Usable Interface for CNC Turntable on Manual Mill

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02 Nov 2025 19:53 #337731 by Pinaz993
Greetings, all. I am currently helping a relative with a small project. He is a machinist, and has a manual horizontal mill. For this mill, he has a small manual turntable, which he is hoping to be able to automate to some degree.

The stepper motor that has been purchased to drive the turntable does not have enough torque to machine with, even at a 40:1 reduction. However, it should be able to turn the turntable a given number of degrees in a given direction, and then the turntable can be locked down before proceeding with the machining process.

I have the official LinuxCNC Debian image installed on a Pi4 (and have fixed the GPIO permissions issue), and have configured the X axis as angular, with no other axis in the configuration. I can put in the 40:1 gearing.

My problem is that I haven't the foggiest idea what interface to use. I need something that can order a rotation of a certain amount of degrees and then a stop, as well as switching between clockwise and counterclockwise. However, all the interfaces I've seen are specifically designed to run Gcode from CAM software. Is there an interface that supports these needs, or do I need to code something myself? 

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02 Nov 2025 20:37 #337734 by unknown
Linuxcnc is probably overkill for this situation.
If you look around YouTube you'll find plenty of projects addressing this idea.
Myfordboy has done such a project but using a spin indexer.
The following user(s) said Thank You: timo

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03 Nov 2025 07:05 #337746 by rodw
Its not very hard to do this with an Arduino (even for me) and there are several such indexers available. Sorry but I don't think I have the code anymore.

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03 Nov 2025 07:16 #337747 by Hakan
The interface has a manual mode where you can jog to an angle.
Or enter G0 X-40 in the MDI for it to go to -40 degrees.

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03 Nov 2025 11:26 - 03 Nov 2025 11:28 #337753 by JT
The Flex GUI is the best interface for this because you can have as little or as much as you want. Also it's based on PyQt6 which is the latest so it will be supported for a long time. All the rest of the GUI's assume you have a standard mill or lathe and are based on the now retired PyQt5. Flex GUI assumes nothing. If you want a GUI with two jog buttons it's rather simple.

gnipsel.com/linuxcnc/flexgui/index.html

On Libera.Chat #flex-dev or #linuxcnc you can get rapid help for Flex GUI usually.

FYI
Standard support for Qt 5.15 LTS (the last release of the Qt 5 series) ended on May 26, 2023. This means that open-source users no longer receive community updates or security patches for Qt 5.

JT
Last edit: 03 Nov 2025 11:28 by JT.

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05 Nov 2025 12:28 - 05 Nov 2025 12:34 #337881 by timo
Hello,

we had a longish discussion about using an arduino for this task; here:

www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/threads...rduino-idexer.35108/

and here:

www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/threads...e-for-dummies.26744/

Be careful with rounding errors and backlash, but for simple indexing this does work fine.

With an Arduino and stepper that is rel. slow, but I would prefer it over a linux CNC system, because it "stand alone" and cheap and easy to build.
The second link is good for the basic setup and wiring description. 
The first link dives into the rounding error explanation. 

Good luck. 
Last edit: 05 Nov 2025 12:34 by timo.

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