Drawing Lathe Tools

[Randy Morton @ Clem Industrial]

Morning all,

 

I was wondering if anyone has a good resource for how to properly draw a custom lathe tool? I have one that is...very irregular and need to hand draw it, but I have no idea how lathe tools are compiled (looking at the 'Draw Tool' button just confuses me).

 

Thanks!

[calnet42]

From Mastercam help files:

 

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The Lathe Tools dialog box lets you define custom tools. These are tools that cannot be defined using any other tool types. To do so, you must be able to select geometry which represents the profile of the custom tool. This geometry can be located in either:

 

a separate Mastercam file

 

a separate level in the current Mastercam file.

 

If the file is located on a level in the current Mastercam session, then the tool insert and holder geometry must be the only geometry on that level.

 

The geometry must meet the following requirements. It must:

 

consist of two closed boundaries: one for the insert and one for the holder

 

consist of only lines and arcs

 

The insert must be drawn in one color, and the holder must be drawn in a different color.

 

Once you have the insert and holder geometry saved to a file or to a specified level, you can begin to create the custom tool using the Lathe Tools dialog box.

 

Important: It is strongly recommended that you use the default insert and holder colors. The default colors are: 14 (insert up color), 55 (insert down color), and 116 (holder color). Select Tools, Configuration from the main menu to set the default colors.

 

Notes:

If you are defining a custom tool that is mounted at an angle in the turret, the tool geometry should represent the tool mounted at 0°. You can then define the tool angle in the Setup Tool dialog box (choose the Tool Setup button).

 

When defining a custom boring bar, you should use orientation 4, not 8.

 

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I have found that removing all inside corner rads from the holder geom. really helps.

 

Insert geom. should also be as simple as possible

 

 

Hope this helps!

[crazy^millman]

What I do Randy is take a tool close to what I need. I save it to a level then modify it to suit my needs. The colors are there and the basic shape. Important to remember to Locate the tool correctly. Also define it correctly on the tool parameter page, for direction and way of cutting.

 

HTH

[Philcott]

If you make substantial changes to the tool be sure you have the compensation position set correctly. You find this at the lower left hand corner of the tool parameter page. You will also probably want to set the tool clearance. Click the tab to the right of the compensation buttons.

Be sure to click the draw tool tab and check what your tool looks like and where the little red, tool clearance and nose rad, circles are.

 

Phil

[dowlinzg]

Hey Randy, I have included a file here showing how you would use your custom tool geometry to define a lathe tool. The clearances is the most important thing to watch when making a tool. So just make sure when you click draw tool the circles are in the right place.

 

Hope this helps,

SXZCR-162.MCX-7

[johnhansen]

Can you use the same custom boring bar and work on both Main and sub spindle without creating a new geometry?

[crazy^millman]

Can you use the same custom boring bar and work on both Main and sub spindle without creating a new geometry?

You will need to make a copy of the tool in the lathe tool manager and set it up for the sub spindle.