CNC 4th Axis Question

[rwomel]

Good Day
For some reason, I have this question in my head, and it is stirring up more questions, as I think about it.

I have never seen the CueMonster up close and running before. Only a small pic on their site, and one pic on Willee's site.

Is the 4th axis a Stepper motor? Direct geared?

When turning shafts, does the CNC program "turn on" the motor to run at a certain RPM until told to "turn off"? Does this "wear" on the 4th axis gearing or setup?

I can see the 4th Axis being more like a indexer on this machine, but when it comes to "spinning" for hours at a time, am I missing something here?

Seems a belt driven motor would "spin" for hours without problems.
(NOT saying that there is problems with the design, never seen one run)

REASON: I want to buy a 4th axis and attach it to my manual inlay machine and match a tail stock to it. Do not want to buy the wrong equipment up front.

(Can someone suggest a few links to parts also..THANKS)

Thanks
RWOMEL
S Texas

 

[RBC]

RWOMEL,

I am not that familiar with the Cue Monster, but I know that it is a quality built machine. I would expect that the 4th axis is probably a stepper driven drive with a reduction of some sort.

On our machines we use steppers as the drive for all of our lathe spindles. The primary reason for this is that we can control the speed very precisely with them. Using Mach software, we can even speed them up or slow them down during the actual turning cycle. I would think that to hold a cue firmly enough to not have it wander a little during the pocketing process you would need to have some sort of gear reduction involved to give the stepper motor the additional holding strength.

Just my thoughts. I certainly don't know exactly how the Cue Monster is set up.

Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com

 

[rwomel]

THANKS Royce
I love your shafts, bought one from you last year when they first came out at a Fast Eddie's in San Antonio, Tx

Well, now I I can see the geared stepper motor must be the way to go.
Any other comments out there, and LINKS to good supplier.

THANKS !!!
RWOMEL

 

[tag]

cue monster

I have one,there is a small dowel you slide in and out of the hole to run the 4th ,and when you put it back in after you lift up off of gear you can crank it up and spin you work piece,really nice set up,billiard bum can explain it better then me,if you want a picture,I'll send you one,take care

 

[billiardbum]

Good Day
For some reason, I have this question in my head, and it is stirring up more questions, as I think about it.

I have never seen the CueMonster up close and running before. Only a small pic on their site, and one pic on Willee's site.

Is the 4th axis a Stepper motor? Direct geared?

When turning shafts, does the CNC program "turn on" the motor to run at a certain RPM until told to "turn off"? Does this "wear" on the 4th axis gearing or setup?

I can see the 4th Axis being more like a indexer on this machine, but when it comes to "spinning" for hours at a time, am I missing something here?

Seems a belt driven motor would "spin" for hours without problems.
(NOT saying that there is problems with the design, never seen one run)

REASON: I want to buy a 4th axis and attach it to my manual inlay machine and match a tail stock to it. Do not want to buy the wrong equipment up front.

(Can someone suggest a few links to parts also..THANKS)

Thanks
RWOMEL
S Texas

tag is right on... The 4th axis rotation stepper motor, lifts off the gear and is held off the gear with a dowel pin. The drive spindle has a pulley on it, where a belt attaches to a variable speed motor. This turns the shaft or butts when tapering. Hope this helps explain it, if not I can send some pics for you.