Your help in lathe is needed

[Bill Martel]

We are going thru the information you guys chipped in. Taking all suggestions under consideration and looking at which ones we can implement sooner than later. Especially the ones that come up over and over.........and over......and over

 

I have alot of work to do. I am keenly aware lathe has not had much for improvements in some time. Some of the changes are easier to make than others so some will be further down the line.

 

I am sure I will not be able to deliver changes as fast as they should be. I can only try and express that I recognize many areas for improvement and that I plan on working hard to improve the software.

 

Now here's the good news and the bad news all in one.

Based on where we are today, aside from some machine def updates, the changes I will start to implement will be in X3 MR1. I am your advocate here at CNC (no this is not the bad news ). I am working hard not only to make some changes in MR1 but putting a plan together for the long haul.

 

I will try and communicate what the changes are once we settle on them.

 

In regards to the VTL files I put on the ftp site:

To date I have only heard back from one person....Thanks James C

[MultiAxGod]

Support the newer multi axis Mill/Turns fully!

 

Just a simple man with a simple plan!

 

Mcam X2-MR2-SP1

Mill Level 3

Lathe Level 1

Solids

5 Axis

[tryon]

Have the ability to machine only undercuts you have selected long a profile. Say you have a part with many 2mm grooves in the profile and some long undercuts also. If you want to rough out the long undercuts and check allow tool to plunge the tool will try to plunge into all the 2mm grooves along with the long ones. To get around it now you have to create new geometry.

[kazmir44]

quote:

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Support the newer multi axis Mill/Turns fully!

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+1000000000

we definitely need to be able to do this.

[Greg Williams]

quote:

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I also have problems with the tools moving in rapid traverse too close to the stock in Rough toolpaths, violating the clearance values from Job Setup. Am I just using the software incorrectly, or have you other guys experienced this?

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this issue drives me mad.

[RTcat]

I'm sure you Lathe guys have beat this one in the ground. May as well get this back to the top of the list again since I saw a request for a Lathe forum. Haven't heard much out of Bill Martel our Lathe Product Manager. Maybe he can give us an update since he's "here for the long haul".

[kunfuzed]

How about being able to move the WCS and toolplane like in Mill so you don't have to rotate the part? I think this would help greatly for parts that have to bounce back and fourth between mill and lathe. Seems like it could also do away with the stock flip, and keep it down to one solid, one file. Seems like it shouldn't be that difficult to add.

 

I just relized I last asked for this in the Mill suggestions thread, so now I'm adding it here.

 

Any comments on this one?

[John King]

1) Is it possible to turn with a multi-directional groove tool with dissimilar corner radius?

 

2) When X3 is released will the stock recognition for the lathe part of Mastercam have any enchantments?

[Goldorak]

+1 for multi-axis

 

stock transfer + okuma coltrol don't fit very well

[crazy^millman]

quote:

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How about being able to move the WCS and toolplane like in Mill so you don't have to rotate the part? I think this would help greatly for parts that have to bounce back and fourth between mill and lathe. Seems like it could also do away with the stock flip, and keep it down to one solid, one file. Seems like it shouldn't be that difficult to add.

---

This is kind of how I program it now. I do put the part in the top view so yes I rotate it. However I then use one WCS for front turning and milling work on our Integrex and then use another WCS for the back spindle work only using one Model. Problem is it is about 50/50 as to it verifying right. Sometimes it does a good job other times I just backplot and trust that since verifying will take a dump on me.

 

 

I do not keep our parts in one file since some of our parts may have as many as 14 operations. I have Mastercam set-up where we put the part Number and Part Revision in the Machine group name. We then pull our Machine, Program Log and the Traveler Operation number from the group. Mastercam will not allow you to name Machine groups all the same. We do it this way so when we post a program we get everything we need from Mastercam for our headers to be complaint to MBD, DPD, and AS9100 requirments.

 

HTH

[Greg Williams]

quote:

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stock transfer + okuma coltrol don't fit very well

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Really, What is the issue?

 

M146

M109

G0 X1200.

G20 HP=4

M48

N17 M01 (OP STOP)

G97 S=200

/M00

 

(CHUCK TO CHUCK)

 

G20 HP=4

BA=0

G0 X1200

M5

G0 W1800.

M247

M249

M151

G0 W100.

M88 M288

G94 G90

G29 PW=30

G22 W0 D1 L1 F1000 PW=25

G29 PW=20

M248

M84

G141

WCPY

G140

G97 S=200

/M00

 

(CHUCK RETRACT ONLY)

 

G04 F1

G0 W1800. (SUB HOME)

M184

M150 (SYNCHRONIZED ROTATION OFF)

G94

M01 (TRANSFER COMPLETE)

 

G141

G50 S2000

G20 HP=4

(TOOL - 1 OFFSET - 1)

(PCLNR 2525M 09 - R0.8 INSERT - CNMG 16 06 08)

(FACE SUB SPINDLE)

MT=00101

M321

NA1 (RESTART POSITION)

G20 HP=4

G97 G95 S=2000 M42 M602 BA=45. M8 TL=001001

M3

[kunfuzed]

Thanks Ron. I rarely get to use lathe, so of course I am quite the novice with it. I am curious how you set up your toolplane for the backside of the part. I though I tried this once, but can't remember how it went.

