Lets say I was trying to turn a regular 2000 rpm lathe with any carriage speed from one inch per rotation to .008 inches per rotation into a computer numerically controlled device without taking apart any part of it. What would I need besides a computer that may or may not run on windows... If you consider that software.
Ill just skip two syllables and use your face for that particular operation. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
No talk about servo's, pneumatics, or robots that jiggle the chuck to change rpms. All I ever get is "cow farts". I thought some large amount of people could possibly be considered collectively intelligent. Boy was I wrong! Too bad I learned this years ago. You have been challenged to accomplish something great. You just don't understand what that is yet.
You are the one who started a thread about cow farts. I don't personally know anything about CNC machines other than that they made electric guitars less expensive and more consistent. If I did I would give you are more helpful answer. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
What kind of input does the lathe accept? A basic lathe would simply have belts on wheels to create various "gear ratios", as it were. How do you get a computer to talk to that at all? Are you envisioning some intermediary device that attaches to the lathe, but without disassembling or modifying any of its components?
The DIY guys around here seem to focus on mills and routers and 3D printers - I don't know why. If you just want to be able to control numerically, step by step, and gain by complexity of achievable form, a sort of a hybrid manual/numerical interface can be run off a pocket calculator - I've even seen one on the internet that uses a TI, rather than an HP: https://rick.sparber.org/BTMNC.pdf