I do not recommend Linuxcnc unless you are use to Linux/debian and programing. For someone that has used python and linux a good amount, the documentation is a hit or miss. I believe I am the only other person with linuxcnc besides @AlexW.
2 Likes
I agree that LinuxCNC can be difficult at times. It’s very powerful and I find it pretty well documented and with a good forum, but configuration is largely manual and through configuration files (like most things Linux). There is a GUI configuration tool, but it is much more limited in what it supports.
Having said all of that I have a working 4th axis as of tonight. I’ll make my first cuts with it sometime this week. The “free” Fusion 360 only has limited support, but will do what I need for now.
1 Like
i have had some time to talk to some older guys that have doing this a long time and some of them say have you looked a at the poor mans 4th to do the small jobs you are doing . I am look down this road for now as a fix until there is one for the MR1 .I will post when i have more info on this
1 Like
Do you mean this?
I have my 4th axis working. Software is the big limitation, real 4th axis support in Fusion is about $2k/year. Indexer functionality works though, and I made my first part last night. I’ll post a video soon. I think I’m going to use it to make a second MQL coolant nozzle because I should be able to do it in a single setup, vs the 3 that I had to use last time.
1 Like
It’s working and I already have ideas of how I’ll use it for real projects.
I do need to work on better workholding options (maybe putting a vise on the table instead of a chuck).
More Z height would help, this projected marked the first time that I remember running out of Z travel on my MR-1. It’s a challenge getting the tools long enough to clear the chuck jaws and short enough to fit into the Z travel.
8 Likes
Would you mind sharing how you mounted your Sherline rotary table to your baseplate?
I’m interested in doing the same thing but I might just get their manual version so I don’t have to go down the rabbit hole of changing controllers.
You can see that there are two stacked plates there. I bought this rotary table used over 10 years ago and it came with that top plate. I believe that Sherline sells similar ones for vertical mounting of the table.
The bottom plate is simply an adapter that goes from whatever hole pattern is on the top plate to a 3x4 grid on the 2” x 2” spacing of the MR1 baseplate. I just cut that adapter plate on the MR-1, and it is made out of MIC6 (ground cast aluminum which is super stable but kind of soft).
It just clears the gantry at it’s stock height, there is under 10mm to spare.
Here is the vertical mount:
https://www.sherline.com/product/3701-right-angle-attachment/#description
It also occurs to me that a nice solution could be to mount all of this on a Sherline table, then just put the table into a vise on the bed when you want the 4th axis. That would allow you to keep the tailstock aligned (if you want to use one) and make it trivial to install and remove.
This would require gantry riser blocks since it would sit higher off of the bed and still may not fit. Draw it all out first.
Tables aren’t that expensive: CNC Mill Table - Sherline Products
There are also likely better 4th axis solutions available now by using a harmonic drive. I’d make sure that whatever you consider there has good enough repeatability. Many are 15 arcmin, which is 1/4 degree, which doesn’t seem very good for this purpose. The Sherline is also limited here, backlash spec is 0.2 degrees which is basically the same.