Yet another rotary question

[CRFJim]

I was fooling around trying different things on V9 to learn how to use the rotary better and ran into yet another problem. My hypothetical part has 6 individual flats on it, but unlike a regular hex, where the sides touch, these flats do not. I can't seem to toolpath my program to face the flats by simply indexing the rotary 60 degrees. Any tips? Also, why is it when I attempt to use mulitiaxis-4 axis rotary to toolpath it, it only gives me ball mills for tools? I know I can substitute a flat mill, but I also suspect I'm once again trying to use the wrong method of toolpathing.

[Guest]

ON something like you describe, program it once and use transform rotate to get all 6 sides. If it is just a flat the is no reason for any of the rotary paths

[Colin Gilchrist]

+1 To Transform Toolpath - Rotate.

 

Depending on how your post is setup, you should probably rotate about the Right hand plane.

 

Step 1: Draw the 3D geometry of the Hex on a cylinder.

 

Step 2: create the contour (could also be pocket or face) to mill one side of the hex to the proper depth. This should be done from Top view.

 

Step 3: Use transform toolpath to create multiple copies of the contour. Use Transform Toolpaths, On the Types/Methods tab, select Type:"Rotate" and Method:"Toolplane".

 

On the Rotate Tab, select "origin" (You did draw the 3D part with the center positioned on the X axis right?) and enable the check box for "rotation view". Use the select arrow button and choose the Right Cplane. Set your number of copies. You might need to enable the "Copy sources operations" and "disable posting in source operation" check boxes, depending on how you like to set it up.

[CRFJim]

Thanks guys! I had some spare time today and was trying to duplicate a part I'd seen our previous programmer/operater make a few years ago. It also had holes drilled and tapped in each of the flats and now I know that's how he did that as well. I can't wait to get to work and try again, I know it'll work now. Thank You! Jim

[CRFJim]

Transform toolpath worked great. It did exactly what I wanted to do with the part. The funny thing is, I've used it in the past, but didn't think of it in this application. Once again the people on this forum have made my life easier!