4th Axis Build

Here it is on the mill. A local seller had a tailstock on Craigslist that I purchased for the tailstock side. It's taller than I could make mine so I will be making a riser to align the two.

image missing http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk138/dlusby22/4th%20Axis/6E30B2E4-ABB6-4034-AE50-9424192697E4.jpg


I am working to setup a youtube account so I can upload videos to share. Right now I'm using Fusion360 for my CAD/CAM. They don't support continuous machining on 4th and 5th axis so I will have to settle for indexing for now. Hopefully they will have it released soon and in the meantime I'm working on my 5th axis which will be a trunnion style axis.

Have you seen www.scorchworks.com/ it looks like a pretty neat way to engrave on a cylinder.

JT

Very Nice Build , theirs no stopping you now

I assume that the spindle nose thread is matched to the lathe. You might find that an A1 or Camlock nose would work better for 4th-axis work where the forces can act in any direction.

That said, the dividing head I converted for my 4th-axis has a Myford spinde threaded nose, and so far that hasn't come loose at an inopportune time.

This is an awesome build! I am wanting to do the same thing and have been shipping harmonic drives. I've been trying to decipher the connections and this thread was very illuminating, thank you very much for shading your project!

The united I've been looking at are different, they appear to be a housed unit with a cross t roller bearing. Was hoping to use it as one side of the bearing sports and a roller bearing on the other side. Any insights as to why you used the type of harmonic drive you used?

Also any feedback of how everything is working or notes on things you would do differently?

Thanks in advance!

Chris

Hi Chris,
I used this type of harmonic drive as there was one on eBay at the time at a decent price. I've bought others recently to use for a 5th axis which is different and same reason as it was available at decent price. It has worked very well and I've been happy with the speed and holding power. I only have CAM ability for running 3+1 so no 4th axis continuous machining. I hope to upgrade software soon and be able to get more use out of it.

One thing I would have considered changing would be not using a threaded spindle however it hasn't unscrewed as of yet. It was mere convenience to go this route as one of my lathes has the same spindle nose. I also still need to take this to my grinder and grind the collet taper on the inside of the nose so I can use ER40 collets. I will probably do that his winter.

Let me know if you have any other questions I can help with.

Dale