Help with 4 axis deburr

[nperry]

Been using the deburr toolpath a lot lately which has really come in handy. Only issue is I can't get this path to agree with the 4 axis rotary setting.  You can see the results below for the 4 axis motion and then the clean 3 axis motion. All I want to do is get that 3 axis motion to output with A180. My present workaround is to program it for a 3 axis operation and then go in and hand code the rotary position. Kind of annoying though. Anyone know how to make this toolpath clean with the 4 axis rotary setting in the tool axis control parameters?

Current settings for the 4 axis motion are 4 axis (rotary) in tool axis control, direction is Z axis. Planes are WCS A0., Cplane A180., Tplane A180. I've tried to change the direction with the same settings and every option yields different, but results that are equally as silly as what's pictured.

 

[crazy^millman]

Have you tired Vectors to control the rotations?

[Aaron Eberhard]

Why is your rotary direction Z?  It looks like this part is aligned to the X axis (as if mounted in an "A" axis on the machine).  

If you tell it's 4 axis, and has to rotate around the Z, then it will have to construct a cylinder to rotate around when linking from side to side (cylinder size is controlled on the linking page).  Most likely, it's set to automatic which will envelope everything in it and make it excessively large.

 

Can you post a file, even if you chop the part off after the head, that will be fine.

[David Colin]

@nperry It reminds me of parts i deburred a few years ago with morph (now it's converted to unified). It may help.

deburr-with unified.mcam

[Jake L]

A file will always be helpful.

1 hour ago, nperry said:

All I want to do is get that 3 axis motion to output with A180. My present workaround is to program it for a 3 axis operation and then go in and hand code the rotary position.

My thought is this is more of a post issue that you're trying to work around. If you're able to reach all the edges you need to deburr with your tool axis set to 3-axis, then I think that's what you should use. If the only issue is the post isn't outputting an A180 then I'd look into the post instead of trying to switch to a 4-axis rotary toolpath setup.

If there are additional edges you are trying to reach that the 3-axis toolpath setup can't get to, then a file to play with or more information and pictures would be needed. 

Here's a shot in the dark: the direction should be set to point in the direction you want the tool to approach from. So instead of the direction set to the Z-axis (this will read the WCS Z-axis not the tool plane) try setting the direction to line and draw a line along the Z-axis of your A180 tool plane.

[nperry]

1 hour ago, Aaron Eberhard said:

Why is your rotary direction Z?  It looks like this part is aligned to the X axis (as if mounted in an "A" axis on the machine).  

If you tell it's 4 axis, and has to rotate around the Z, then it will have to construct a cylinder to rotate around when linking from side to side (cylinder size is controlled on the linking page).  Most likely, it's set to automatic which will envelope everything in it and make it excessively large.

 

Can you post a file, even if you chop the part off after the head, that will be fine.

Here you go, Aaron.

Right now it's set up in 4 operations, all 3 axis. The motion I have is exactly what I want, but for some reason I cannot get it to output for 4 axis positional moves. I change the WCS information and play with the tool axis control parameters and I can't get anything satisfactory. I've tried all of the direction controls and also using lines.

DEBURRFILE.MCAM-CONTENT

[Jake L]

59 minutes ago, nperry said:

Right now it's set up in 4 operations, all 3 axis. The motion I have is exactly what I want, but for some reason I cannot get it to output for 4 axis positional moves. I change the WCS information and play with the tool axis control parameters and I can't get anything satisfactory. I've tried all of the direction controls and also using lines.

I think Aaron nailed it. I selected all the edges with solid selection, changed to 4-axis (rotary) machining type, and changed direction to x-axis and got a good output. I don't know if it's what you're looking for because it sounds like you're looking for a 4+1 motion, what I did was a 4-axis simultaneous motion.

I can't seem to get a motion that perfectly mimics the 4x 3-axis toolpaths. The closest I got was using machining type 3+2 and locking the tilt range to 90. But doing this causes the tool to ignore a couple edges for some reason... Both of these attempts are at the bottom of the operation list in the attached file. Hope this helps!

 

I was incorrect in my original post. When 4-axis (rotary) machining type is selected the direction is the rotation axis. When 3-axis machining type is selected the direction is pointed towards the direction you want the tool to approach from.

DEBURRFILE.mcam

[nperry]

9 minutes ago, Jake L said:

I think Aaron nailed it. I selected all the edges with solid selection, changed to 4-axis (rotary) machining type, and changed direction to x-axis and got a good output. I don't know if it's what you're looking for because it sounds like you're looking for a 4+1 motion, what I did was a 4-axis simultaneous motion.

I can't seem to get a motion that perfectly mimics the 4x 3-axis toolpaths. The closest I got was using machining type 3+2 and locking the tilt range to 90. But doing this causes the tool to ignore a couple edges for some reason... Both of these attempts are at the bottom of the operation list in the attached file. Hope this helps!

 

I was incorrect in my original post. When 4-axis (rotary) machining type is selected the direction is the rotation axis. When 3-axis machining type is selected the direction is pointed towards the direction you want the tool to approach from.

DEBURRFILE.mcam 8.42 MB · 0 downloads

Yeah I've been able to get decent stuff out of 3+2 also, but still not quite there.

I just want simple 3+1 in this case. We've got 25 Haas machines on the floor, all different vintage. I can verify and machine simulate till I'm blue in the face and the odds of true multi-axis code hitting the floor and not running into a snag that's going to take me an entire day to troubleshoot is slim to none. I need to keep things as simple as possible.

[David Colin]

@nperry One thing to pay attention is that deburr toolpath is a multiaxis toolpath and you usually need to set operation planes to "top/top/top" (here your custom WCS A0/A0/A0). Tool axis control page is where you set your tool axis control^^.

I modified your original file that way, using solid edges (=lines) to control tool plane for each operation and it should post A axis motion fine.

DEBURRFILE.zip

[nperry]

4 hours ago, David Colin said:

@nperry One thing to pay attention is that deburr toolpath is a multiaxis toolpath and you usually need to set operation planes to "top/top/top" (here your custom WCS A0/A0/A0). Tool axis control page is where you set your tool axis control^^.

I modified your original file that way, using solid edges (=lines) to control tool plane for each operation and it should post A axis motion fine.

DEBURRFILE.zip 2.43 MB · 3 downloads

This works beautifully! Thanks for your help David.

[crazy^millman]

Again someone shared a file and others were able to help by having that file.

For those that do share files remember from time to time to go clean out your attachments since we have a limited amount of space to share files. About time for me to do some house cleaning and link files to my Dropbox account.