baseball bats

I have a PRT alpha 4x8 that I have used for the past 4 years to cut cabinet parts and it has worked perfectly. Recently we started running moldings and interior trim packages on out molder and it has been going really well. I would like to find a way to use the shop bot with a lathe to turn baseball bats. What I can't wrap my mind around is how to make the z axis move up and down as the machine travels on the x axis. Is their software out there that can do this that is not to expensive? I have looked into getting a rotary indexer to make turnings and legs but I don't think this will turn a bat blank fast enough. Any thoughts or suggestions would be great. Thanks

You may be able to find it here http://shopbottools.com/shopbot_labs.htm

I believe there is a conversion file to convert the x,y, or z axis and then you draw in the x,y and rotate the file around z I have not tried this but BobCad lets you do this and it worked for me with a regular Lathe

JD

You can use the Fluting toolpath in PartWorks or VCarve to control Z height along a toolpath.

Aspire would allow you to design the profile using a 2 rail sweep.

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Another thought is to move in the X and Y with a constant Z height by cutting the side rather than the top of the rotating material.

Theoretically you could mount a regular lathe on your table.
The material is spinning at a constant velocity
The bit is on the left or the right of the material and the Z height positions the end of the bit below the center of the material
As the bit gradually moves towards the material it beings cutting.
You control the profile by moving into/away from the material
You would need to be careful to to move too far into the material so multiple passes may be required

I have NOT tried this.

Is this operation what Jack Jarvis asked a while ago and Ted hall told that it was coming soon? spining the indexer to work like a lathe?

To be more specific:

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1470

Carlos,
My intent when i asked for the independant axis control was to do something along the lines of a freeform design similar to if you had a blank mounted on your lathe and took your gouge to make beads and coves freehand. I would like to see it implemented and from my discussion with Ted it seemed to be something that was relatively easy to do. I think he may just have other things on his plate and hasn't got to it yet.

I wanted to be able to have the indexer spin then decide where and how deep i might plunge a roundover bit or other bit to make different designs.

With My legacy ornamental mill it is like a manual shopbot in that you use a plunge router and as the piece spins you can plunge down and see your design on the go and decide how deep you want to go.

RobM-You can currently do a taper with the indexer virtual tools and to create a bat. Since a bat is not a straight taper from end to end I would take my blank and measure the length of the taper on a bat, then create the taper length on the blank.
Then measure the grip area length and do a straight "turn down" toolpath again with virtual tools.

There also is a virtual tool named "carve the blank to a shape using a partwizard profile" that you could just use the 2d shape of the bat to create it also.

Thanks to everyone for your help and ideas

Harbor freight has a pretty decent wood lathe for a hair over $100.
I made some chair legs with mine and that's the only time I really used it.
If you get a good set of knives the cheap lathe will rock for bats !
I NBmade a templatge to follow on trhe cut rail, so i could repeat the exact pattern. It would be much less confusing and likely quicker than converting the Bot.