Rotary 4 axis start point

[Big Buddah]

Is there any way to specify my star point with this operation. My CMS machine requires me to start at a certain value to cut the full 360?

[mcpgmr]

Welcome to the forum Big Buddah ! Can you be more specific with the question ? Not sure what your talking about.

[Big Buddah]

Sorry, I'm new to both the forum and programming. We're trying to basically cut a cylinder. We've got a cms machine and the guy tells me I need to specify my starting point of the cut to be around -90 to get the machine to cut a full 360 circle. So I managed to stumble into the rotary 4th axis function and it seems to be doing what I want, except it starts at +90 and when putting this value into the machine it limits out.

[Chris Rizzo]

For starters, a setting in the machine will allow A postitions over 360 degrees.

[Big Buddah]

I'm not trying to sound like a smart a$$ but I've got the e-mails from the machine guys and they are the ones that told us that if we set our starting point at -90 we can cut a full 360.

 

We've tried changing and tried changing some more, but basically I've had to go in and manually edit all of the programs to start at -90 and then continue through.

 

I can continue to do this as it's the only way we can get it to work, but I was looking for an easier way wich is basically to be able to define the srating position.

[crazy^millman]

You control this by what is called C-planes in Mastercam which is the construction plane. If you want ot start at a particalar position then you need ot be using that C-plane as the control. Then when you move to the next C-plane which could be front, side, back, left, or right then you have one of those 90 degree postions for the indexing you are looking for. But here comes the tricky part if you have .001 degree spacing on your machine in theroy you could have 360,000 c-planes for a part. You gasp like I am crazy but you of course would need to be doing work as all of those degree spacings to need that. My point is you are limited in Mastercam on 4th and for that matter 5ht axis indexing by the limits of your imagination. If you need it 99% of thime Mastercam does it just a matter of unlocking the program to do it for you.

 

I with that said would recommend you take a class at your local college or dealer to get a the basics of Mastercam down. $th axis programming will make alot of seasoned people in Mastercam stummble and if that is your starting block you are in for tough times till you get the basics of Mastercam under your belt.

 

Oh yeah welcome to the forum.

[steve f]

Big Buddah,

 

welcome to the forum.

 

Rotary axis output values are handled by the post processor so you may need to get some support from your reseller regarding your question. For example, a rotary toolpath that starts in the top view and rotates forward toward the front view can have rotary values for the start and end points in a multitude of variations depending on the post settings specific to your machine.

 

4 axis rotary toolpaths handled by a 5 axis post processor also require a fair amount of customization in the post.

 

HTH,

 

steve