Hi Alex, good to see that you are busy. A bit confused because I haven't seen Giarc's build (if you have a link to it that would help), so here's a dumb starter question from me - are you building a lathe, a rotary axis or both? Geoff
@Giarc's post is here; LEAD Lathe I'm adding a rotary axis - so not a lathe. The sad part is that I'm using Fusion 360 to design the fittings I need to modify the workbee, but Autodesk have removed 4th axis facilities for hobby users. Alex.
Ok, yes I noticed the Fusion changes, hopefully they aren't planning any others. The Wrapped Rotary Job Type in Vcarve should enable you to do the CAM, but I guess with limited design features? Have you purchased a Rotary system similar to Giarc? Geoff
I've bought from here UK's First Online Metal Supplier - Aluminium Warehouse I'm happy with them. Geoff
Yes, I've bought V slot from Ooznest, and T slot here T Tracks | Next Day Delivery which is pricey but ok for small quantities, Geoff
Something I'd not noticed before - cutting my fourth plate, penultimate pass on the profile cut (ie last operation) and the bit came out of the collet - ie lowered itself. The Duet firmware doesn't allow you to reset Z in mid job! Had to reset and run the whole toolpath again! Alex.
Hi there Alex, I'm guessing you are located in the UK from the chatter. Just curious if you had some success with your Y End Plates. I'm tweaking a LEAD design, and using some WorkBee components to improve motor mounting and structure. We too are raising the overall structure onto 20x80 extrusions to gain some more Z. Would be great to learn how things went! Muchas!
Plates are cut, but the rotary axis has been delayed by domestic responsibilities. If you are just raising the Z axis I can see no reason why those plates wouldn't work for you - but I have no plans to significantly increase the Z travel - when my machine is in use as a 3 axis mill I will be building the spoilboard up close to the original height - there would be far too much flex/twist in the X C-beam if the Z is extended too far. Alex.
Hi Alex, thanks for your reply. Yes, our objective with the height is that we have to drill some holes onto material ~75mm, so need the height, but for other machining operations will have an area of the build area that is set for machining, with the spindle closer to the X axis... A question for you though... I hear a lot of people talking about the "flex" and "twist" of the X-Axis beam, but it seems all anecdotal... I'm wondering if you know of or have a more quantitative way of assessing this? It's been one of the open questions we have had on our adaptation of the LEAD system. We are shrinking it somewhat because it has to be portable for us, and fit through a doorway! But finding a way to assess the deflection of the X-axis would be so helpful! Obviously it's a moment around the track based on the force applied at the cutting bit, so the farther the bit/spindle is away from the beam, the worse it gets, but we'd like to be able to calculate this so we can make a solid "engineering" choice. Much thanks for any thoughts, insights, or leads you might have on this. And, those plates look perfect for the "lowered" build-surface! Cheerio!
I'm planning to do some measurements of that (I want to compare objective measurements with someone who has strengthened their X axis) in the meantime there is this resource :- Excel Sheet to calculate Deflection Alex.