Is it reasonable to assume that the rotational axis is at one extreme, which would allow for someone to do 2 dimensional cuts in the rest of the cutting area?
Yes and no.
You could easily use the gshield to drive it but your would have to re-calculate your steps per mm the specific project diameter every time.
It would be better to upgrade to something like the TinyG, which supports degrees per step.
I have one and it works very similarly to gshiled / grbl, just a lot more configuration options. Of course you would not be able to use it with easel, but you would not for rotational carves anyway.
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This gives me dangerous idea to build a stand alone spindle carving machine, it wouldn’t need much more room than a typical wood lathe and be capable of so much more. Kind of like a legacy ornamental lathe on steroids…
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You can set the rotary axis on one edge and use the rest of the machine. My rotary is bolted to maple boards with holes matching the wasteboard holes. I can move mine to anyplace on the wasteboard and attach it.
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Very Nice!!!
It is too bad that you do not sell a “kit”.
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This ‘super simple’ 4th axis looks interesting also-
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I actually looked at that one before I went the way I did. It looks very cool.
Eric, the rotaty is obviously a 4th axis but because xcarve already has 4 motors and you added a 5th, in theory your machine is actually a 5 axis correct?
My controller is set up as a 5 axis machine. I slave 2 of the drivers together for the Y-Axis.
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This forum thread is potentially unhealthy for my wallet.
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Here is the rotary axis rounding a 3" x 3" x 6" hunk of walnut to a cylinder. I used a cheap 3/4" bit which was not quite flat on the bottom (new Freud bit on order) which is why there is a spiral line running down the finished piece. The spiral is not a big deal as I will be carving this piece.
The piece was not quite square when I started and I had to add a few more passes to bring the cylinder to 2.85" diameter when it was finished.
Total milling time was just over 20 minutes. I could have gone faster, but I am still getting used to the settings.
I sped most of the video up to 3x speed.
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Thank you for posting the video, you have built a very impressive machine!
I would be scared to death that the big 3/4 bit was going to hit the mounting plate when it gets to the left end of the cylinder.
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I left an 1/8th inch for buffer 
What are you going to carve with the new rounded block?
That will be the next video
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I created the toolpath with CNC Wrapper. You are right about a lot of air cutting, I could speed it up quite a bit, but I’ll wait until I get a better bit…should be here Monday.
20 min for rounding this… very nice I was guessing stuff like this takes hours !
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Yes but you would have to have someone program it to convert the distance into rotational Axis info.
Yah… like a CAM program maybe?
That skull - that doesn’t look rotary wrapped… what SW did you do it in and how did you send it to the mill?
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