Indexer work in progress

[wooddr]

These are a few pictures of the indexer I have been working on. I first need to thank Pat Fulgham, Mike Richards, and Brady Watson for all of there technical help. Without their help on all the electrical stuff, this never could have happened for me. The Shopbot forums are an amazing tool for the average woodworker.

I am still modifying this as I go along. I raised my x-rails up with 2"x3" tubing to give me more z height. I now have a full 9-1/2" of z travel. I have about five inches of clearance from the center of the lathe to the bottom of the gantry and the top of the table.

Dirk


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[richards]

Great job on the indexer and on the first parts that you've cut!

[paco]

Nice work Dirk!

Off the shelf lathe?

What's that coupler (motor to head stock shaft)?

Keep us post.

[Brady Watson]

Great job Dirk!

For those that don't readily get it, this type of setup can transform the Bot into either a 4th axis indexer under stepper power OR a CNC lathe when the stepper is disconnected and run under lathe motor power.

-B

[woodgod]

Is this somthing you are going to make available for sale? If so how much?

[myxpykalix]

Dirk,
Great job on making your indexer. In your picture to the far right it looks like you made some spirals. Do you have any better pictures and some more details as to how you did that? What type of bit was used? If you have other pictures i'd love to see them. Thanks!

[pfulghum]

Folks...
I know Dirk is out of town for a few days and will get back to you later this weekend.

I will try to answer some....

The Lathe is a $199 Harbor Freight special (we have a store within 5 miles). Only the headstock and tailstock was used.

The Motor is an Oriental Motor: PK296A2A-SG18
The metal motor mount was from Oriental Motor as well.
Driven by a Gecko 203V connected to the "B" channel
Power Supply from Amtek Inc 35V - 500W (a 300W would be suffecient) provides DC power to Gecko/Drive.

Drive and Power Supply mounted inside the ShopBot Control Case.

The coupler is a "spider coupler" from _____?? it has been "reinforced with a $.59 hose clamp.

The stepper is setup to turn at about 60rpm.
Tons of torque for big stuff.

Software:
The flutes and spirals was done with Shopbot's Indexer program.
The "Leaning Tower of Piza" was a ArtCam tutorial.

Looks like so much fun, I have all my parts gathered. I will post pictures of mine.

Dirk did spend many hours on the mechanical aspects that I will directly "leverage" (steal)


-- pat

[wooddr]

The spirals were done with a v-bit cutter that I used to set up my zero centers on the lathe. It was just a bit I used for practice. The spirals were made on an old closet rod I had in the shop.

James,I did not make this for resale. Just for fun.

The main coupler is a half inch reverse thread I made on my metal lathe with a half inch rod to couple up to the motor. The spider coupler came from McGuire Bearing in Boise. The hose clamp came from one of my junk drawers. I have a forty dollar coupler that I ordered, that I probably won't use now that we figured out the hose clamp took all the slop out of the connection. Pat answered all the rest of the questions.

Pat are you making your indexer this weekend? Did you get that lathe from Woodcraft?

I am going to Grizzly Tools tomorrow.

Dirk