Most 4th axis I've seen have been custom fabricated. I don't know of any off the shelf models, other than chinese ones on Ebay, which tend to be on the small side.
Hello
I'm new to the world of CNC routers and need to add a 4th axis to my 4'x8' EZ-Router. I'm able to handle the install no problem but need some direction on components I need to add to my current setup (aside from the chuck and the tailstock.
I've reached out to the manufacturer and they seemed less than interested in helping me and said that pricing would start at $5k for just the components.
I'd like to do this project with a $1500 budget.
Please see attached images and help walk me through this so I understand how to proceed.
The machine is currently running Mach3.
Thanks in advance for your help and expertise,
Shawn
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Most 4th axis I've seen have been custom fabricated. I don't know of any off the shelf models, other than chinese ones on Ebay, which tend to be on the small side.
Gerry
UCCNC 2017 Screenset
[URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html[/URL]
Mach3 2010 Screenset
[URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html[/URL]
JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
[URL]http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html[/URL]
(Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
That's what I'm starting to learn.
What I'm struggling with is knowing what I have inside the cabinet and what I need to add to it to make it work.
I'm very green when it comes to CNC router electronics. Every thing else about the machine is straightforward to me.
Thanks
Shawn
You need to find out if your breakout board can accommodate an additional axis.
You'll also need another stepper drive, if the 4th axis is stepper powered.
Gerry
UCCNC 2017 Screenset
[URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html[/URL]
Mach3 2010 Screenset
[URL]http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html[/URL]
JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
[URL]http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html[/URL]
(Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
Can you put up a much clearer picture of just the main board and one of the four Driver units at the top?
Why don't you contact Laney or Burl at Digital Wood Carver - Handcrafted Wood Products. They sell a fourth Axis with their machine (I have one) and it may plug into your Mach3.
Mike
Sure. I'll take some photos tonight and post them back up tomorrow.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll contact Laney as well.
Shawn
When using fourth rotating axis it geneally means x or y axis is redundant so you can repurpose that driver for the fourth axis depending on what sort of use you intend, in which case you simply unplug x motor after locking the x axis central over new rotating fourth axis, then plug x motor cable into fourth axis motor which becomes X as far as programming is concerned travel up and down on Y and rotate with X. So additional space on board not always required.
Yes, it seems that you have an empty terminal labeled "Axmotor" next to Z, with step, dir and common outputs. But it looks like you're using the 4th Gecko drive as a slave (it's marked S), so you'd need another drive to run it. The easiest approach to adding a 4th axis would be to purchase a rotary table like the Sherline, which comes with a mount for a stepper motor, and use a lathe tailstock mounted so it can slide back and forth, and lock in position. If you want my advice, I'd say to drop that whole assembly so that the center of the A axis is at table height. That way you can take advantage of all the Z axis depth for your parts.
[FONT=Verdana]Andrew Werby[/FONT]
[URL="http://www.computersculpture.com/"]Website[/URL]
Do you want the good news or the bad?
Good news: They have "hardware slaved" the 4th driver to the Y it looks like instead of slaving it in MACH so you do indeed have a true 4th axis Step & Dir available
Bad news. It needs another Gecko driver (5th driver) to use for the rotary axis. There does not appear to be room in the cabinet for a 5th driver (those square black thingys)
You will need to find a way to get another Gecko driver (on a heatsink close to the terminals for the A axis step & dir signals). The good news is that you can buy the drivers all day from www.geckodrives.com and get a stepper motor from a dozens different sources. Setup in MACH is pretty easy. You just go to Ports 7 Pins and Motor Outputs and enable the A output. If its not already you need to assign the port and pin (probably port 1 step pin 8 and dir pin 9), Then do the motor tuning. It gets fun on a rotary axis.
Awerby - I like the suggestion of dropping the rotary table to take advantage of the z-axis travel. How would that work since my bed is supported on a frame of steel tubing? I would have to cut the frame and build a drop section in the table, correct?
Do you recommend the sherline compared to the smaller 4th axis kits due to the difference in quality?
Torchhead - I reached out to the manufacturer who confirmed that the s drive is the slave to help move the gantry. I'm pretty sure I could fit a 5th gecko drive on the side of the breakout board. It looks like there is room. What does "motor tuning" refer to?
Driver has to have heatsink (plate area ) or it will get too hot and quit working. Drivers have a lot of PWM noise to the case (common) and could feedback to the logic level at the BoB if the grounding is different .
I am not sure I would attempt to add another driver and do changes to the MACH profile if you are not familiar with motor tuning and how MACH handles things like axis direction and other I/O signals. Doing a rotary axis is not as simple as it first looks and getting usable G-Code can get tricky unless your CAM program can handle it.
[Motor tuning is what you do in Mach to make sure the motors run smoothly and don't lose steps. Go into Config/Motor Tuning and pick an axis to tune. Press the up/down arrow keys to move the motor. The idea is to get it running with the highest velocity and acceleration it can handle reliably, without stuttering or making bad noises. When you hear it doing that (you will) back off the acceleration and velocity (acceleration will normally be about 10% of the max velocity) until it sounds good (a happy whirring noise is what you want to hear) when you move it back and forth. Then derate it another 10% or so as a safety margin, press Save Axis, and go on to the next one.]
[FONT=Verdana]Andrew Werby[/FONT]
[URL="http://www.computersculpture.com/"]Website[/URL]