4th Axis

Also known as "rotary indexer" or "rotary axis". This is motorized add on to a 3-axis CNC tool that will hold a piece of material and rotate it while the CNC makes cuts. This allows for a piece of material to be machined from multiple sides without having to move through multiple setups. In principle it is very similar to a lathe--the difference being that rather than spinning continuously at a high speed, a 4th axis makes controlled rotary moves allowing for more complex patterns to be cut.