4 th axe on Shapeoko 5?

Is it possible to have a 4th axes on my shapeoko 5 Pro and How do I program it with Carbide Create?

This subject has come up in the past for other C3D machines. Usually it requires rewiring one of the Y motors to become the A axis. Carbide Motion will likely not work with a 4th axis. So a 3rd party CAD/CAM program will likely need to be used that is aware of driving the 4th axis. The C3D controllers only run 3 axis so a 3rd partu controller may also need to be used to get real 4th axis. Search the forum for how people converted one of the Y axis motors to run a 4th axis.

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What were you looking to make?

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As noted, there are alternatives to a 4th axis — and it is such alternative you would need to use in Carbide Create — two-sided/flip work would be the big one:

and see the recent discussion:

Doing more than 2-sides pretty much requires a 3D model which wants a 3D CAD program — we bundle one with the Nomad and sell it separately:

are you interested in learning how to use 3D CAD?

If so, that would make projects such as:

feasible.

Wine stoper in huge quantity

Those would be small enough that you could possible secure them and just cut them mounted vertically.

Then have a fixture w/ a series of holes to secure them in to cut the other end.

Or, you might want to get a CNC lathe if there are enough of them to justify it.

Or, just get a lathe and turn them by hand if you find turning enjoyable — most folks do, which I suspect is a part of why a CNC lathe hasn’t yet been popularized.

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I took my small dremmel lathe & mounted it to the machine. I ran my profile in XZ, with the Y zero on the centerline of the lathe. I had to play around with speed/feed on the machine to match the rpm of the lathe to get a decent cut. But it worked really well.

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Here’s how I did a similar (but very simple) project:

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