4th axis NOT on X or Y or Z

[tala]

Hi all,

 

So... I've got a rotary table mounted at an

angle to the Z axis such that I can machine

12 flats which are at an angle to the

centerline of the rotary table's axis.

The angle is: 26.565 degrees. (nice round number)

 

I'm thinking I've done this in MCam in the past.

However, I may be wrong or simply thinking of

parts I've programmed in other systems. (don't

ask... please)

 

I only need to position the 4th axis and then

machine the flats 2D...

 

Is there a way to obtain 4th axis output with

the axis of rotation NOT on one of the major

three axes?

 

Thanks, Tala

[email protected]

[Guest]

I am not sure why, since you can create geometry to do many things why you had to move the rotary axis?

 

I don't have a HASP tonight so I can't try it either.

[tala]

Thanks John,

 

The rotary axis is mounted in relation

to the Z axis. The rotary axis MUST rotate

around that angled axis to position the flats

for machining. (The flats are being

machined 2d)

 

Tala

[email protected]

[John Summers]

If you machine the part 5-axis for a rotary table that tilts about B (Y), then throw away the B axis, you're all set. The tilt-rotary posts, however, assume the part axis is on Z axis. E-mail me if you have trouble with this. You can 'legally' throw away the B axis in this case, because the part is already tilted at that angle.

[tala]

Thank you John,

 

Thanks very much for the suggestion.

After Marc and I looked at your

response here and using

a 5axis MPMaster Post the rest

was pretty easy to figure out.

Your suggestion pointed us in the right direction.

 

I rotated the part so the axis of the

rotary table was normal to the top plane.

Using the plane of the cut for a 2axis

operation and posting to a Haas generic

5axis MPMaster Post I obtained NC code with

rotation for A axis and B axis. Per your

suggestion I'm editing the NC code to strip

the A axis code and I'm good to go.

 

(Powergrep is a nice simple way to strip

the A axis code quickly.)

Again, Thanks very much...

 

Tala

[email protected]

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

Just set your planes to the faces, mill them 3 axis, and add your rotary in the G code.

[steve f]

I agree with Matt.

 

Add a comment after your milling op that contains a call to a sub-program, transform the toolpath between origin and origin ? number of times and write a sub-program with an incremental rotary index move.

 

Might save a little code editing