[hrhoward]

Hello, first post here so I hope I have it in the right forum.

I have a rotary table (six feet in diameter, 10K capacity) with a GE Fanuc A/C servo motor (model 30/200, 129V, 3 ph, 8 poles, 2000 rpm, pulse coder). It currently does not have any controls / drives. What I am hoping to do with it is make it so that one can control the position of the table relative to angle, speed, and so forth and so on.

Any advice would be gratly appreciated.

Thank You
H. Howard

[Al_The_Man]

You failed to mention if the controller is Fanuc? if so what model?
Are you wanting to integrate it into the controller or use independantly? or to tie in with another make of system?
I just integrated a 36" table with a Fanuc 11, this was not a Fanuc motor and drive, however. I used a stand-alone Galil controller and Maple systems display.
Al.

[Dan Fritz]

Al_The_Man is right. There is a huge difference between a 4th axis that is fully integrated with the CNC and a simple indexer that can rotate on command. An integrated 4th axis would let you interpolate a move between X and the 4th axis, Y and the 4th axis or Z and the 4th axis. A simple indexer would only let you rotate to a position with a simple command.

There are lots of indexer controls out there that will let you use MACRO-B statements in your control to index (or feed) to any angle on the rotary table. These controls are easy to integrate into a normal 3-axis control. You can also use M-codes to control the rotary axis, but that makes it more difficult to control the 4th axis feedrate.

[asuratman]

Hi Al The Man,
I have CNC milling Machine Roku Roku MiniMac Vas with Fanuc 10M, what should I do if I want to add 4th axis rotary 10" table fully integrated? This machine has no ATC. Thaks for your attention. Asuratman.

[Al_The_Man]

I have CNC milling Machine Roku Roku MiniMac Vas with Fanuc 10M, what should I do if I want to add 4th axis rotary 10" table fully integrated?

Probabally be independantly wealthy
This is most likely the most costly way to go, as not only do you require the neccesary hardware, i.e. Fanuc servo and amplifier, you will need a Fanuc trained integrator to make modifications to the system and possibly PMC etc.
The system parameters will have to be modified to record the integration.
The system I did was not a full integration (almost) but changes to the PMC (ladder) were necessary to allow the control by M code. Which called up pre-set positions in the 4th axis (non-fanuc) controller.
Al.

[hrhoward]

Ok, guess I didn't give all the info needed. All I want to table to do is index on command. Would that be considered a single axis? The table is not part of any machine so there are no existing controls to tie into.

H. Howard

[Al_The_Man]

Ok, guess I didn't give all the info needed. All I want to table to do is index on command. Would that be considered a single axis? The table is not part of any machine so there are no existing controls to tie into.

H. Howard

I assume by this that this is a stand alone table that you wish to index to position by operator input position or index by previously entered positions?
This sounds like all that is needed is a stand alone system, which can be implemented with the likes of a single axis Galil 1501 and a operator display/keypad, like Maple Systems unit.
The only problem is that Fanuc AC servo's are hard to integrate into third party drives etc (DC would have been easy). You could look for a compatible size motor in DC or DC brushless.
Al.

[harshgangrade]

Model 30 motor you will not be able to integrate with non FANUC control so go for a new motor

[phyzzle]

We are ordering a Sharp SV-2412 VMC for a University Physics shop, got the 4th axis pre-wire, but our budget would not let us get the table yet, so I am looking around for what is out there that will work with this machine, something at the entry-level end, like the Haas HRT-160, so I can go scrape up some more funds. The SV-2412 order has the optional Fanuc 0i-MC controller, 4th axis enabled, but we held off on getting a servo amp since that may be rotary-table-dependent. Any wisdom on what 3rd party drives are the best value, including all of those annoying intermediate parts that will let it talk to the 0i-MC? Do the Haas servo rotary tables work with Fanucs?