[chuckknigh]

I think I see what you're saying, but I'm not sure it will work. This platform not only tilts, but *moves* across its working envelope in terms of height, tilt, pitch, yaw, etc...

Take a close look...the hexapod design is a variable geometry octahedron. All sides are triangles, which makes it stable. Adjusting the geometry of those triangles makes it move. Go to the videos section of the Hexel web site (under gallery, I think) and you'll see how these things can move all oer the place.

Now, if you removed the triangles, and just put in a single vertical strut, then it would no longer be stable. Same principle as geodesic domes. It would also not move, except up and down, and tilt.

Check out my avatar...my picture. Notice the model I'm holding in my hand. I'm a dome nut..."natural geometry and geodesic structures", is one of my hobbies. Inherently stable structures are impossible to build, without triangulation...in the model I'm holding, the panelized approach creates "virtual triangles" since the corners are connected by the panels themselves.

Back to CNC...I think this design will only work if it is built pretty much as-is. We might be able to simplify or modify some of the details, but the overall geometry is going to have to remain the same. The control has got to be done in a layer of software...be it from within EMC, or in some custom software that would have to be written.

I wonder if Hexel would make their control routines available to us? The home workshop is definitely not their target market...

-- Chuck Knight