I am considering the purchase of a Shapeoko Pro XL and I was wondering if there are solutions to add a 4 axis.
The main reason I would like to have a 4th axis is to drill tangent holes with angle on cylindrical shafts made of wood. I will just need to place the shaft on the correct angle. The drilling sequence would be:
rotate the shaft to the angle X
drill hole
rotate to shaft to angle X+90°
drill hole
rotate the shaft to angle X+180°
etc
to then move the spindle along the shaft axis to then repeat the process
Any idea if and how it could be made ?
And last question: can a router CNC be turned as a lathe to make cylindrical shafts ?
There are some solutions that are DIY for a 4th axis. Basically you take one of the Y axis motors and turn that into the rotary axis. From past posts the controller used on the Shapeoko machines wont directly support a 4th axis. There are some 3rd party controllers that can handle the 4th axis.
So turning your machine to a 4th axis will require some major rewiring. If you go that route make sure you can make a harness that you can replace with the original wiring when no doing the 4th axis. That will make your life simpler in the long run.