My first rotary axis was built using a harmonic drive gear box, mounted directly on a Brushed DC motor (http://www.franksworkshop.com.au/CNC/4thAxis/4thAxis.htm#assembly). The gearbox is 100:1. I've only done light machining so far, but I think it should be strong enough for my gantry mill. It is fast, and has no backlash.
I am looking at building another rotary axis for my mill drill, but I'm not sure what kind of holding torques are required for big cutters, cutting hard materials. I've been looking on ebay for bigger harmonic gear boxes, but I can only find the component sets - these don't have any load bearing bearings. I have an 8" rotary table, but I'd never use that for CNC - the backlash is terrible. When I use it on my mill drill, I have to lock it in place before cutting (and remember to unlock it before moving it). To use it for CNC, I'd need to ensure it only turned in one direction, and I could lock it in position before machining. Hopefully your thread will throw up some ideas. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Register Now for Creativity and Technology (CaT), June 3rd, NYC. CaT is a gathering of tech-side developers & brand creativity professionals. Meet the minds behind Google Creative Lab, Visual Complexity, Processing, & iPhoneDevCamp asthey present alongside digital heavyweights like Barbarian Group, R/GA, & Big Spaceship. http://www.creativitycat.com _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
