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Author Topic: Setting up a 4th Axis (new to CNC)  (Read 1046 times)
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obiewan
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« on: May 03, 2009, 03:10:09 PM »

Pardon my newness, but I have run into an immediate snag.  Sorry if there is a post on this already, as I searched but didn't find.  My machine actually uses 2 stepper motors to run the Y axis--one on each side of the gantry.  Each motor is run to its own driver control.  I set up the usual X, Y, and Z axes per setup tutorial videos and also added an A axis (as my second Y).  The A axis motor needs to mimic the Y axis motor.  Can I set this up using Mach 3, or do I have to account for the 4th axis in g-code? 

The good news is that the software setup went fine, the parallel port is getting healthy readings, my wiring is fine, and I am able to jog on all 4 axes.  The bad news is that when I try to run a test program, only one side of my table's y axis moves (the side I designated Y--the A axis side gets no code info, so it doesn't move).  Hopefully this is an easy fix as I do not want to tediously fix g-code if I can avoid doing so.  Thanks for the help. 
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Chaoticone
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« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2009, 03:53:05 PM »

Lokk in config, slave axis. You will want to slave the a to the Y.

Brett


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