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Andy's New Fourth Axis
http://w-ww.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10106&t=35772
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Author:  npalen [ Wed Mar 14, 2012 2:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Andy's New Fourth Axis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu2GFst6Ehs&feature=related
Ran across this and thought it would give Andy something to shoot for. ;)

Author:  Brad Way [ Wed Mar 14, 2012 5:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Andy's New Fourth Axis

Nice!

Author:  Andy Birko [ Wed Mar 14, 2012 5:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Andy's New Fourth Axis

Looks easy enough to assemble. Can you imagine how much the CAM software costs? :shock:

Author:  npalen [ Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Andy's New Fourth Axis

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4th-and-5th-Axis-CNC-Rotary-Table-Machining-Router-/280866488117?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4164f27f35&afsrc=1
Another one that I ran across over at CNCZONE in a discussion.

Author:  Andy Birko [ Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Andy's New Fourth Axis

Neat.

I've actually been working on my 4th for the last couple of days. It's not in service yet but it's pretty close. I'd love to figure out a way to make it easily removable and have the tail stock sliding on rails sort of to make it easy to align. Also would be nice to move the tailstock off the table to get some work length back.

Author:  npalen [ Fri Jul 13, 2012 2:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Andy's New Fourth Axis

Looks cool, Andy. Did you go with the harmonic drive? What kind of tailstock is that? Is that a limit switch mounted on the Z?

Author:  Andy Birko [ Fri Jul 13, 2012 7:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Andy's New Fourth Axis

Yep, went with the Chinese harmonic drive knockoff. Tailstock is from the same outfit and matches (or is supposed to match) the center height of the drive. We'll see how that works out. At the moment I'm still working out how to align it.

The thing stuck on the Z is a little line laser that I align with the X-axis to line stuff up. The way it's set up right now doesn't work very well but it is usable. Now that I know I can machine aluminum on this beast like it was buttah, I'm going to make another holder that's actually straight and adjustable and replace the line laser with a crosshair laser for even more flexibility.

You can see in this video here:



how I used it to line up an instrument to drill tuning pin holes. I forgot to un-plug it so you can see the little red line moving with the Y axis. The reason it's not great right now is that the laser line is very difficult to adjust and goes out of alignment over time. It's also not perfectly perpendicular to the table so moving Z around changes where on the workpiece the line lays. If I can do a good job of making a mount for the crosshair laser, I should also be able to use it to find 0,0 on parts as the offset will be static. I wouldn't use if for very precise work but it should help for some stuff, especially if it's in the middle of the table or something like that.

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