I have a 4th axis rotary and I want to mount it along the Y-axis on my 4x4 Shapeoko 5. In order to protect the headstock from having an unfortunate collision with the cutter or spindle, I plan to mount the headstock outside of the machinable area using the mounting screws on the front of the machine.
Making the track for the tailstock to run along seems straightforward - aluminum extrusions. It also seems pretty straightforward to attach the aluminum extrusions to the bed - just make some extra holes and use some elbows.
Where I’m stick is attaching extrusions to use as supports for the headstock. I’ve come up with two ideas.
Somehow use the existing holes to affix aluminum extrusions to the front of the machine. I have no idea what this looks like.
Just drill holes exactly where I want them and use the same technique as for the bed - 90 degree elbows.
Am I missing something? Is there a better option? Is there somewhere I should go to educate myself?
I have a t-track bed with well cut mdf inserts that the whole contraption fits into that I remove when using. I’m going ot assume you have a similar design. One thing I would look into for feasibility is remove most of a slot. It puts it down in a repeatable location meaning i can add location specific information placed in the post processor and using work offsets, i don’t have to rezero it again.
I have a piece of 1/8" or so aluminum plate that I attached to the extrusion, I then attached the headstock to that piece of aluminum. For alignment, a piece of machined metal (or even wooden dowel could work if you get a truly straight one), clamp it in the jaws and align the headstock with the tailstock, and tighten the headstock down. I use clamps to hold down the whole assembly when using, and also tuck the wires inside that gap to keep them from being tripped on.
If you alloted slot is oversized for the slot allowance along the Y Axis you could use something like a piece of 1/4" ply just to get the spacing good. If your spacing is undersized well… that sucks and i dont have an idea.
More information on my setup can be found in the rotaries have arrived thread… starting here:
My original set up was a piece of plywood with oodles of threaded inserts so I didn’t need t-track.
The new design is taking inspiration from your set up, @Chris, but I’m hoping to get the head stock completely out of the machining envelop. A tail stock is slightly cheaper to replace
That process for the alignment makes sense, thanks!
Totally doable. If I were to do what you want, I would
A: Mount it on the opposite side of Masso so its not all in the way. There is no shortage of wire… really an over abundance.
B: Have a folding table using something like this, then drop the table when not in use. Still have the headstock and tailstock as one piece, and have detent pins or get creative with threaded inserts and a long screws/bolts and a wing nut for consistent alignment.
You might also be over thinking this. The headstock is pretty robust.
When I got the rotary the backpack was facing up, and while learning, i ran into it i dont know how many times. Eventually broke the motor then rotated the new one 90 degrees, and told Daniel to do the same and has. Luckily I had a spare motor from a prior 1f experience. Back to the headstock, its fairly straight forward, a belt connects the motor to the rotary, and i’ve tried to break (not destructively, but thru heavy wear and tear) the mechanics, but the metal hardly scratches. One of 2 things is likely to happen, your going to break your bit, or the motor will alarm before the headstock takes any damage (motor backpack aside). With some searching I’m sure you can find a replacement belt which to me would be the next item to worry about. I digress
I would either have a small folding table mount, or a even a drop in table for getting it out of the footprint.
If I remember correctly you have a large footprint CNC (masso converted shapeoko 5)… depending on accessibility and how often you need/use it all, you could even permanently mount it on the rear of the machine, also depending on how often you intend on using the rotary.
I can grab you a picture tomorrow but my 4th axis is mounted to two runs of 1575 extrusion (think super beefy t track). Depending on what your bed is made of you could easily support the half a foot for the headstock off your bed using this. My bed is 4080 and 8080 extrusion and I could throw a 90 degree angle support under the 1575 to support it.
It’s a Shapeoko 5.1 Pro (ish, physically), so there are four 8020 extrusions that I can attach it to. But the 1575 profile extrusions look pretty much perfect.
A photo of your set up would be appreciated, but mainly so I can see how things are connected. I also suspect that any fine supplier of aluminum extrusions would be happy to chat with me in an effort to receive more of my money.
Excuse the mess. Extrusion is mounted with bolts through the MDF and into some spring nuts in the 8040 below. Then I currently have some 3d printed spacers so the extrusions are exactly the same width apart and that sticks up into the space in the bottom of the head stock and tail stock centering both perfectly so I can slide the head/tail along the extrusion without worrying about the two aligning.
Thanks for taking the time to grab photos, I appreciate it. That looks like it’s pretty much what I had wanted to do! Now I just have to adapt it for my machine.
