Z retract in drilling cycle

[connormac]

I am trying to a series of holes down a part. holes are on diffrent z surfaces so I have to do it in diffrent tool pathes. What I want is for Z to retract to clearance plane .1 above the part. So I have first set of holes:

 

clearence .1

retract -.425

top of stock -.425

depth -.525.

 

surface is -.475

 

next set of holes :

 

clearence .1

retract -1.725

top of stock -1.725

depth -1.825.

 

surface is -1.775

 

But when it moves to second set of hole it doesn't

retract to Z .1.

 

I do not have the "use clearance only ..." box checked?

[savagkd]

Is your clearence set to .1 abs?

[connormac]

Yes

[Bill Craven]

What post are you using?

 

Was it updated from a previous version of Mastercam?

 

Does the MPFAN or MPMASTER post output the correct zmoves? (maybe not the right code for your amchine, but it will tell you if the parameters are set correctly.

[SLJ]

I have done this a couple of times by picking center of the arc at the surface and setting top of stock to 0 inc., clearence to "z" abs. and depth to whatever abs. That's if I remember it right:)

[Roger Peterson]

1st the top of stock should represent the where the surface is not where you want to retract to.

 

2nd are you seeing a G98 or a G99 in your canned cycle?

 

3rd some machines may not retract to the initial height on the last position before a G80. This means that your post may need to be modded to output the Z clearance height. This is fairly common.

 

4th From the looks of your #'s you could all of the holes in one drill toolpath using incremental as your retract, top of stock, and depth. Only if your controller will allow you to change your R and Z values mid cycle though.

 

 

HTH

[robk]

clearence .1 (ABS)

retract .1 (INC)

top of stock -.425 (INC)

depth -.525 (ABS)

[robk]

quote:

---

From the looks of your #'s you could all of the holes in one drill toolpath using incremental as your retract, top of stock, and depth. Only if your controller will allow you to change your R and Z values mid cycle though.

---

+1000

[robk]

Oooops, this is right...

 

clearence .1 (ABS)

retract .05 (INC)

top of stock -.475 (INC)

depth -.525 (ABS)

 

 

clearence .1 (ABS)

retract .05 (INC)

top of stock -1.775 (INC)

depth -1.825 (ABS)

[connormac]

Sorry it took me so long to get back. Went to Six Flags with the kids.

 

Anyway the post was written for us by the dealer.

 

G98

 

Using old controler don't think I can change stuff in mid cycle.

 

If I start using Inc on some of my depths it starts adding numbers together and my top of stock ends up deeper than the drill depth.

 

What do need to put in my post to Z retract to clearence height???

 

Thanks for all the ideas

[connormac]

Ok maybe I'm stupid. I think that it goes to .1 already and I just wasn't thinking can you say who the big dumb a$$

code:

---

T4M6

G54G0X-1.062Y-.3345

G43H4Z.1M08

S5000M3

G98G81X-1.062Y-.3345Z-.4295R-.333F4.8

Y-.9655

G80

(STEP 2)

X-1.504Y-.3345

G98G81X-1.504Y-.3345Z-.5905R-.494F4.8

Y-.9655

G80

(STEP 3)

X-2.069Y-.303

G98G81X-2.069Y-.303Z-.8435R-.747F4.8

Y-.997

G80

(STEP 4)

X-2.765Y-.303

G98G81X-2.765Y-.303Z-1.0965R-1.F4.8

Y-.997

G80

(STEP 5)

X-3.46Y-.303

G98G81X-3.46Y-.303Z-1.3495R-1.253F4.8

Y-.997

G80

(STEP 6)

X-4.155Y-.303

G98G81X-4.155Y-.303Z-1.6025R-1.506F4.8

Y-.997

G80

(STEP 7)

X-4.85Y-.303

G98G81X-4.85Y-.303Z-1.8555R-1.759F4.8

Y-.997

G80

(STEP 8)

X-5.545Y-.303

G98G81X-5.545Y-.303Z-2.1085R-2.01F4.8

Y-.997

G80

M09

G0 G28 G91 Z0 M19

G90

N50M1

---

I never had time to even put it in the machine. I just looked at the code and thought it was wrong. Was it ???

If I had my head somewhere it shouldn't be just tell me and I will get the old die hooks out and remove it

[Psychomill]

Looks good....

 

On any machine I've been on the G98 will bring it back to Z.1 at the G80.

 

Now if it we're G99.....

 

By the way, what controller are you using? This could be a lot shorter if you eliminated having to set the can cycle at each position. Such as:

 

Z.1

G81G98X0Y0Z-.5R-.4F5.

