Frog Indexer?

[madman]

Ive heard of these reasonably priced index type controlers. I have a few rotary tables one 10 inch old model solid and also a bridgeport rotary table. Im wondering how difficult and expensive it would be to convert a rotary table to a cnc type controller? I have the cnc fever currently and am looking to get into some cnc machining in the future. Mike

[SGW]

How many steps can it do? I'd think you'd want around 3600 for a rotary table, which would give you 6-minute accuracy.

No...scratch that. You'd be indexing the handwheel shaft, so even 60 steps would probably be plenty.

[John Stevenson]

Mike,
Converting a rotary table to CNC or Indexer use is relatively easy as it's purely mechanical.
Depending on the donor table this can be from stripping and cleaning and even modifying to bearings / needle thrusts down to just fitting a motor onto a quality table.

After that it gets more complex depending on electrical skills.

The electrical side consists of what is basically just a one axis setup of a CNC.
No need to get frightened as this is a good stepping block to CNC, once you have mastered one axis a CNC setup is little more than adding two more.

Here's a good site to get some details and idea's.

http://www.divisionmaster.com

.

[nheng]

The Frog was the least expensive thing out there for cheap CNC control. Unfortunately, the gentleman who owned it decided to shut down the operation.

Sherline also has a small calculator sized controller for a stepper and I believe it has rotary table support.

Here's a company that sells a modified version of the Sherline. It may provide some additional background on the stand alone options. http://www.bmumford.com/rotary/index.html

John S. Do you know of any CNC software out there with RT or other indexer support? I'm running Mach3 now on my little MAXNC 10.

Den

[John Stevenson]

Den,
You ask about software for an indexer.
Two ways to do this, one is a dedicated controller like the Frog or Divisionmaster or similar if you are capable of programming a PIC chip, or similar.

Second way is to use one of the cheap controllers and a PC such as Mach3, TurboCNC, CNC Pro.

These controllers can use the fourth axis to control a rotary table or dividing head as a normal setup but they can also be used just to drive one axis.
Rather a bulky solution to need a PC just to run a RT but for many on a limited budget it's the only solution.

I use a Divisionmaster and get a great deal out of it, expensive, yes but iny case the commercial uses outweigh the costs involved.

.

[rsr911]

How does one handle the backlash in a converted table? I've got a cheap import 10" table and I have to lock it to do any machining on it. I'd love to do fourth axis on my CNC by converting a manual table but I wouldn't want it wobbling around from the table backlash.

[DBW]

I understand that the bureaucrats won again! (RoHS) The problems trying to make his products lead free and paper work was to much for a small company.
Besides that, they haven't found a suitable lead free solder that will last whisker free (shorts) for more than a few years. Talk about a total melt down of all our new electronic gadgets. When is RoHS going to shut down England because of all undug lead ore and lead roofing?
DBW

















/

[John Stevenson]

I When is RoHS going to shut down England because of all undug lead ore and lead roofing?
DBW/

Second Thursday in December.

.

[JPR]

I'd love to do fourth axis on my CNC by converting a manual table but I wouldn't want it wobbling around from the table backlash.If your table has a manual lock, you could use an air cylinder to operate the lock.

Back to the cnc part,
Forrest's post Indexers for angles and divisions (http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=4156&highlight=Stepper+driven+rotary+table)
John's post Stepper driven rotary table (http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=18787&highlight=Stepper+driven+rotary+table)

[madman]

Are they in business. I tried forests post email web adress and had a beer thing come up then next was some porn. Very interesting specially the beer thing. In fact Burp i ll go have some soon. BUrPP. I wish to convert my rotary table to cnc servo type control. Does anyone have trouble getting onto the divisionmaster site? Tahnkyou

[torker]

Are they in business. I tried forests post email web adress and had a beer thing come up then next was some porn. Very interesting specially the beer thing. In fact Burp i ll go have some soon. BUrPP. I wish to convert my rotary table to cnc servo type control. Does anyone have trouble getting onto the divisionmaster site? Tahnkyou
Mike...I've got onto a CNC rampage lately also. Would very much like to do a R/T as well. I looked for the Frog site and as was mentioned...he went out of business..
http://www.avatartools.com/
I'm mostly interested in this for my new helper. I want to teach her how to cut gears but she's under a very steep learning curve right now and the CNC rotab would simplify this a lot.
The Frog with everything including a stepper motor WAS $199US (I believe)
rough calculation here...need division Master + Gecko drive+ 225 ounce motor+ a bigger bag of brains to hook it up....
Or as John S emailed me...an even bigger bag of brains...and Turbo CNC download+PC+ motor=?(a driver?)
Internet is wicked slow today...was looking for a Canadian supplier for servo or stepper motors on ebay but gave up.
I'm definately going to do this. The benefit for the noob in my shop wil be big....Sorta help start paying for the help...soon....I hope....LOL!
Russ