Johnny SolidWorks
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2013
- Location
- Rochester
G'Evening All,
I've been toying with the idea of a 4th axis for a while now, with the only intention for it being reducing the number of setups on parts for different OPs (as opposed to a series of vices with soft jaws and/or multiple dedicated fixtures, etc.)
One of the challenges is I'm running an 01 Haas which wasn't wired for a 4th from the factory, so there's some added expense there. It's also a Mini, so Z is extremely limited, and even the small rotaries have a fairly high axis of rotation. I toyed with the idea of making my own (I'm a Mechanical Engineer who works in automation) but the more I looked at it, the more I started to think my best bet would be to buy a decent quality manual rotary in the size I want (preferably used) and convert it to automated. If nothing else, this would be a proof of concept device that gets used until I know if I'm going to shell out 5 figures to put a 'real' 4th on the machine.
So I'm looking for recommendations on a good manufacturer of small, manual rotary tables. Bonus points if they're commonly available.
I suppose one alternative would be to buy a new piece of junk import and rework it so it's not completely useless, but I'm not crazy about that particular project.
Or for the money I'm probably already looking at, maybe I roll the dice on an ancient, cheap Haas rotary off Flea Bay.
Thoughts? Opinions? Anyone gone down this road recently?
Thanks All
I've been toying with the idea of a 4th axis for a while now, with the only intention for it being reducing the number of setups on parts for different OPs (as opposed to a series of vices with soft jaws and/or multiple dedicated fixtures, etc.)
One of the challenges is I'm running an 01 Haas which wasn't wired for a 4th from the factory, so there's some added expense there. It's also a Mini, so Z is extremely limited, and even the small rotaries have a fairly high axis of rotation. I toyed with the idea of making my own (I'm a Mechanical Engineer who works in automation) but the more I looked at it, the more I started to think my best bet would be to buy a decent quality manual rotary in the size I want (preferably used) and convert it to automated. If nothing else, this would be a proof of concept device that gets used until I know if I'm going to shell out 5 figures to put a 'real' 4th on the machine.
So I'm looking for recommendations on a good manufacturer of small, manual rotary tables. Bonus points if they're commonly available.
I suppose one alternative would be to buy a new piece of junk import and rework it so it's not completely useless, but I'm not crazy about that particular project.
Or for the money I'm probably already looking at, maybe I roll the dice on an ancient, cheap Haas rotary off Flea Bay.
Thoughts? Opinions? Anyone gone down this road recently?
Thanks All