Guys,
I have been away for several years.
My wife almost died from covid pneumonia over 3 years ago.
She still needs my care but she is getting stronger.
We made it to out 50th wedding anniversary this summer. Praise God.
So I am getting back to the CNC router with Dynomotion electronics.
Vectric VCarve Pro 11.5.
Vectric has some compelling videos about wrapping the rotary toolpath around the Y axis.
I have purchased a new headstock and tailstock from a mini lathe. Picture attached.
Is it possible to use the existing Y axis as the rotary 4th axis and wrap the toolpath?
I was planning to connect the stepper motor cable to the Y axis drive output.
Does this require a new program to be downloaded the the controller or does the wrapping post processor make the calculations using the existing program?
If a program has to switch and flashed every time this would be tedious between rotary and normal linear configurations.
I am willing to invest in an additional driver board for this 4th axis if it would be simpler.
I would really appreciate some guidance in accomplishing this.
I need to attend to my wife 24/7 so this activity would keep me busy at home.
The headstock has a 72 tooth large gear belt driven by a small 18 tooth gear on the stepper motor shaft.
The stepper motor steps per revolution and gear ratio parameters need to be used as well.
Are these parameters input to a rotary post processor?
If someone has already done this I would appreciate a comprehensive procedure or instructions.
I have questions regarding how the controller knows or calculates the angular steps.
Please advise.
I appreciate the effort in advance.
Best regards,
Ted Sears