4th axis rotary attatchment

[ruhnau]

Just wondering if anyone has tried this for a rotary 4th axis. It is a standard wood lathe pushed up against the shark, with the head stock reversed on the lathe bed. the lathe runs independently of the shark.

[Bob]

Kurt,
This looks like fun!
It looks like you may have solved your chess piece making process too.
Bob

[rungemach]

That looks like the wood lathe that was originally supposed to be a part of the shark 4th axis system, but never materialized as a product.
I bought one of these lathes when Tim suggested we buy them from Rockler "while on sale", as the 4th axis would use it. When that was delayed year after year, I mounted my own stepper motor to it.

Lathe head with stepper motor

4th axis gearing using lathe head

[ruhnau]

Does your setup work as the forth axis the same as Next wave is selling. Does it plug into the port on the back of the control box and do you have the controller card necessary to run it?

[rungemach]

I use Mach3 on my shark and replaced my control box, so my system is not standard.

However, if you use a standard shark stepper motor, I would imagine it should plug in to either a regular axis port or the 4th axis port if you have one. If you used the 4th axis port, I would also suspect that you would have to pay for a software feature to get it to work. If you went that route it would be good to know the gear ratio of the NWA unit to be able to size your timing belt pulleys to get that same ratio of motor steps per degree of axis rotation. (so it would work like the factory unit does).

If you use it as a 4th axis, and have software that can generate the correct g-code, you can use it as a true 4th axis.

bob