Well I askedd this in the DIY Wood Router sub forum and recieved no answer, so I will try here. I am building a rotary axis for my 4 x 8 Vortech router. The main use for this is to cut variable pitch feed screws for liquid packaging equipment. My build will be using a Dunham 5C lathe spindle for the rotary axis.
My question is this: I will have a reduction from the motor pulley & the spindle pulley. Does the reduction need to be divisible by 1.8 & is more better? I have designed on paper using a 1:216 geabelt pulley setup. The greater the reduction the more torque, correct?
Uh, are you making these screws out of wood or plastic? Because otherwise I really doubt this is going to work very well. To cut metal effectively, you really need a machine that's designed specifically for doing that, which a wood router is not. It just doesn't have the rigidity required.
Aside from that, is this a gear reduction or toothed pulleys and belts? The reduction doesn't need to be divisible by 1.8 or any particular number, but it does have to hold the workpiece very solidly. And yes, the higher the ratio between the driven gear (or pulley) and the driving one, the higher the effective torque will be (at the expense of speed).
These feed screws will be machined from HDPE or UHMW. (
The spindle of the rotary axis will be a Dubham 5C headstock with a Hardinge taper to accomodate a 3 or jaw chuck. My question about the 1.8 was about the 1.8° rating on the stepper. I Did not think it really mattered, I was just curious. BTW, thank you for the reply & your input.