{"id":1998,"date":"2011-12-31T10:51:52","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T16:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thmsblog.com\/?p=1998"},"modified":"2011-12-31T12:55:26","modified_gmt":"2011-12-31T18:55:26","slug":"4th-axis-on-my-taig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.thehobbyistmachineshop.com\/?p=1998","title":{"rendered":"4th Axis on My Taig"},"content":{"rendered":"

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholderI did a lot of research on how to implement a forth axis on my Taig CNC mill. I had some wild ideas not to be discussed here <grin> but that is the enjoyment of thinking outside the box. In this case the box is a pretty good one so I finally dropped back into the conventional world.<\/p>\n

The screw drive of the standard rotary table has a lot of benefits in this\u00a0 4th<\/sup> axis application. There are a few limitations in the area of backlash (controllable) and rapid speed (not really necessary.)<\/p>\n

With small mills like the Taig and the Sherline, weight (mass) is a required parameter to consider. Most rotary tables are designed to have a lot of weight as part of their design. It adds stability for normal machining. However for miniature CNC machining, it is undesirable to abuse your drive system with a lot inertial mass to start, stop and reverse perhaps up to a hundred times a minute.<\/p>\n

The winner in my selection is the Sherline 3700-CNC rotary table with motor mount<\/a>. At $320 it is not the least expensive of my 4th<\/sup> axis schemes but I think it is the best in this case.<\/p>\n

First point is the weight. At 8 pounds it is heavy enough and when you look at it, you see it carries no extra weight in a heavy case or mounting system flanges.<\/p>\n

Second point is it is specifically designed for CNC operation internally (Sherline says in the worm housing) as well as the included #23 motor mount and coupling.<\/p>\n

Third big point with me is the drive is 72\/1 turns. Some rotary tables are 40\/1 (yuk!). At 72 turns and 1\/4 stepping, each step is 0.00625 degree. (Sherline uses 1\/2 stepping.) A 90\/1 would have been nice but I didn\u2019t find small tables with that ratio. There probably wouldn\u2019t be much \u201cmeat\u201d in the gear mesh on 4\u201d tables.<\/p>\n

Forth point is it is a 4 inch table which fits well with the intended use in mills of the micro variety.<\/p>\n

I intend to make my own mounting plates and accessories. Of course this adds weight as does the stepper motor. I am considering using the Taig tailstock (when needed) I as see more options using it.<\/p>\n

Of course I will be posting everything here as my 4th<\/sup> axis project progresses. Right now the table and a 130 oz\/in stepper motor are on order. I have the material on hand to make the base. 2012 looks like a good year!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I did a lot of research on how to implement a forth axis on my Taig CNC mill. I had some wild ideas not to be discussed here <grin> but that is the enjoyment of thinking outside the box. In this case the box is a pretty good one so I finally dropped back into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77778,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[138,124,140],"class_list":["post-1998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cadcamcnc","tag-cnc","tag-sherline","tag-taig"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.thehobbyistmachineshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.thehobbyistmachineshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.thehobbyistmachineshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thehobbyistmachineshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/77778"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thehobbyistmachineshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thehobbyistmachineshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.thehobbyistmachineshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thehobbyistmachineshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.thehobbyistmachineshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}