z. Update: this GUI doesn't work well with a lathe setup.

[NikosSprocket]

Interesting!

Can be used with the Milo too, or what's the point?

[PFarm]

@NikosSprocket The goal is to get familiar with LinuxCNC on the lathe setup and then plan to get the Flexi-Hal for Milo. Lots of nice GUI interface with this setup. This setup has the Pi 4/5 attached directly to the motherboard.

[NikosSprocket]

8 minutes ago, PFarm said:

@NikosSprocket The goal is to get familiar with LinuxCNC on the lathe setup and then plan to get the Flexi-Hal for Milo. Lots of nice GUI interface with this setup. This setup has the Pi 4/5 attached directly to the motherboard.

 

That's pretty cool!

I need to read more about LinuxCNC!

Thanks again for the info.

 

[PFarm]

2 hours ago, NikosSprocket said:

That's pretty cool!

I need to read more about LinuxCNC!

Thanks again for the info.

I just checked the LinuxCNC channel on Millennium Machine Discord and LinuxCNC Discord Flexi-Hal config available for Milo.

[NikosSprocket]

@PFarm I did an installation of LinuxCNC 1st with a SD card and then after I went through a few hoops I managed to install it on the same Pi 5 with 4GB but using the NVMe storage instead of the SD.

I run the suggested program for Latency tests and I got the Max Jitter of 93 ms!!!

According to the Documentation that's not good. It looks like the LinuxCNC requires a decent PC.

 

 

[PFarm]

On 1/6/2026 at 12:21 AM, NikosSprocket said:

@PFarm I did an installation of LinuxCNC 1st with a SD card and then after I went through a few hoops I managed to install it on the same Pi 5 with 4GB but using the NVMe storage instead of the SD.

I run the suggested program for Latency tests and I got the Max Jitter of 93 ms!!!

According to the Documentation that's not good. It looks like the LinuxCNC requires a decent PC.

I ran the test on my Pi5 and got close to the same result, but on the SD card. The Flexi-Hal board recommendation is a Pi-5 over the 4. Just wondering why they would put out a board using a Pi-5 if there is a latency issue. I guess time will tell when I start using it.

[NikosSprocket]

That's a very good question. Maybe the test is too picky?

Pi 3/4 are used for FDM printers with 7+ stepper motors for some time now, running at very high speeds and accelerations. Besides user/hardware issues, they never skipped a bit!

The Pi5 is a lot faster than Pi4 and the only time I show a "bottleneck" even with a Pi4 was when I was reading/writing data on the SD card due to SD limitations. Since I moved to NVME PCIe storage, there is no more read/write data issue either!

Furthermore, I believe we are spoiled with the professional level, and clean maintenance of Voron, Klipper, Mainsail etc. distributions that makes other OpenSource projects look .... homemade! Actually, I trust the Klipper maintainers more than Microsoft's development and patching integrity! 

[PFarm]

Received my Expatria Flexihal board, button board and limit switch board. More testing and set up!

[PFarm]

Got the Expatria Flexihal board flashed with LinuxCNC and configured the HAL and INI files for lathe operation. I installed Probe Basic Lathe GUI now to complete the wiring and test operations. Update: Couldn't get the GUI to work properly.

 

[PFarm]

Got the Expatria Flexi-Hal board flashed with LinuxCNC, configured for Axis Lathe. In the test setup, Pi5, the proximity sensor and stepper are functional. Next is connecting and spinning the 1KW spindle motor.

 

 

 

[PFarm]

Scored some MIC-6 for the mini lathe CNC conversion. These will be used to fabricate a new carriage and also some thick MIC-6 for future projects. From 12.7 to 50.8. Metal Pro out of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, is where the MIC-6 came from.

[PFarm]

In the 3d printing world, we are familiar with MIC-6 for the flatness of our bed plates. MIC-6 aluminum plate is a precision-cast tooling plate known for its exceptional flatness and dimensional stability. Unlike rolled aluminum, it is produced through a continuous casting process that minimizes internal stress, making it highly resistant to warping during machining. It machines like the 7000 series aluminum, but not as structurally strong as 6061. 6061 for strength/structural needs, and MIC-6 for precision stability.