LaserUser.com Forum (formerly RDWorksLab)

Hi all, I am in the market for a rotary device to accompany my Bodor laser. Any recs?
Thanks

You could make one download/file.php?id=4000, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyevrQXaGRo

Or you could buy one - i am partial to https://www.bosslaser.com/laser-machine ... oller.html

You may be able to find them cheaper but it was a n easy link to find

Wowsers! That is an expensive device. I downloaded the file but I don't think that will work my machine. Even if I were to get the Boss one I can't find where to plug it in. I followed the Y axis wires and I found a different kind of rectangular plug.
Thanks for the tips!

Hi Evan - Try a company called VEVOR.
I bought mine from them for AU$219 and it is identical in all respects to units costing several times more.
As to installing it:
If you cut the cable running from the Y Axis stepper on your machine you can fit a suitable plug ( Are your steppers single phase or 3 phase?) - I used a 4 pin female plug on mine)
You can then add a corresponding male bulkhead plug by drilling through the sidewall of your machine and connecting the wires from your stepper board to this.
If you put another female plug on your Rotary Axis you can plug and play between linear and rotary to your hearts delight.
Just remember to make sure the stepper on your Rotary Axis matches the stepper on your Y Axis and you will have no setup incompatibility issues.
The plugs I used are cheap and freely available from electronic retailers, or online.
All you need to remember is to change setting on RDWorks or Lightburn to match whichever axis you have plugged in.
Hope this helps.

Russ has a video where he builds a rotary from acrylic for very low cost- it does not use an electrical connection at all [so no calibration] and is powered by the gantry moving forward. I built one and it works very well, so well that I redesigned it to be built from 2020 alum extrusion and components and have built several of them and they work very well. I would recommend Russ' if you are not sure it will be used constantly as it is basically the cost of the acrylic [and fun to build]. If you want to step up to my design, I think the parts are about $125-150 depending upon how good a shopper you are. And again, you get the fun of building it.