 

I addressed some other reasons for why I want this in a previous post.

 

quote:

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Here where I work, at least with the mill programs, were supposed to not move the solid at all. That way when it gets modified, we can just import it back in. I think that once change recognition has reached a high level of reliability, this will be very important.(I really can't speak about it though since I don't use it) Also, we've had some turning work to do on parts were the features were'nt a nice 180 apart which we held in fixtures. I think WCS (or just the toolplane, I get those confused) in lathe would be great for this so you only have one solid, one file.

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[Goldorak]

Greg , does your lathe works in Z- toward the chuck on both spindles (G141 and G140) ??

 

my L370mw inverse the WCS on sub so the same program can fit main and sub

 

mastercam dont like that way of programming , so we got to tweak the post to reverse the WCS (post from in-house)

 

and most of my stock transfert is hard coded in the post si i got to do some modification to get it right

 

i know that is not 100% martercam's fault but i got to be "inventive" to avoid collision error (that is not true in reality) when i regen my toolpath

 

as i said before , im a n00b on lathes and i got to learn how to make things work well

 

on a mill it's an other story

[MultiAxGod]

Correct the problems on Verification for when you are doing things like 5 axis machining. Tool goes through part to get to the other side, when in the code it doesn't.

And get steady rest working and stock working properly without problems.

I know these are bugs, but they are a pain.

[Greg Williams]

quote:

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Greg , does your lathe works in Z- toward the chuck on both spindles (G141 and G140) ??

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Yes this is how all Okuma lathes work.

[Goldorak]

quote:

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Yes this is how all Okuma lathes work.

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tanks !

 

here we had 5 okumas lathes but only one multiaxes

 

the other is fanuc controller

 

 

i ask my reseller and my problem can be correct in my post

[Jeremy Grigsby]

Make an option in facing to face in the Z- direction instead of only X. We do many "family of parts" on the same size casting and usually there is a good amount of stock to come off the faces. These parts are 15" dia and up thin wall castings. We can't chuck on very much and chucking pressure must be low. Currently I have to do a OD roughing operation to get it to face this way. The only thing is Mastercam gets confused ever since X2 was released. The OD works fine, but if there is a tool overlap issue with the ID, it just blanks and cuts nothing. I would just like to be able to face to 0 in the z direction to save lots of time.

[Madhu]

1. Automatic feed and speed calculations associative to surface finish and surface roughness values

 

2. Multi spindles and multi turret programming options

 

3. Threading output in microns (P, Q, R)

[Goldorak]

after a couple of months on lathe programming , most of my problem is ok but, canned rough cycle and control cutter comp drives me crazy , it simply don't work the way it should!!!

 

hope for X3 ...........

[Guest]

axela,

 

I'm curious, what doesn't work for you?

[Goldorak]

i simply don't get the same toolpath in the machine than on my screen and it's very different

 

some issues got to be fixed in my post like DOC in canned cycle (on radius in mc and diameter in the machine) and how to initiate compensation ( position of the G41/G42)

 

an on our fanuc18T control , every time i turned on the control comp , i got an NRC alarm for no reason , the G-code seems to be ok but just don't work

 

 

my reseller is supposed to pass by tomorrow to check this

 

i will give you some news about this

[Greg Williams]

Yes Canned cycles can be a problem, Why not just use long code?

[FP1]

1.) Why do all the pre-described rough boring bars default to a 75 degree insert when in should be 80 degrees? I have never seen any lathe tooling catalog with a 75 degree insert.

C=80, T=60, D=55, V=35, so what?=75

 

All of the OD rough, OD fin, and ID fin are defaulting to 80 degrees. Why is ID fin at 75 degrees? Drives my setup guys crazy when they see this 75 deg callout in the comments of the gcode program. I have much more important things to do with my time than edit all of these 75 degree callouts.

 

2.) Please make the boring bars show up as round instead of rectangular/flat in verify which currently shows collisions that are not really going to happen.

 

3.) My biggest gripe has to be no support for timing codes on 4-axis or multi-tasking lathes with multiple spindles and turrets. I have been creating two seperate programs and manually editing the gcode to add timing codes, balanced depth, and balanced feed type cuts since 2001. I would have been pushing for a competitors software but I just don't have time to learn another package.

[Jeremy Grigsby]

How about a pecking cycle in od turning. I think I've read Mazak offers a chipbreaking cycle on their machines. It would just be an option in the roughing (turning) cycle that allows you to specify the machine to stop and back off slightly or dwell at whatever value you give it.

It would be alot of code, but there are just some materials that the chip just won't break.

[chris m]

On the same note as Jeremy, a "remove chips" option for roughing, even canned roughing, would be nice for boring. Many of my 4340 jobs require that I either create [2] or [3] roughing ops with a manual M00 between them, or use Rough and manually edit the program to give the operator a place to pull the chips out during rough boring. It'd be cool if MC would let you select a number of passes after which to post a program stop for this purpose.

 

How about automatically "learning" things like tool type, cut direction, TNR and tool center when you bring in a custom tool? I have hundreds of custom tools and every time I use one I need to set all of this stuff, most of it is obvious due to the way the tool geometry is created.