V9 4-axis problem

[CRFJim]

I've got a problem with a simple (I thought) program that has just given me fits. I'm making a spiral roll, which is nothing more than an 8" diameter roll, 33" long with (you guessed it) spirals cut in it. I'm using V9 and a Fanuc post and my Z depth should be constant while the rotary turns and the table travels in the x-axis. But no matter what I try, the tool is dropping .170" during the 33" long roll. Before I beat my head against the wall any longer, I was hoping someone could help me out. I could post it on the FTP, but I'm not sure how. Thanks in advance! Jim

[Kannon]

email it to me unzipped and I will try to help. If you zip it the company firewall blocks it.

[John Summers]

If the grooves are slots, you might want to lay the grooves out in the flat and cut them with ROLLDIE.DLL. You don't have to model the walls. Just lay out the slot centerlines. If they're not slots, I'd have to look at the part.

[CRFJim]

Kannon, I emailed it to you,thanks.

John, I'm not familiar with ROLLDIE.DLL, and I'll try anything that will work, but I've never had any trouble cutting helix's before using the same method I'm trying now. But then again, I've never cut them on a long roll. What confuses me is that both the Y and the Z are moving during the cut. The Y is only moving about .008" but as I said the Z is plunging .170" when it should be holding steady. I'm sure I'm overlooking something. Jim

[Kannon]

Jim...

I havent recieved the file yet.

[CRFJim]

I just rechecked my mail and it shows I sent it to you at: [email protected] Is that not right, or was the file not attached?

[Kannon]

I am not recieving anything from ya

the email address you have is correct. I just recieved emails from 2 other forum members so I know my addy is working.

[Guest]

Mail Jim,

 

Kannon, if he wants to email it to me I'll forward it to you.

 

Does you employer block the yahoo domain by chance?

[Kannon]

possibly...I guess I never thought that the firewall was blocking a yahoo account.

Sorry Jim for the inconvience...maybe need John as the middle man.

[John Summers]

Send me the part, Jim.

[CRFJim]

Thanks a bunch guys, I've emailed it to both John Summers and John Paris, hopefully they'll forward it to Kannon or get me out of the rut I'm in. Either way, thanks for all the quick responses! Jim

[Paul Decelles]

If Mr. Summers can't help, you're doomed...

[John Summers]

Jim: Unroll the geometry and just use axis substitution. The splines unroll into single lines. There are 4 starts, so there are 4 lines. There are 56,000 points in your -.NC file. You only need 2 for each line, one at the beginning, and one at the end. Unroll on 8 inch diameter. Change 'angle' from .1 to 5 or 10. Luckily, unroll makes a single line. Always use CW, -90 parameters in roll or unroll. Unroll puts whatever is at the radius at zero depth. Axis substitution posts put it back to the radius depth. Let me know how this works out.

[CRFJim]

You kinda lost me. How do I "unroll" the geometry, and what is axis substitution? Sorry if I sound a little (Ok, a lot) dense, but I'm not all that swift at multi-axis parts. I only use the rotary about 3 times per year, so my skills are lacking in 3D parts. I'll try to work on it in the morning and see if I can put your info to use, it's a little tough to visualize now, but maybe if I start working on it, I'll be able to see what you mean. Thank you!, Jim

[Guest]

Jim,

 

Take a look at the help section, there is a decent explanation of roll/unroll.

[Kannon]

quote:

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There are 56,000 points in your -.NC file.

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no wonder why it was takin so long to recieve it!

at home now...looks like you have the pros on it!

[CRFJim]

Heh, from my vantage point you guys are all pros! I barely know enough to fool my boss into thinking I have half a clue.

[Qmp]

CRFJim,

 

I am late in this topic. but I can help if you send me a file too. We do alot of 4-Axis substitution here. It work fine with V9.

 

 

John Summers,

 

We have problem with X2MR1SP1 for 4-Axis substitution, somehow The start of toolpath shift 90 deg. away from it should be (compare to V9.)

 

Qmp

[Kannon]

Jim..got the file finally..thanks John P.

The file posts out the way you like if you go under your parameters and go into your axis limits tab... then check the z axis box and put a 0 in for min. and a 180. for max. then regen and it should post the way you want.

[CRFJim]

Thanks guys! I had a chance this morning to look at the files everyone sent and it looks like John Paris' solution is what I was trying to do, but ran out of brain before I got it done. But I learned something from all of the samples, so thanks again! Jim

[Kannon]

glad you got it..

[Guest]

quote:

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it looks like John Paris' solution is what I was trying to do,

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Glad you got it but don't thank me, Thank John Summers, I took his suggestion and only laid it out for you because it didn't sound like you knew how.

 

[John Summers]

Qmp, In V9, the defaults are CW, -90. See if that works for you.

[Qmp]

John Summers,

 

That is exactly what I meant. I took the file that was created in V9, then read in X2, when you backplot it shift 90 deg. different from V9. But if you Verify or post to NC file, it is correct.

 

Like you said:

In V9, the defaults are CW, -90.

 

I assume that in X2, the defaults are 0. That why I got the different. So I am not sure, I have done something wrong or is it a bug with X2

 

Qmp

[John Summers]

Qmp: In X2, the 'positioning' default is zero. Change it to -90 to achieve the same positioning as V9. ROLL/UNROLL does not work any differently, but the default was unfortunately set to zero.