Errors that aren't picked up by verify

[DanR]

Today we tried to cut some simple pockets. It turned out not so simple.

 

A co-worker had a program with a helix entry to a small pair of pockets. A 3/16 end mill should have handled the curves, but when we ran it we got a error in the graph mode of a Haas telling us that at one point the tool was too big. The offending line seemed to be a G03 line with X, Y positions and I and J entries.

 

MasterCrash verify said it was fine... drew the cuts up spiffy.

 

We couldn't figure out why the problem, so we went to a 1/8 cutter and reposted. Same thing but in a different place.

 

This is Level 1 with Solids... anybody hazard a guess as to what we have run into? We used single step through the graphing mode and found the pocket was cut in multiple passes; the first pass worked fine, while the second hit this alarm TOOK TO BIG as I presume it crashed.

 

MasterCam X2 did not show a problem and verify was fine....

 

?????

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

I'd look at making sure your tool offset register was clear of correct if that's the case. In my experience, I've never trusted the graphics on Machine Tools. They are just as prone to error as anything else. I've had it show fine and do something funky and had the opposite, error out in graph, yet run fine and produce good parts. But, in case of some bad gcode, Verify WILL NOT pick that up. It does not verify G-Code. Only NCI.

[cobra95kev]

It would be a good enhancement if Mastercam included a basic G-code backplotter inside the editor to catch the easy to see errors.

 

Luckily we have surfcam here also their editor (editnc) has a basic backplotter in it and I run all of my code through it first.

 

Kevin C.

[Glenn Bouman]

A editor with a backplotter will not make a differance. It cannot check to see what offset was entered in at the control.

[ToolMan184]

So VERISURF would be useless as well?

[Dan@home]

Are you turning cutter comp on in an arc? Some machines will do this, Haas won't, so it will verify.

[shazam/TPP]

we have fadals here and in the setp parameters you have a choice of m96/m97 default which rounds the corners. i don't know if haas has this but switching between one or the other may solve this. Another problem maybe a corner radius maybe smaller then your tool radius and your control is confused. either remove the corner in mastercam or try a smaller tool.

you can see if this is your problem by entering a smaller tool dia in your offset page and then graph it out (at the machine tool).

[Roger Peterson]

Mastercam users get the Metacut Utilities Light which will backplot Gcode. But again will not check to see if you set your machine up correctly, entered the correct offset, etc...

 

 

Metacut Utilities

[Dan@home]

Roger, this is just a free trial right?

[andrewgore]

DanR,

I run into a similar problem with my Mikron HSM700 with the Heidenhain Atek HS Plus control. The problem is usually my cut tolerance. The machine has filters on its end and if it sees something "out of wack", it will error out. It's taken me forever to get to this point since there is only 1 person in the US and 1 person in Europe that can provide a small bit of useful information. Could be running into the same thing?

 

I did find the other day though that I was going to helix in with just a normal pocketing operation and for some reason the machine would error out in the same way. I thought I had all my ducks in order, but for some reason on the 2d pocketing operation it went crazy on me. I switched my post back to linessplines and it worked fine. Something with circular interpolation causes issues between Mastercam and the Mikron.

 

Not sure if that helps, but it more or less sounds like a similar situation.

 

Andrew

[edmBosto]

andrew.

Try setting the filter on the helix entry to be unchecked at XZ, and YZ. That may be your error problem. I don't think the Mikron likes it.

 

Neither does Mikey!

Sorry, bad joke

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

quote:

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...So VERISURF would be useless as well?...

---

 

That's funny, sorry to laugh at your expense Toolman. Verisurf is INSPECTION software for Laser Trackers, FARO Arms, etc...

[andrewgore]

edmbosto,

That's how its set. I don't think I gave my reseller enough of the Mikron documentation to get the post perfect for arcs in all planes. It still acted up. I rarely use 2d toolpaths on the mikron, so it's not too big a deal. Odd though that the helix entries in the HST's would work fine though, whereas they wouldn't in the 2d toolpaths.

 

Andrew

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Andrew, in a past life I programmed for Cincinati's with Vickers controls which were basically Seimans controls which in a few instances have been similar to Heid's. Anyway, we had to define helixes with a K-Value. The k was essentially the Pitch of the helix (not expressed in degrees but in inches/mm's)

 

Perhaps that may help, maybe not.

[andrewgore]

Did a quick run-through on the manual (gotta love trying to read the foreign languages), but didn't see too much. It's working rather well right now. The times when I do have errors with the HST's is when the minmax arc settings are set at 0.005100.00 This is just too big a window I believe, so I put it at usually 0.0755.00 and it hasn't errored out in awhile. We are still considering though a retrofit on this machine so more than me can use it.

 

Andrew