4th axis

[Jimig]

I'm trying to use a servo with 1000 line encoders for a direct drive A axis(rotary/index head). I have XYZ axis's set up and working fine. In the settings for A, I have the ratio at 11.11111, gear at 1, and the tool/degree at 2 (counts per degree). When calling out an A move, the servo does index to exactly the right degree. The problem is in the feed. Most 4th axis programing is done in degrees per minute. For example: G1A360F1 should take 360 minutes to make one full revolution, and G1A360F360 should take 1 minute to complete one revolution. The way it works at the moment is a feed of 1 = about 4.8rpm or so. I had camsoft check the cbk file - they said it should be working, and didn't offer many ideas. I use mastercam which runs the code in degrees per minute - which times all the other axis's accordingly when doing contours. I can probably modify the post to fix the problem (not too easy!) - but it shouldn't be needed - I would assume camsoft can independtly run the A axis with a different ratio then xyz. I have cnc Lite, by the way. How does camsoft calculate a feed rate in the 4th axis? When programing other 4th axis machines, I have always used degrees per minute - which calls for very high feed commands (In degrees per minute) on A axis - XYZ then are timed accordingly. Thanks for any input! JIM

[HuFlungDung]

Do you ever make combined linear/rotary movements as in 4th axis wrap type machining?

What kind of controller/rotary table were you familiar with programming before? I ask this because there are several different favoured methods, and depending on which one you are used to, this has a bearing on how you might think they should work.