It's Alive

Right now the way I am doing this, grbl thinks I have a regular 3 axis machine. You would have to adjust the steps per mm for the Y-Axis and do a mirrored image; the Y movement on the rotary makes the carving backwards. For the text, I had to design it mirrored for it to come out correctly.

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Easel can do the flip and rotate no problem. Now I’m REALLY interested in this, can’t wait to see what you make with it.

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Probably, but since I am changing electronics I won’t go that route.

man I check in on your thread every so often and you have some cool stuff going I took the pluge and bought a 4x8 machine but I am looking at a 4th axis like yours also

here is a pic of my new machine

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Wow, that is a beast!

sexy sexy lol I am really feeling spoiled check out the tread I just started to watch some videos

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Another test with the rotary axis…I tweaked the steps per mm and it is spot on now. This is still using grbl:

A 1.125" diameter dowel, I used just a 0.25" ballnose bit on this. A single spiral.

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Pretty damn cool. Out of curiosity, how big was the steps per mm adjustment, and how’d you calculate it? Was it trial and error or did you wrap a ruler around the rod and calculate from there?

HIMMM. I don’t have 4th axis upgrade, but I upgrade my system with MiniCAT 2016 system. The problem is I can’t run the machine. :laughing:

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just install Idog, that should sort it out

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It looks like you really splurged and got the multiple redundant MinCAT system. :slight_smile:

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Carve some mice and send them to the other side of the shop :slight_smile:

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For the steps per mm, It was a little trial and error and a little math :-).

The diameter of the dowel was 1.125 inches I multiplied that by 3.14159 (pi) to get the circumference of the dowel, 3.534 inches.

I made a mark at the bit location, told the machine to move 3.534 inches to rotate the radial axis, if correct the axis should rotate 1 full turn and stop on the mark. I adjusted from there.

When I replace the electronics, once everything arrives, the calculations will be translated to degrees of movement for the axis, so I will have to play around with settings again.

But it is fun :slight_smile:

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Time to kit it up! I am definately doing this once the cold, cruel Minnesota winter sets in. Next week.

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Erik- you are really on to something here! Well done. I can only hope that you will share your notes on the conversions you did to make it work. Amazing.

I have to guess that the upgrades @ErikJenkins did to his Z axis (and X axis height?) are almost a necessity to make the 4th Axis work, unless the rotation A axis somehow happens to fit under the stock XCarve Z axis…

I knew I wanted a rotary axis, that was the primary reason for the X and Z-Axis height increase.

Here is a small piece of cherry from a tree I cut down last year. Next time I’ll use a larger bit, but with a 1/4" endmill it only took about 30 minutes to make a nice round cylinder to carve.



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Now you need 4th Axis dust control :slight_smile: ahh, life is rough…

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Here is one problem with using a rotary axis with grbl…each time a different size cylinder of wood is cut, the steps per mm must be adjusted to match that particular piece of wood, not a huge problem, but just adds a bit of time to a project. Once I get the new electronics installed, it won’t be an issue as true rotary axis support moves the axis by degrees and not linear movement.

Not a show stopper, just something to consider if anyone plans on going this route and staying with grbl.

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