rotary attachment

[Act1woodcrafters]

This is what I heard as far as price. Months back it was leaked to me around $1150.00. But that was a concept with a spindle. Now I understand the device will not include a spindle and you will have to provide a lathe, costing about $600.00 for the 4th axis. It appears the router mount is a problem in beta. I'm wondering how are they going to index the lathe. The issue about the 4th axis jack still comes up. I understand the controller is up and ready on that. Software will be the other link in that chain and that's workable. Honestly I would like to see Tim work all the bugs out before buying one.

[4DThinker]

The T-Slot beds have vertical slots on the sides which could be used to clamp/index the side mounted lathe to. Points used would have to straddle the gantry movement, so that may not be ideal depending on the length of the lathe and whether it has it's own mounting points that could be used.

I'm currently building an indexing mount for my Shark. It will clamp into the t-slot top and allow conventional 3-axis Vcarving and taper cutting on wood stock. Holes in the indexing plate allow cutting on 2, 3, 4, 6, or 8 sides of any block mounted to it that will fit under your router. Length of the block can obviously be up to the 24"+ limits of the Shark, but also up to 34" or so if mounted diagonally corner to corner.

I had a friend over inspecting my Shark, and he suggested a 4th axis stepper motor could be easily mounted (with some minor re-engineering) to my indexing rig to turn it into a simple 4th axis true rotary rig. Direct drive or offset using a belt.

The Shark control panel I'm guessing will need to be updated to activate and use the 4th axis jack on the controller. I notice in the CTL+E 787 panel there are no settings for a 4th axis step value.

[Shipfitter]

Mr. Owens,
Don't you think that you might owe it to the people who have purchased your product to keep everyone informed about the release date of the Rotary Axis tool. Some people including myself are waiting patiently for a good tidbit. I've had my plus now for a year sitting in a classroom, and been hearing the same reteric since that time. That is one of the only reasons I purchased the Shark because of the news that I was hearing.
I, being a teacher in a school have had the administrators waiting for this to come out to outfit a classroom along with a few more Sharks. Now, how's about it. Please don't keep us dangling.

[Jim N]

Well, here I am again, 1 year later (see 1st post)
what is the status of the rotary attachment??
Jim

[milo30]

I don't think that there are any changes since your post. I haven't seen anything about it in a long time

[Tim Owens]

The Rotary Axis was put on hold for the completion of Shark Control Panel 2.0 (SCP2) and the Virtual Zero system. It is a requirement to have the SPC2 because the Rotary or 4th axis will only work on the SPC2 system. For the 4th axis to work it requires us to move the Zero point (in the case of the 4th axis) to the middle of the material (center) and have an offset. After the release of the SPC2 will then finish the changes and testing of the 4th axis. Much of the code is already written and we just need to finish the testing of it and have a package put together for lathe retrofits.

[Jim N]

Thanks for the update
Jim

[Jim N]

Sooooooo- the next question is when can we hope to see this.
Also, what will we need (hard & software) & what is this
going to cost?
Jim

[zehrah]

Hello All:
Just wondering what the status of the 4th axis is. Haven't heard a thing since the October of 2013.
Zehrah

[Tim Owens]

For those interested in the 4th axis systems.
We have been working hard on delivering a couple of different models for the sharks.
We created a table top version that will sit on the table and carve about 2" dia max pieces.
We also have an upgrade kit for a mini lathe.
I will have more information including costs by the end of the month.
I will update via the forum and we will email everyone on our lists (if you have bought though us or have registered a product with us).

Thanks

Tim