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Setting up a Trunnion on an Okuma Mill


joejohn2489
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Hey all, 

This is my first post here. I'll skip pleasantries and get right to what I need help with. So far I have learned a ton from this forum, a really great group of people with a ton of knowledge.

At our shop we have an M560 Mill and we want to start running some 5axis or at least 3+2. We went out and picked up a Tsudakoma TWA-160 Trunnion. The way we have it set in the machine is on the +X far side of the table with the actual body running in Y if that makes sense. Basically The table would tip down towards -X. I cannot seem to find anything on finding the center of rotation for a Trunnion that goes +30 -110. Would you "Trust" the manufactures claim that it's 55mm below the top of the table (minus Subplate) or how do you find that out. 

I have quite a few years of 3 axis and 4 axis lathe (machining and programming) experience, but this has me a little stumped. If you could help even just point me in the right direction to find the information on my own, I'd greatly appreciate it.

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2 hours ago, joejohn2489 said:

Hey all, 

This is my first post here. I'll skip pleasantries and get right to what I need help with. So far I have learned a ton from this forum, a really great group of people with a ton of knowledge.

At our shop we have an M560 Mill and we want to start running some 5axis or at least 3+2. We went out and picked up a Tsudakoma TWA-160 Trunnion. The way we have it set in the machine is on the +X far side of the table with the actual body running in Y if that makes sense. Basically The table would tip down towards -X. I cannot seem to find anything on finding the center of rotation for a Trunnion that goes +30 -110. Would you "Trust" the manufactures claim that it's 55mm below the top of the table (minus Subplate) or how do you find that out. 

I have quite a few years of 3 axis and 4 axis lathe (machining and programming) experience, but this has me a little stumped. If you could help even just point me in the right direction to find the information on my own, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Best to reach out to you local Machine Tool company and let them help. Okuma has the Thinc group and they are a good resource for this type of question. I could help figure it out, but it would take an onsite visit and with Covid-19 going on right now I am home bound. 

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The easiest way to find center of rotation, is to indicate the table flat at the top and zero your x-axis and z-axis at the center of the table and face of the table respectively.  Then rotate your table 90 degrees, and find the x-axis location of your table face, and then the center of the table in z.  Between those two measurements, you should be able to figure out your center of rotation.  Then just figure out what those distances are from machine home, if necessary.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Brent

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Yeah I called into the local reseller. We might have someone coming it to help for a couple hours to work out the problems I'm having. I was hoping to save up our remaining "Training" days that we got with the machines for something that I truly didn't feel comfortable tackling. When I figure it out, I'll make a post about it because I COULD NOT find anything after digging for hours on how to get to the bottom of my issue.

I appreciate the feed back though. If anyone has anything else, feel free to post your thoughts.

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Well the problem with adding something like this are the G and M codes needed to make sure it is working correctly. If you plan on doing full 5 Axis work then the next issue becomes has the Trunnion by synced to your machine so that when you are running all 5 axis together they cut correctly? Every machine and setup is different and when you start adding a trunnion to the equation it grows exponential. Back around 92 I was doing full 4 Axis work using a Mcode activated SMW indexer. I had to add G4 codes all over the program and then sync the A axis moves with the X axis moves to get CAM dies to work. It took me a few days to dial everything in, but I was able to get the timing down and they came out to print. Fast forward 28 years later and machines have advanced no doubt, but adding something after the fact of this nature requires a lot of coordination and sorting through to get it dialed in correctly. I am not saying it will not work, but to work correctly parameters and other things have to be gone through and if you are not versed in all the things needed it can be a ton of work and you can still never get it right. 

I did a project for a customer a few years ago on a 5 Axis Trunnion machine. We ran the 1st set of parts and the customer was upset about some mismatch I was getting in my program. Told me to reprogram the part. I went back and looked and did my best to explain to the customer the program was not the issue. He didn't want to hear it it was a brand new machine and there was no way the machine was the issue. I changed the program 5 different ways and we still got mismatch. He refused to pay me for my work and the service tech happened to be in looking at a different issue and got wind of the conversation. He looked at the program and the part and said I think the COR parameters need to be checked. He checked them and they were off. He recalibrated the machine and the first program I sent was perfect. Sad part is I have seen this 5 more times on 5 different machines and they are brand new machines from the Factory. If the people selling the machines and installing them have a hard time getting this perfect. I am sorry to say, but just throwing a trunnion on the machine and thinking it is going to be perfect from the start without tons of experience is asking a lot for anyone. 

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On 7/14/2020 at 8:11 AM, joejohn2489 said:

Hey all, 

This is my first post here. I'll skip pleasantries and get right to what I need help with. So far I have learned a ton from this forum, a really great group of people with a ton of knowledge.

At our shop we have an M560 Mill and we want to start running some 5axis or at least 3+2. We went out and picked up a Tsudakoma TWA-160 Trunnion. The way we have it set in the machine is on the +X far side of the table with the actual body running in Y if that makes sense. Basically The table would tip down towards -X. I cannot seem to find anything on finding the center of rotation for a Trunnion that goes +30 -110. Would you "Trust" the manufactures claim that it's 55mm below the top of the table (minus Subplate) or how do you find that out. 

I have quite a few years of 3 axis and 4 axis lathe (machining and programming) experience, but this has me a little stumped. If you could help even just point me in the right direction to find the information on my own, I'd greatly appreciate it.

We have the same trunnion on our M560 and sitting the same way.

If it's sitting directly on the table, the center of rotation is 180mm from the top of the table. It's pretty darn close if not spot on to 180mm.

Initially we had Gosiger install it, and set up all of the parameters and whatnot while I hovered and asked questions here and there.

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