Rockcliff Model A Rotary Axis Design

[sfsubcutter]

Hello!

I am going to use this thread to document my designs and build for a 4th axis, rotary that is designed to fit on a Rockcliff Model A CNC 'Y' axis table.

To begin, I have worked up a set of 3D drawings which will be broken down at a later date to a set of plans with a bill of materials.

So far, I have only one custom machined part in the designs, everything else is available through local hardware shops or online at places like McMaster-Carr or Motion Industries (for Canadians)

To whet your appetite for this.. I present a rendering of my Autocad plans. I hope to write this up in further detail and provide an build log of this very soon.

[curmudgeon]

What software are you going to use to draw the profiles on the cylinders ?
I'm looking into this now, but still don't have all the pieces figured out. I know we can run the fourth axis as "A" on the Driver board. But how to get a tool path for "A" is still not clear to me. I've seen examples of where the ''x" is simply hooked up to a rotator and flat work is cut on a round piece of stock. But I want to be able to draw profiles on a cylinder and then cut them on the Model "A".
I've had a few false starts lately, and really need a complete plan before I jump into the next project.

[sfsubcutter]

I had thought of useing my combination of Rhino 3D and Autocad to draw all of my objects (2D, 3D and Rotary). I can't be too sure as I'm still quite green at this but I don't think it's the drawing that's the difficulty, it's the toolpathing.

Right now, I'm very much into the mechanics of it all. Once I have a working machine that obeys Mach3 and is ready to start working, then I'll worry about how to generate the toolpaths.

Pick a task, do a task as they say. Right now, it's getting the hardware working.

SFSub

[curmudgeon]

I agree with slaying one dragon at a time. Still, with this CNC stuff, I have managed to amass a collection of parts that were for projects that have dead ended. LOL

I'm finding that without the $2,000 software, some of the cool 4th AXIS stuff on the web is actualy not doable. I'm almost back full circle to just building or retrofitting a CNC lathe to do lathe work.

[sfsubcutter]

So, talking hardware now.

Here are a few shots of the hardware pieces (minus the mounting brackets) that I have considered for use with my rotary axis design.

I purchased a Maxwood 9pc 2" Micro Wood Lathe Chuck Kit which will serve as the basis for the rest of the design.

Using this, I ordered a 1"-8tpi threaded stud from McMaster-Carr (Part Number: 97042A968) and had it machined down to my specifications by a co-worker of a friend of mine (knowing a guy who knows a guy is awesome!). I had the thread length knocked down to 1" and got the stud tapered down to fit a 1/4" - 1/4" shaft coupler (McMaster-Carr Part Number: 61005K311). Looking at it, the 1/4" shaft is still too long but that's an easy fix.

I need yet to cut down the Oilite bearing to 3/4" in length but it will serve to fit in the mounting frame as seen in the 3d sketch above.

Couple all that together with a NEMA 23 stepper motor I ordered with my driver board, this should serve quite well.

Feel free to comment.

SFSUB