4th axis as a "poor man's lathe"

[A_Camera]

My experimental project continues. I couldn't wait, I just HAD to do some tests, which I documented yesterday in a short video.



While one could wish for higher possible speeds, I think considering it is driven by a stepper motor, the results are very good so far, so I will definitely continue. I am still waiting for cutters to be delivered, but for drilling it seems to work. I am now pretty sure that it will work also for turning, but of course, that still remains to be seen. Anyway, I'll be happy I made this, also because I often end up wanting to drill centre hole into something, and that's not that easy without a lathe, so if for nothing else, I will definitely be able to use it for that.

Anyway, while I will finish this with the stepper I have on the chuck now, I am already planning for an upgrade with a more powerful servo or a closed loop stepper. I have already started to look for solutions even for that step. Unfortunately it is not just about changing the motor, because it means I have to change the plate it is fixed to as well, and also get a new timing belt as well as maybe a new pulley. So it may take some time before that step is done.

Right now I am considering this motor:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3285...4b6e2e0eyN2Gxo

I have no experience with any closed loop stepper, so I would like to ask the experts. Do you think it is worth the money? My steppers are 1.8Nm type, and this is 3Nm. Would that 1.2Nm make a big difference? Would it run faster? Remember that my current stepper is running at 2280rpm in the video, which due to the 1:6 reduction means 380 chuck rpm, so anything below that is not good. Currently I run the stepper at 2 microsteps, so 400 steps is one rev. and I intend to continue with that. The test condition in that link says 1600 microsteps but I think they mean 8 microsteps per step, which will give 1600 steps per rev. The motor is weaker at that high microstep, and is easier to get higher RPM at lower microsteps.