Quill question

[Fred from Université de Sherbrooke]

Is anybody here use a Quill (W axis).

I would like to know how you manage it in Mastercam.

Thank's

[Allan Brown]

Z and W are redundant from a posting point of view, as they are both along the tool axis. A few ways to implement use of a quill with Mastercam:

1 - Selectable tool axis using a misc value - 0=Z,1=W,2=V, etc.

2 - Enter a misc real value for the quill, Z is used for the remainder of the move, or visa versa.

3 - Rules of thumb like "move z until the limits are reached, then use W", or visa versa. This would require some knowledge of where your datum is in machine coords.

[Mgrenier]

Hi guys,

Here we have lot's of machines that use the W axis. But Fred, is your W axis for positionning or for machining? If it is for positionning, I would recommand to use a real value and use it.

[Fred from Université de Sherbrooke]

Marting,

Do you have a machin that work with a W axis?

The post I have to do is for positionning.

[Mgrenier]

Well yes we do Fred. We have ove 10 machines that have a quill W axis on them. It really is a must on big horizontal boring machines. This is mainly what we have here in the shop. For what type of control do you have to do this? You might have to use a G52 command to compensate for the W depending on how the machinist takes his work offset (G54).