The Vortex-oko (or Shapeortex?)

Add-ons & Modifications šŸŒ€ Rotary Axis
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Hey everyone! Shapeoko guy here. I posted this on the other forum, and I thought Iā€™d post it here as it may be of interest to someone:
Iā€™ve been sitting on this post for a while, but Iā€™m pretty excited about it. I know there have been others that have done a rotary axis, and I have always wanted to try it. I finally realized that, with three kids (not counting the SO3), I have no free time. My hopes of DIYing a 4th axis arenā€™t going to happen. I went with an ā€œoff-the-shelfā€ version, and I couldnā€™t be happier with the outcome.
I wanted to share my experience with connecting a Vortex Rotary Axis from Sienci Labs to my trusty Shapeoko Pro. I really didnā€™t know what it would take to get it going, but I figured it was made for a grbl based machine/controller so it should work, right?
First, a look at the first attempt at a rotary carve:

After getting the Vortex, I was impressed by the simplicity of it all. Itā€™s really just the chuck, tailstock, and a custom extrusion to mount it to. The part that really impressed me were the integrated, 3D printed parts that make homing and probing seamlessā€¦more on that later. I was also impressed with the online assembly and getting started documents from Sienci .
Itā€™s really solid and fairly easy to remove and put back in place when going from Rotary to Y.
I fully expected some challenges with the main three being: wiring, aligning it to my X axis, and keeping the Y in place.

The vortex comes with a switch that allows switching from Y to A for rotary jobs, but it simply disconnects the Y motors and connects the rotary (A) motor to the controller. This should only be switched when power is off, by the way. I knew that would not be enough on the Shapeoko Pro (or 3 or 4 or probably HDM and 5) because of the belts. This just leaves the Y free to move. I thought about shorting the Y coils when the switch is flipped to A, but that holding resistance is too weak to do much. I next toyed with using multiple relays to connect the Y motors to a separate controller that would simply put the Y steppers into a hold state. I finally settled on just clamping the thing in place, guessing that I was overthinking the whole thing (I tend to do that sometimes)ā€¦more on this later.

My next mission was to handle the wiringā€¦ughā€¦the variety of connectors. Luckily, I teach electronics, so I had some connectors and tools on hand. After an Amazon and a DigiKey order I was able to make the necessary adapters.

After I got these adapters made, I thought Iā€™d just mount the thing, clamp the Y and go. But, how do I mount the thing? Well, gSender has a built-in gcode generator for mounting the Vortex (They use Ā¼-20 threaded inserts). Thereā€™s a problem though, because I donā€™t have a Longmillā€¦I have a beast of a machine called the Shapeoko Pro. Not to worry, I used their open source files to generate gcode for the mounting holes that would fit on the MDF slats on the Pro. I generated some counterbores and tapered bores to match the taper of the threaded inserts. I also set my Y-Zero in Fusion to be on the centerline between the two left holes. That way, I could decide where the Vortex fit the best, zero Y there, and hit the slats exactly as planned. gSender also generates gcode for hole pairs, but Iā€™m comfortable with my Fusion workflow so I went with that.

Greatā€¦easy. Now I just have to clamp it and go! I tried every which way to clamp the Y-axis on the SOPro, and I could not find a consistent method that prevented the Y from moving. After way too long, I finally came up with little 3D printed linear rail clamps. They clamp on the Y-rails in front and back of each Y-plate. I made a split clamp design, so I donā€™t have to slide them on from the front and rear of the machine. Thatā€™d be obnoxious on an XXL. Hereā€™s what those look like:

Once that problem was solved, I was ready to go.

The procedure is pretty easy:

  1. Home the Shapeoko normally.
  2. Use gSender to set ā€œY-alignmentā€ā€¦this basically ensures that your X-axis is centered on the Vortex. I chucked up (doesnā€™t sound right) an aluminum tube to do this because the Vortex chuck is too tall to run the probe routine on the chuck. Iā€™ll probably write a macro to do this without the tube eventually.
  3. Once aligned, I installed and tightened the clamps (while the Y is still powered).
  4. Power down, flip switch, power up.
  5. Set rotary mode in gSender (this adjusts the steps/mm for rotation)
  6. Home machine againā€¦itā€™s fun to see the Rotary axis home!
  7. Set X-zero, as normal, by eye.
  8. Set Z-zero using the built-in probe routine, probing the chuck. This sets Z-zero in the center of the stock which makes sense for rotary jobs.
  9. Run the job!

