Tombstone programming

[connormac]

OK with all your help I was able to get the 1st program written.(I think) Now I have a few questions.

 

1st our machine has 2 pallets. We are using ClusterTowers (4" bilocks) on each pallet.

We are doing 2 parts per face ( same op to each part). The program will do something on every vise. It will be a progression. every time pallet is complete you pull off 2 complete and move rest of parts to next station.

 

Offsets is where I start getting lost. B0 P1 and P2 to face the part. Do I then go to B270 P3 and P4 to face parts to thickness.

I guess what I am asking 1st is there a method to the madness of deciding work offsets.

When I rotate part 90 deg. to drill side hole in part that was B0 P1 what would you name offset B270 P11 ??

My head hurts.

[Guest]

yes you would be well off to set up some type of convention to use. down the road it will then be second nature.

we use p1-p10 for op one p11-p20 for op2 and so on but u must decide the system you like along with those that work with it.

doug

[connormac]

Do you consider op 1 to be every thing that happens to parts on B0 side? Including side work.

[Tim Johnson]

I use one offset per part (1 thru 8 on a clustertower). When I'm machining the sides or any other angle for that matter I run a subprogram that will recalculate the offset for that angle and store the calcs to G59. This saves a lot of setup time and greatly lowers operator mistakes.

 

One operation for me includes everything that can be done in one clamping.

[Rick Henrickson 65]

I agree with tim 1 hold is 1st op

 

As far as numbering work offsets it really depends on the tolerances you are working with and how accurately you model your tombstones, with vices and or fixtures on them usually the first op should not require you to pick up zeros!

 

I program everything from center of rotation but still give offsets to each part.

 

example you said you are doing two parts per face

so I use offsets as follows

 

P1 is the face of the top part B0

P2 is the right of the top part B90

P3 os the left of top part B270

 

then the bottom part is

P4 face B0

P5 right B90

P6 left B270.

 

now the offsets dont really tell you wich face of the tomb they are on I use the setup doc for that BUT to translate or rotate toolpath it makes it easier to keep the offsets in an equal spacinng.

 

just my 2 cents.

[Rick Henrickson 65]

Oh and like Tim said if we do have to pick up offsets from the part we use an M300 to calculate rotations from the face position that we picked up

 

But try and be accurate on tooling and you should be able to post and go!

[connormac]

Rick,

I'm trying something like U said but,

 

face part 1 B0 P1

face part 2 B0 P2

left side part 1 B90 P3

left side part 2 B90 P4

right side part 1 B270 P5

right side part 2 B270 P6

 

This way the operator doesn't have to jump around the offset page. I don't know.

 

Then for next side just add 10 to the offsets. Like Doug said.

 

This is just a test of the emergency offset system.

 

Any advise will be noted and tried.

Thanks for all the help

[Rick Henrickson 65]

what ever works good for you is all that maters

do be careful in case you want to transform or rotate toolpath you will not be able to get the offset increments correct the way you are doing it.

[Rick Henrickson 65]

Oh and since you are just starting out you are setting a standard for the future.

[connormac]

So if I do it like you say I will be able to transform or rotate toolpaths.

This is exactly why I am asking opinions. I never though about that.

And Yes I would like to set the standard now so I don't have to regroup in mid stream.

[Rick Henrickson 65]

yeah if you look in your transform or rotate toolpath you will notice it asks for offset increments

the bummer is you cant increment your first step then your next between the parts

there is only one choice.

so If I am making multiple parts it is easier to program 1 then transform down in the Y then Rotate about the center of rotation to get them to the next face.

Also on the transform ops you have to consider if you can group toolpaths to transform or do them individualy. like if you are spot drilling on the B0 face with out rotating you can spot the left side of the part on the B90 face and the right side of the part on B270.

you have to be carefull with that though the standard posts do not retract before moving to the next part from the face part. Tim who replied in here earlier fixed my post to retract properly for me.

[connormac]

Rick I just figured that out and was fixing my program when I switched over and read your reply. That will save on rotations. Now I am going to have to be very careful to get everything switched. Thanks.

[Bill Sutton@Accurate Machine]

Here was a great topic in Horizontal programming(Tips and Tricks) which got me going in the right direction and hadn't had a bit of trouble since.

Thats why this forum is great to have around.

Thanks everyone.

 

http://www.emastercam.com/cgi-bin/ultimate...=1;t=018399;p=1