Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

I am thinking about trying to use a dividing head that is a 40-1 ratio to a 4th axis. Will a 500 line encoder be sufficient? What would be the minimum recommended size of a servo motor? Finally, is the DC 1 add on drive all I would need to make it work. I am just trying to find out if this is a feasible and affordable alternative to make my 4th axis.

We recommend 2000 line encoders, but if your happy with the lower resolution at 500 line then you can go with that. A 10in-lb motor would be the minimum servomotor size we would recommend. If you already have a MPU11+DC3IOB/ALLIN1DC using a DC1 will add an additional axis. The 4th axis software is already part of the Centroid CNC software.

I tried using the mill demo software and could not figure out a way to rotate the 4th axis and move any of the other 3 axis. Is it possible to do this with the intercon software? I have a very early DC3IOB and MPU11 setup.

The demo software is only for testing out the software, it will not communicate with the control. If you purchased a system from us it should have come with a 45-day demo code. This is an unlock you can enter into software and will provide full access for 45 days. Please install the Centroid Mill software (not demo) and enter the code as per the instruction sheet.

I have not purchased the dc1 yet, I was just using the demo software to see if it would do what I desire for machining.

Of course you can use the DEMO software to test your scenario. You just have to make sure that your settings are correct, such as your 4th axis label being labeled something other than N, axis parameter 91-94 being set appropriately. All this is explained in the operator manual. All you have to do is load a program with all axes moves and the DEMO software should run it.

Yes Intercon can program 4th axis moves, go into the Intercon setup and turn on the 4th axis option in order to input rotary moves in Intercon.