Nomad 3 Possible 4th Axis?

I got my Nomad 3 a few days ago and took a look at the controller and noticed an extra molex connector where the other motors are connected. Is it possible to use this to potentially add a 4th axis to the machine or would a new controller be needed?

I believe that’s a legacy of the same board being used for the Shapeoko Pro and it’s slaved to the Y-axis in mirror.

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All the CM controllers (afaik) have 4 stepper drivers on them, as @WillAdams said, because they’re used on all the machines. I assume this board will be shared with the Shapeoko Pro.

And also as @WillAdams said, both the Y-axis drivers are slaved together. I checked my Nomad’s PCB and they’re physically slaved together. That is, the STEP pin on Y2 is physically connected to the STEP pin on Y1, so the two axes cannot be driven separately.

Plus, even if the electronics supported it, GRBL, the open-source software that the board runs, doesn’t support 4 axes.

If you really want a 4th axis, you’ll need a new controller. A few of us have done (I did it here and you can search for more) it but it means replacing all the electronics, which isn’t a project for the faint of heart.

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