What do you get when you put together a husband/wife team of a machinist and mechanical engineer? If you’re [Matt and Michelle Hertel], you get a 5 axis CNC, which we think was one of the hidden gems at Maker Faire NY.
Hobby CNC machines have grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years. Nearly all these machines have been 3 axis (X,Y,Z). 5 (and more) axis machines have been around for years in the industrial world. These higher level machines never have made the jump to the hobby/home shop world.
The P5’s two extra axis allow for extremely complex parts to be created in one setup. A good example of this would be a turbine wheel. Compound curves on (and behind) each blade would make this an impossible job for a 3 axis CNC. The P5 was machining these parts all weekend at Maker Faire NY. Even more impressive is the fact that it was cutting Delrin, not wax.
The P5 uses a modified Synthetos TinyG board for stepper control. Every sliding axis is on a ball slide.
[Matt and Michelle] paid special attention to the spindle. Rather than attempt to reinvent the wheel and create a low runout spindle themselves, they went with a commercial unit. Considering the dynamic loads on a spindle when machining aluminum, we think this was a good idea.
Filed under: cnc hacks
