I’ve mentioned in the past that I planned to add a 4th Axis to my Taig. With a 4th axis, the items that you can mill open up significantly. For example, gears are very easy to do with the table in a 90 degree position. You can also cut threads inside or outside of an item by laying the table flat on the x axis. Lastly, if you use a tailstock as well, you can mill the top and bottom of an object if you build the right jig.
In order to make it work, I first had to add another stepper controller to my CNC controller. You can see in the picture below that I’ve added the board all the way on the right. I also added a relay board, but I haven’t put that to use just yet. More on that to come.
On the stepper driver itself, I added a piece of angled aluminum to act as a heat sync. Running 3 amps of current through those motors generates a bit of heat. Its a little smaller than the one that Probotix used, but it should work well enough. Time will tell. There is a nice large fan that blows across them as well. I’ve used another xlr connector to connect this new stepper to keep consistent. I actually believe the xlr connectors work very well for this. The next picture is one of the power supply. This is a 40V linear power supply. Its a beast!
The following picture is the Sherline Rotary Table installed on the Carter Tools right angle adapter mounted to the Taig Mill. I’ve installed another Probotix 280 oz/in stepper. I don’t think that much torque is necessary for just using the 4th axis, but if I convert this to a 5th axis machine it will help with the additional weight.
Lastly, I’ve captured a video of it running. It looks awesome and I can’t wait to use it!
Today I finished my vacuum reservoir. I have posted before about the vacuum table and the pump, but this is the last missing piece. I used the instructions (and a few parts) from the JoeWoodworker site. The goal is that it should allow the pump to run in a more optimal manner. More specifically, it won’t have to run continuously. The switch will turn it on to replenish the vacuum just like normal compressors do. This isn’t exactly necessary for vacuum chucking, but it will help whenever I need to pull down and hold a vacuum. Here are the pictures:
So a few notes about the setup. I’m able to pull down about 25″ hg with the complete setup, which is a little less than I was able to get with just the gauge on the pump. That amount of vacuum is plenty for my purposes.
In the pictures, you see a lever with a red handle. That lever allows you to cut off vacuum to the accessory that is connected. This is useful to build up a vacuum before connecting it to the accessory. When you flip the lever, it immediately gives you suction. You’ll also see two standard light switches in the junction box. The first switch allows you to turn it on, and the second allows you to force the pump to run continuously. You would want to enable the latter switch if the pump was cutting on and off every 30 seconds or so. Frequent power oscillations are supposed to be more damaging than a continuous run.
The screw up of the night was dripping PVC glue on one of the brass fittings. Because of it, one of the pipes is sticking out an inch further than the other.
