Sherline 4th Axis for Shapeoko 3?

CNC Machines Shapeoko
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Is it possible to use a Sherline Rotary Table with Stepper motor similar to this with the Shapeoko 3?

If so, what would be involved in terms of making it functional in terms of hardware adapters, controllers, and software? I remember something about the Shapeoko being designed so that a 4th axis could be added, but I don’t really know anything about it.

Thank you,

Andy

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It’s specifically disclaimed: http://docs.carbide3d.com/shapeoko-faq/can-i-use-a-4th-axis/

Might be one could plug it in in place of the Y-axis and work out something usable, see:

Shapeoko CNC Router, Rigid, Accurate, Reliable, and Affordable

I’ve been meaning to work on an indexed 4th axis idea, but haven’t found time yet.

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Specifically, if I understand correctly, the reason this does not work with the standard control board is because the Arduino chip used (Uno?) does not have enough I/O pins. GRBL 1.1 does support 4th axis code, but you need a control board capable of the required number of I/O pins, such as the larger chips in the Arduino family. At which point you are most likely using a different G code sender as well along with the appropriate post processing. Is that correct?

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That sounds right — I haven’t been tracking Grbl development though, so wasn’t aware of the 4th axis support (which is great news!).

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Well I know the Gcode standard has support for 4th axis but it would appear a recent fork of GRBL 1.1e implemented the change. Having trouble at work getting to non-GitHub sites for confirmation of that though.

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This seems pretty much related:

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