I downloaded a gnome stl by Body3D on Printables . I used V-carve Pro (v 9.5) and a custom post processor to generate the gCode. I used a flat ā…›ā€ tool for the roughing, and a tapered ball (0.5mm tip) for the finish. I rarely do 3D reliefs, so I was impressed with the results.

Sorry for the long post! This was a fun project to get working, and itā€™s so cool when things just work! Not sure of my next rotary project, though a custom tap handle sounds like an obvious one.
Let me know if you have any questions. As always, I can share any STLs, files or post processors if youā€™re interested.

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TLDR: Made my Shapeoko spin.

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@NeilFerreri Damn, I like that! Thanks much for the detailed description of how you set up the Vortex on your Shapeoko, Neil. It makes me realize how spoiled I am using the Vortex on a LM.

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Trust me, the detail was to help those that do the same. The Vortex, with gSender, is a much simpler drop in solution than rolling your own. Even with all the wiring adapters, the trickiest part for me was the clamping. It seems so simple now, but I tried about 19 different non-solutions.
Nextā€¦ Rotary dust collection.

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@NeilFerreri Iā€™ll be watching closely for your dust collection solution. My attempts so far have been dismal failures. Standing around with the shop vac hose is effective, but not a long term solution. :grinning:

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@NeilFerreri Neil: Iā€™ve moved this to the rotary axis category so that it stands out from the general discussions.

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@NeilFerreri Glad to see someone else who has modified a ShapeOKO like this - I did the ā€˜hand rolledā€™ version about 18m ago, long before the Vortex was released, but anyway ended up with something very similar (if a little less beautifully made). I wanted all axes ā€˜liveā€™, XYYZ and A, so ended up changing out the ShapeOKO controller board for a grblHAL/Phil Barrett/Beefier stepper drivers, and by doing this both Y motors hold the gantry still and no locking manually is needed - never seen a Y movement, but I have read that the purist would lock them and not rely on the dual steppers holding them.
For rotary work I use your Vectric modded Post Processor, and I modded a Fusion PP too so I have 4 axis available there too (not a true independent 4-axis, as my Fusion licence doesnā€™t support this).
My rotary axis is set to the back of my 3XL, and I have mounted it direct to the bed rather than up on the MDF slats (I replaced my bed with an Aluminium tool plate to get better rigidity), and I rarely work on non-rotary parts larger than will fit on the front 2/3 of the machine.

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Hey @AndyCXL,
Iā€™m curious about that Fusion post processor. Are you just designing as XYZ unwrapped cylinder or can you do a true rotary model?

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It is a mostly true rotary, but Fusion licensing impacts what can be done in practice. I have used the ā€˜wrap toolpathā€™ in various Fusion toolpaths and I get XYZ and A control, but it isnā€™t really flexible use of the axes. I can send what I have if your insight, and probably higher coding ability, could make better sense of it?
It is reliable and usable, Fusion issues aside. I admit that out of familiarity on simple jobs I still tend to output STLs to VCarve and use your PP from there. I donā€™t have to lock the Y axes as on my setup they are always live. The only issue is that my stepper drivers back off hold current to 50% ish after some milli-seconds and I havenā€™t found a way to stop it.

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youā€™re using GrblHAL? I think itā€™s just your $1 setting. Set it to 255

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It is GrblHal on Teensy 4.1 and a Phil Barrett BOB, with DM3230 driver modules.
My recollection is that $1 is set to 255, but I can easily check when back at home this evening. My homework on the DM3230 is that it is their own behaviour that causes the holding current step-back, working on the described basis that holding torque with no movement is the strongest hold a stepper motor gives, and so backing it off to 50% is no real compromise in return for the energy/heat saving.
Itā€™s never presented an issue, other than in my thinking about it. I would prefer the option to be in control, but what I have learned to date suggests that wonā€™t be possible.

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Aah. Didnā€™t think about the stepper causing that.

If love to see how you use Fusionā€¦I donā€™t have the machining addon either.

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Iā€™ll PM some files to you when I get a moment, so you can see the sorts of things Iā€™ve done, plus the PP Iā€™ve hacked together

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