Laser-Cut Wooden 4 Axis Positioning System

The following instructable details the process of building a 4 axis positioning system (X,Y,Z+theta). While we leveraged this setup for an automata aquarium, it may be useful in your other projects as well. Anyway, our build targeted modified Hitec HS-55 servos (see this other shamelessly plugged instructable), but servos of similar size should also be usable with similar steps. Note that if another type of servo is used for this project, the CAD models for the 3D printed parts may need to be changed as well. This was part of a project for the spring 2012 Things That Think class at CU Boulder.

Supplies:
1/4 in. basswood
laser cutter
3D printer
4 sub-micro servos modified for continuous rotation and position feedback.

Remove these ads by Signing Up

Step 1: Laser Cut Parts

Using a laser cutter, cut the pieces from the attached file laser_cut.DXF out of 1/4 in. basswood. We recommend this material because acrylic and other plastics did not hold gear tooth shapes well when laser cut and, moreover, the basswood provided a good compromise between cut-ability and strength. The laser cutter patterns are designed for a beam width of 0.25 mm. The units for the .DXF file are in milimeters

laser_cut.DXF904 KB

sitearm says: Apr 8, 2012. 8:35 AM

@DancingFish; Hi! Is it possible to add a short video of this positioning system in action? Your article is timely: I'd just heard of 4 axis machining rigs at a conference. Cheers! : ) Site

DancingFish (author) in reply to sitearmMay 5, 2012. 1:55 PM

Hi sitearm, we would love to post a video, unfortunately we had to return the arduino. You can see it working in the full aquarium automata http://www.instructables.com/id/Automata-Aquarium/.

bobwantzanapple says: Apr 8, 2012. 4:30 PM

could this be applied to CNC milling or 3D printing?

DancingFish (author) in reply to bobwantzanappleMay 5, 2012. 1:54 PM

This could indeed be applied to CNC milling and possibly 3D printing. We decided to use the laser cutter because it provided a higher level of accuracy and detail than the 3D printer available to us.