Hey everyone. We have an update on the Vortex Rotary Axis and closed-loop stepper motor!
For more details, check out our blog:
Hey. Fairly new here, but excited to get my new altmill and vortex set up soon. Thanks for the update. One thing I noticed was that you mentioned the y-axis motors are locked when using the a-axis. I thought the whole point of 4-axis control was that we’d be able to use the y-axis as well during rotary cutting, no?
The older control boards could only control 3 axis. So you had to switch off the y to use the a axis.
With the SLB and SLB-ex we can control all 4 axis independently and should be able to do proper 4 axis milling.
(Assuming I understand things correctly - I am not positive if GSender is ready for 4 axis yet)
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@CharlieMike Yes, I know the original longboard was limited to3-axis only.
In the update they say the following, which implies that, even with the new updated board, the y-axis will still remain locked preventing us from using y-axis and a-axis simultaneously to allow us to do more complicated rotary carving
There are several benefits of this new arrangement:
- No more need to toggle between Y-axis control and A-axis control.
- The Y-axis motors stay ‘locked’ during use of the A-axis, preventing any possible drift while cutting rotary axis projects.
Am I missing something?
A few bullet points below the ones you quoted:
- Capability of full simultaneous 4-axis CNC programs, allowing for completely new types of geometries to be machined in one setup.
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I think the wording is confusing in how it’s written @ovendenk. Basically we’re trying to write that since you now have full 4-axis control it means that you can be cutting in A and hold the Y-axis steady while doing that. Previously since you could only do 3-axis control with the old board, or if you were still using the rotary switch on the SLB, then the Y-axes were relying on friction in the lead screws to stay in place while only the X, Z, and A axes were being controlled.
Does that help clarify it? Let me know if you can think of a different way to word it maybe I can update the article
Chris
Looking for clarification there, Chris. Does that mean the Y-axis is just driven with
holding current while A-axis is running a toolpath?
Or does that mean that the Y-axis is available for normal toolpath uses as well as A? (I can’t imagine this scenario myself, with my little knowledge of rotary.)
It’s the second
The Y-axis and A-axis are both available for normal use when you’re set up with full 4-axis control. But in the case that you only want to make toolpaths that use 3 at a time, then the Y-axis is driven using the holding current from the Y-axis drivers on the SLB - since remember in this setup there is no rotary switch anymore so the Y and A axes are being driven independently from each other
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