Mill Turning 4th Axis on Hobby CNC Machines

I’ve been watching Steve Simpson’s (simpson36) phenomenal work for quite a while now.  His specialty is making custom 4th axis units that enable not just normal 4th axis machining (continuous or indexed), but also Mill Turn-style functionality.  And, all this is possible on hobby-class machines running Mach3!

Here are a few of his videos:

Mill turning on a hobby cnc mini-mill…

Being able to lock the axis opens up some possibilities, like slotting keyways. I’ve been thinking about this possibility for a while, though not in conjunction with a 4th axis…

 Love the two speed belt drive too!

Custom PLC speed controller makes it slick with Mach3.  Serious magic here…

Here is Steve’s recent conversion of his mill to linear rails…

Using a fourth axis to sharpen tools…

4 Comments

• 
  Jim 2012/03/12 at 12:53 pm

  Steve’s 4th axis work is awesome. I’m about to start work on a similar contraption. It’ll be a good excuse to use the turning section of G-Wiz. Would love to see you work on a project like this Bob…..

  Reply
• 
  SiteOwner 2012/03/12 at 7:12 pm

  Jim, Steve has shown the way for how I’d like to build my 4th axis. It’s a ways down my priority list (still finishing the mill enclosure and then I want to do a belt drive), but I did start a page to keep some notes:

  http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCMillCNC4thAxis.htm

  I have to do some more thinking about whether the harmonic drive is really needed or whether a simple toothed belt setup like Steve’s will suffice.

  I suspect having such a beast around will also push me to add capabilities to GW Editor to facilitate Mill Turn work.

  Best,

  BW

  Reply
• 
  Joshua 2012/03/13 at 7:17 pm

  I’m suprised I haven’t come across these videos before, really well made. Using an arduino to make his own custom PID speed controller is a neat idea. Its amazing the stuff you have to do though in order to get around some of Mach 3′s limitations.

  Reply
• CNC 4th Axis Basics: How They Work - CNCCookbook CNC Blog CNCCookbook CNC Blog 2013/04/13 at 2:56 pm

  [...] See my write up on this neat combination 4th Axis and Mill-Turning gizmo… [...]

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