Do you have to create a plane for each hole rotary drilling?

[CNCZACK]

Programming 4th axis rotary. i was told that i have to create a new plane for each hole. this seems like way more work than it should be. so each hole location has its own toolpath. there has to be a better way. 

 

this is what my planes and toolpaths look like for 6 simple codes i could hand write and end up with a shorter code 

[AHarrison1]

If you have some holes that have the same 'X' value then you can use Toolpath Transform - Rotate.

[Aaron Eberhard]

If you have multiaxis, you can just choose "tool axis control" and set it to 4 axis.  If you don't, but they're all rotated around center, you can use rotary axis control to create a 4 axis toolpath.

[CNCZACK]

8 hours ago, Aaron Eberhard said:

If you have multiaxis, you can just choose "tool axis control" and set it to 4 axis.  If you don't, but they're all rotated around center, you can use rotary axis control to create a 4 axis toolpath.

I am using rotary axis control, i assumed you do rotary access positioning and rotate about the Y axis but i get a post error when i try and post that out 

[heavychevy2155]

Does your post support a 4th axis output?

[CNCZACK]

10 hours ago, heavychevy2155 said:

Does your post support a 4th axis output?

as far as i can tell only in axis sub, or if i create a plan for every hole. in tool axis control if i switch it from 3x to 4 it defaults back to 3 

[Aaron Eberhard]

2 hours ago, CNCZACK said:

as far as i can tell only in axis sub, or if i create a plan for every hole. in tool axis control if i switch it from 3x to 4 it defaults back to 3 

Yeah, in Tool Axis Control, that'll only be unlocked if you have the drill/curve 5ax license or full multiaxis license.

 

For the post, if it's a newer post, I'd check that the axis combo doesn't have the rotary axis listed in it, if it's an older post, well, who knows?    Might be worth a call to your reseller, especially if you got the post from them.

Just to confirm you got it set up right, here's a simple example using the default post that will generate the correct code for a Y axis substitution.

Rotary Axis Sub.mcam

[Aaron Eberhard]

16 hours ago, CNCZACK said:

I am using rotary axis control, i assumed you do rotary access positioning and rotate about the Y axis but i get a post error when i try and post that out 

Sorry, I missed this yesterday.   I was using Axis Sub, not Positioning.  I can't recall the last time I used positioning, or if I ever did, but I think that's more for planar moves that happen at different angles (i.e., contour toolpaths that you want it to resolve the plane to do each face on or whatever).  In this case, I mean to just do an axis sub.  I'm pampered because I live in 5 axis worlds, so I never really use these old options

[CNCZACK]

48 minutes ago, Aaron Eberhard said:

Sorry, I missed this yesterday.   I was using Axis Sub, not Positioning.  I can't recall the last time I used positioning, or if I ever did, but I think that's more for planar moves that happen at different angles (i.e., contour toolpaths that you want it to resolve the plane to do each face on or whatever).  In this case, I mean to just do an axis sub.  I'm pampered because I live in 5 axis worlds, so I never really use these old options

This is great! its ideally how i would like to go about this. 

axis rotary as listed

programmable axes: z, y, x, a

part holding component: mill rotary axis chuck 

tool holding component: vmc tool spindle 

 

so  the axis rotary is or isnt a good thing to have listed? 

 

[Aaron Eberhard]

4 minutes ago, CNCZACK said:

This is great! its ideally how i would like to go about this. 

axis rotary as listed

programmable axes: z, y, x, a

part holding component: mill rotary axis chuck 

tool holding component: vmc tool spindle 

 

so  the axis rotary is or isnt a good thing to have listed? 

 

Yeah, you have to have the rotary axis listed in the axis combo, or else I don't think it'll even show you those options in the toolpath.

Looks like that should be the right setup, but like I said, I don't know that I've ever used the "Rotary Axis Positioning" option, so I'm no help there, sorry!  I've only used this for Axis Sub.

[AMCNitro]

You can always create one plane, DUPLICATE it and then ROTATE INCREMNTAL