On Sun, 6 Dec 2020 at 05:43, John Dammeyer <jo...@autoartisans.com> wrote:
> What I was wondering is if LinuxCNC, with a suitable Servo Motor or high res > encoder on the spindle can treat it like a 4th axis on a mill. Yes, absolutely. Though it isn't easy to make it very stiff. It is exactly the same as setting up spindle orientation on a mill. http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?SpindleOrient Here is an example in an Hardinge lathe which is set up with a servo motor as the spindle motor. https://youtu.be/MasjCZc2opw I believe that it generally runs with a velocity pID for normal running and has been switched to a position PID in the video. I believe that the big mill-turn machining centres tend to engage an indexing gear rather than use the spindle motor for indexing in order to achieve the required stiffness. There is a video here showing a high-torque drive swinging in to engage with a gear on the spindle. https://galaxie.wittenstein.de/en-en/dmt/ One option that I have discussed with the maker of the video above is using a vehicle air-conditioning clutch to engage an indexing drive. They have quite a convenient mechanical arrangement for attachment to the back of a lathe spindle. -- atp "A motorcycle is a bicycle with a pandemonium attachment and is designed for the especial use of mechanical geniuses, daredevils and lunatics." — George Fitch, Atlanta Constitution Newspaper, 1912 _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