X1.Y-2.Z-.7R-.6

X1.5R-.3

Y-5.Z-1.R-.772

ETC.

ETC.

ETC.

G80

 

I've done this on some pretty old controllers and they we're all capable for all cans.

 

Check it out above the part... you'll know right away!

[connormac]

It is an old O-M controller about 15 years old. How do I do what you are saying to do and I will try it.

???

[Psychomill]

It's been a long, long time since I've used an OM board.

 

For the most part I hand edit the program. Delete all of your G80s in between the positions keep the "R" and "Z" that you need. So all you'll need is:

 

X..Y..Z..R..

 

for each position. Just don't double up on the XY or just have a line with a Z by itself or you'll end up drilling the same hole twice (unless you want to do that). You should be able to freely change all commands (X,Y,Z,R,Q,F,L, etc) until you hit the G80.

 

Programming this right on MC I'm not sure about. You'll probably have to do it in 3D (or at least have the holes drawn at different Z planes) then pick all the holes. Never tried it. Anybody know about this?

[Psychomill]

Just tried this in MC and it does work (the holes only have to be at different Z's). It works great if all of your holes are the same depth relative to the surface its drilled from ( even in G99 it will back up in Z before next position so you can stay down in the part).

[Bill Craven]

I just uploaded a file to the ftp site called connor drill depth example under the MC9 directory.

 

It ouputs code that is nearly identical to yours using only one operation and the MPFAN post. I drew the holes at the correct z depth.

 

Under the 2nd page of the drill parameters I used:

 

Clearance .1 Abs

retract .05 Inc

Top of stock .1 Inc

Depth 0 Inc

 

The way this works is:

 

Mastercam calculates from the finish depth up.

 

The depth is zero Incrementally in relation to where the arc was drawn.

 

The top of stock is .1 incrementally from the depth (here I am assuming that the part thickness is .1)

 

The retract is .05 inc. above the top of stock (this is where the tool will rapid down to)

 

The clearance is .1 Absolute above the top of the part

 

If I add a value in the depth field, it will add or subract that value to the depth that the geometry was drawn

 

If I had left the depth Absolute it would have picked up the depth of the first hole and drilled all holes to the same depth.

 

The incremental/absolute settings also work the same for pockets. There is no reason to cut air when doing a pocket inside of a pocket.

 

HTH

[connormac]

Psychomill ,

What I'm trying to do is do it without hand editing.

 

So do I put all my moves in incremental so it will stop .05 above surface, and drill .05 below surface.

 

Thanks all for the input.

[Charlie Pierson]

Using Macro B, I just have the post list the locations between hard wired code in a subprogram then write a call to that sub in the main program.

 

It's more hand editing but less headache for me and the hole locations only occur once in the total program which makes for easier maintenance.

(we run mostly repeat production parts)

 

i.e.

 

 

Main:

(DRILL)

G65P1111T81E98.Z-.375R.1S1900F18.

..

..

(TAP)

G65P1111T84E98.Z-.25R.3S800F20.

 

sub:

O1111

G90G00X.5Y.5S#19M03

Z.1M08

G#20

G#8

.

.

X.5Y.5Z#26R#18Q#17F#9

X-.5Y.75Z[#26-.28]R[#26-.28]

.

.

.

.

G90G80G40G00Z5.

etc

 

[Psychomill]

What Bill Craven said works. If you do it this way you'll need to draw the arc at the Z depth you want to drill to. Another way is to draw the arc at the top face (or plane) of the hole then use the "Depth" to control your actual hole depth in incremental. Then "Top of stock" would be set to zero (incremental).

 

Again, this is assuming all of your holes are the same relative depth from the feature face (boss or island or something).

 

To Charlie: I've used similar macros as well but these days I'm running into more and more people that little or no macro knowledge. So instead, I'll do something similar except like this:

 

T1M6

...

...

...

G81G98X0Y0Z-.5R.1F10.

M98P1111 (HOLE POSITIONS)

G80

...

...

...

T2M6

...

...

G84G98X0Y0Z-.4R.2F.025

M98P1111 (HOLE POSITIONS)

G80

...

...

...

etc

 

This way most (hopefully all!!) will understand what happening with out having to explain how variables are set and work.

[Charlie Pierson]

C'est la Vie !!

[connormac]

OK I'm not trying to be stupid but where do I learn how to do macros

[Charlie Pierson]

I learned it from the Fanuc Operating Manuals

[Charlie Pierson]

I forgot to mention that Macro B is an option on Fanuc controls

[connormac]

OK thanks I will check it out. Thanks for all the ideas.

[connormac]

Bill,

that looks great I will try it on my program and let you know how it works.