Is it possible to re-assign the axes (X,Y,Z) on a Lead 1010 with black box controller? I want to build a custom mount that would rotate the router 90 degs clockwise on the Y axis. This would enable me to do some engraving on a vertical surface of a work piece that has an "L" profile, similar to angle iron. One of the legs of my "L" profile work piece is 7" and the other, which is the face I want to engrave, is 3". There's no way to get the 3" leg oriented face up, such that I can engrave it without making the custom mount for the router. However, I can easily put the 7" leg down on the spoil board, and this puts the 3" leg in a vertical orientation. Thus the need to build a custom mount that would rotate the router 90 degs clockwise on the Y axis. If I made the mount, I would then need to re-assign the axes. If I'm correct, I would need to flip the Z and X-axis and the Y-axis would remain unchanged.
no need to reassign axes, just modify the Gcode with some clever search'n'replace and also limiting what is in the Gcode, IE, linear moves (G1 and G0) only, no G2/G3 arcs with the router mounted so the bit is facing the Y- direction, Z becomes Y and Y becomes Z. However, if you search for Z and repalce it with Y, you cannot nwo tell the difference between the new Y and old Y lines, so you have to do an intermediate replace first. like this. replace all Z with D replace all Y with Z replace all D with Y after doing this I would carefully review the code in a simulator like NC Viewer // GCode Viewer and Machine Simulator or bCNC, checking clearance at every move. Here is an example file, that would engrave a rectangle flat on the bed, 1mm deep Code: G21 G90 G46 G17 G0 Z15 G0 X0 Y0 G0 X10 Y10 G1 Z-1 F500 G1 X30 F1000 Y20 X10 Y10 G0 Z15 G0 X0 Y0 M30 and here is is with Y and Z swapped so it cuts a vertical rectangle regarding -Y as -Z direction Code: G21 G90 G46 G17 G0 Y15 G0 X0 Z0 G0 X10 Z10 G1 Y-1 F500 G1 X30 F1000 Z20 X10 Z10 G0 Y15 G0 X0 Z0 M30
oh, another thing you could do is cut a slot in your bed so the 7" part can stick down below the bed. you will have to move the machien off the table and put soem temporary legs on it so there is room below the bed. aaarg, I know I saw a video from Legacy CNC that showed them cuttting a hole in the bed and fitting a vice under the bed so that drawer sides could be worke don in a vertical orientation, cannot find it now, they must have taken it down since the new machines have a vertical work area at the end of the bed.
Hi David, Great info! I thought about slotting the bed but given that part of the frame of the router spans under the bed, this idea seems a bit more involved than swapping axes. Not only that but my "L" shaped piece is approximately 12 feet long. So, bridging framework around the work piece in the X-Y plane would be very difficult. Not only am I having to do some kind of axis swap I'm also having to do 5 setups to accommodate all 12 feet of my piece. I plan to run multiple "L" shaped pieces with some lengthy code such that swapping axes in the code will be time consuming. I could envision having to do the code swap up to 20 times. Is there a way to swap the axes in the controller app on my pc vs swapping them in the code? Or...Can I just swap the wires at the controller?
ah, the length of the part woudl have been useful information up front (-: no way to swap in the app swapping wires, yes, but.... so, in the Blackbox 4X there are a set of jumpers. you will have to change them so that you are mirroring Z onto Y2. docs:blackbox-4x:jumper-slaveaxis [OpenBuilds Documentation] then both Y motors will be driven by Z signals. Not available in the X32 except via firmware rebuild. You will also have to change limit switches and homing directions etc etc etc to retain obedience to the right hand axis rule.
Yeah...sorry I should have said 12 feet in my original post. My long leg is not actually 7", it's 6.812". I was just rounding up. What do you think about getting the High Z Mod and installing that. Then I'd need to figure out how to fixture my part but there'd be no need to swap axes. I'm doing an engraving operation and only need to go about 1/2" max into my work piece. I think it could work. What do you think?
some years ago when I first built my machine I used a Dremel as the spindle. I got one of these right angle heads with the aim to do exactly what you are doing, yet with the spindle/Dremel still upright. https://www.dremel.com/imagestorage/en-us/575-28548-png-16-9-244535_w_1600_h_800.png I never got around to doing that particular project but that is why changing the Gcode, is, to me, the simplest approach. I have already thought it through. Being a programmer I would write a script to do it for me if I had several files to process. If you think you can use a script I can do one in PHP. you woudl have to install PHP on your computer.\ the high-Z mod would be ideal for what you need. fixturing is easy, it is called "bits of wood" (-:
