Has anyone had any luck adding a 4th axis (b axis) to a snapmaker original (SM1)?
I bought a z extension module, and the old axis is begging to be repurposed as a b-axis. I’ve tried a bunch of old Luban versions, to no avail. I have been able to load 4 axis content to the workspace, but there is no B axis in the control panel. I have tried plugging in the extra module into both of the free control board ports (Port 4 and Port 6), and nothing moves either way. The console seems to accept b axis move commandes (G0 B10 F1500), but nothing happens on the 4th module. And the “run boundary” command only moves the Y axis.
Is it a control board firmware setting/disabled issue? Is there an editable config file that in which I could enable a 4th axis?
Hoping that perhaps someone has made more progress on this than I. I suppose I can start looking into other control software next, but if it’s a firmware level issue, I may not get far with that without a different control board and using the reverse engineered cable wiring.
As a side note, I did figure out how to use the extension module as a new Y axis in both the older and newer versions of Luban. That wasn’t an obvious process.
I’m trying to figure out how you would use a linear module as a B axis. I thought A, B, and C axis were all rotation about the X, Y, and Z axis (respectively)?
I’m pretty sure you’d have to modify the firmware to accomplish anything though. The firmware is available, but I’m not aware of any effort to build and package it as something you could install on the controller. This is probably the closest thread I can think of, and includes a link to the original firmware source. Although I think this thread has the latest source. The source for the v1 didn’t get the same love the v2 received I know the 2nd thread started out as a v1 thread, then was later moved to the v2 channel.
Thanks for the links/pointers clewis! And to answer your question, I’d be tearing apart the linear rail in order to use it in rotation. Or just using a different stepper motor. I’m not sure I have the apatite to dig in and modify firmware. It might be faster to add a SM2 control board to my SM1 rails…
It would be faster, in the order of months/years vs years/decades. It’s not realistic, however.
There are differences in communication protocols, connectors, wiring, everything. Joining the 2 systems will require a complete rewrite of the firmware and newly designed hardware middleware to translate the 2 systems physically. The firmware portion of that took a team of Snapmaker developers multiple years to do and is still under ongoing development.
The way the rotation of the 4th axis works is also not practical to use a stepper motor for - it has to be geared, so you will also have to design a mating gearbox, chuck, and the rest of the software to drive that.
Then when that’s all working you won’t be able to use Luban since the machine geometry is different. So you will need to use Fusion360 which does not support simultaneous 4 axis CNC under the free license so plan to shell out about $1500 per year for the machining extension, or purchase Solidworks.
Thank you both for the input! That pretty well settles it in my mind I guess that’s the reality/penalty of being one of the first to back an (effectively) beta unit (SM original). Oh well!
I know the 2nd thread started out as a v1 thread, then was later moved to the v2 channel.
I guess that’s the reality/penalty of being one of the first to back an (effectively) beta unit (SM original). Oh well!