4th Axis Table On Brother CNC

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering if it is normal to have a 4th axis (in this case a Nikken rotary table) on a machine and be able to take it in and out as you would with other quick change fixturing? I'm being told by Brother that this is not common practice. Our company wants to be able to run the 4th axis parts and then remove the table to run other fixturing on that pallet. And then, when needed, reinstall the table to run the parts again. I can understand how this would cause issues as we are having some now, trying to install the table after not running for a few years. Does the table lose memory every time it is disconnected from the machine?

Thanks

I don't have a 4th, but most of the shops I visit that do have them keep them in the machine essentially all the time.

Regards.

Mike

I asked this same question a while back, and the concensus seemed to be that you "could" but it wasn't a great idea. Some builders (Haas?) can unplug the 4th without issue, but if you disconnect on the Brother it will alarm out, unless you open up the cabinet and disconnect the drive. Not something I wanted to do.

Someone left the 4th hanging in the corner of the machine still wired in. I could see that on a bigger slower machine, but again not something I was eager to do in a Brother.

Here's the link to that past discussion: https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/cnc-machining/brother-speedio-4th-axis-382017/

Fadal would let you remove the 4th without any hurdles, other than having to have the power off when unplugging or pluging it in. I bought a used Kitamura with a Tsudokoma 4th, heavy, that was not intended to have it's 4th removed so I just hang it in the corner of the enclosure. It has a 14" x 20" travel with 2000 ipm rapids so close to a S500. I now find hanging it in the corner is better than removing it from the machine. It is always there and you don't have to turn the machine off to mess with it.

I have two Brothers with 4th's and took them both off. I'm not using them at the moment and figured until i need them it would be best if they were not on the table.

The speedio has the Brother table. It's not super easy. It's hard wired into the servo drive in the cabinet. From memory one cable is power, one has a few I/o lines, and one is the encoder. The encoder cable is a fancy shielded folded ribbon cable type thing. Not something I'd want to cut into. And there is an air line. It seems like it wouldn't be too hard for them to make some extension cord type things so the disconnection would be easier. The other thing is that the servo drive wiring needs to be changed some too. They are like daisy chained and the servo drive needs to be removed from the loop. Not sure if the wiring could be changed so that the 4th axis servo amp was at the end of the loop. I took pictures so hopefully I can get it back in.

My old A00 control machine it was similar, no easy connectors, but at least the servo drive input wiring didn't need to be changed.


Someone here mentioned hoisting the 4th up. I was looking at my machine the other day. I think that idea may have some appeal. That would avoid wiring/unwiring. Also, the thing is heavy. Going up you could just tram the table over, unbolt, lower a cable and up and away.

Thanks for the replies. The machine we have is a TC32Bn QT (quick table)

We had also taken pictures and written down some instructions several years ago just incase we ever needed to use them again. Needless to say it did not go very smooth. We have had a tech from Brother in trying to fix it for the last 2 days. They think it is something wrong with the table and not the machine configuration. Initially it was alarming because the encoder needed to be initialized. That is what I am worried about if we are going to be taking it on and off all the time. Right now the process seems to complicated. Like others have said, the drive for the table has to be daisy chained to the other boards and a few other wires moved around.

I have quick disconnect cables on mine, but you still have to change the drives in the cabinet and then set zero up again when you reconnect. What we do is run the cables through from the top, then crane them out when I'm not using them and just set them beside the machine if I need the space. it's not great, but it works.

Maybe I'm spoiled 'cause I'm used to my Haas, but I can take the trunnion off any time I want for more space. I could also put in a larger fourth, a gang fourth, or a different trunnion, if I had jobs that warranted them. Seems not having that ability would be a serious handicap.