[hotponyshoes]

Hi,
Just found a Anilam Wizard 4 axis Dro for my milling machine.

With X and Y on the Table and Z on the knee what would you use the 4th axis for?

The mill has no quill feed but it looks like the DRO can take an input from a rotary encoder so would it be worth trying to set it up to show rpm of the head / tool?

The mill is a denbigh varispeed so as the speed is infinatly variable I thought it may be a usefull function.

The vertical head also rotates 360 so it may be more usefull to fit the rotary encoder to that to show angles.

What do you lot have your 4th axis fixed to? Apart form quill feeds?

Thanks!

[AirChunk]

Do x and y on the table . Z on the quill and the other one for the knee.

[SMW Precision]

Most or us use the 4th axis for a rotary table. A Phase 2 rotary tables have proven fairly good for this procedure.

[hotponyshoes]

I don't have a quill feed on my baby.
Keeping it free for a rotary table is a good idea.

I will proabally end up with an older, manual rotary table. Is it fairly simple to add an encoder to it?

[AirChunk]

Hmmm, I like the rotary table idea !

[hotponyshoes]

Flicking through the on screen settings on the dro,
it looks like you can set any of the axis inputs to linear or rotary.
When you chose 'rotary' you have to tell it how many 'steps' your encoder makes per revolution.

No, I have a scope that can record the wave from an encoder so maybe if I could mount an encoder to a rotary table using something like a rubber wheel that will turn the shaft with the table..
I could rotate the table a full 360 and count the steps then give this info to my dro.
If it was simple enough to set up I could have my 4th axis showing as a 'degrees' on the rotary..
I am trying to find a manual for the dro at the moment.. :-)