Haas lathe question

[Rob B]

We have a guy here that is going to school to program Haas lathes. He wants me to tweak their post to output code so he's comfortable with it.

 

He wants the machine to leave home and make a direct move in Z to Z.5, then move to the X,Z coordinates per his lead-in lead-out. He doesn't want to come from home with the X,Z move, because he say this could crash the tailstock. I do know that a Haas will travel from home to the face of the part and if it has a shorter distance in X than Z, it will move to the X position and then finish making the Z move(basically they move at the same speed, completing the shortest distance first). I don't think all lathes do this, do they?

 

So how can I change the post to get it to post this Z move after the toolchange and before the lead-in position. I have put code in the post so it will hard post out to G54Z.5, but this doesn't show up if he tries to do a backplot or verify.

 

I don't know if this is actually a problem or if he's blowing smoke wanting this done. I don't have a lot of MC lathe experience. So maybe some of you lathe guru's can help me with this.

 

X2 MR2 SP1

 

Thanks Robert

[Colin Gilchrist]

Robert,

 

Don't bother changing the post. Just have him use the lathe 'reference points'. These are used to pre-position the tool to an entry/exit point. You get one option for OD work, and one for ID work. Plus, you can see it in backplot. Trust me, it is the best option for the way he wants to program. Save yourself some time...

 

You can also set these reference positions as the default by editing the 'operation defaults' file.

[chris m]

All lathes that I've worked on will dog-leg rapid just like a machining center.

 

As far as collision goes, it depends on where the tailstock is positioned within the machine and whether you have a center in it or not. If the tailstock is all the way back and is empty there is no way you should need to move around it. The "move all tools to Z.500" seems a little silly since a boring bar or a drill is a lot longer than a turning tool, therefore the turret will be a lot closer to the tailstock when you have a boring bar at Z.500 than it will when a turning tool is at Z.500, BUT, it can be done in the post if you want to. I don't have an X post, but I can give you a steer if you need it; I'd personally just skip it altogether, or do it as stated by Colin if it "needs" to be done.

[ROB]

I agree with Colin use reference points.

[Chris Rizzo]

quote:

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We have a guy here that is going to school to program Haas lathes

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he needs to learn the proper way is with ref. points

[Rob B]

Ref points it shall be.

Thanks to all

[Thee Dragracer1951]

Man, I guess so do I. I alsways just edit in the moves when doing tailstock work...

Jim Teh Slow....

[T_MALENA]

I agree with ref points (thats what I do). And if the tailstock safty zone is defined correctly then he wont have to worry about crashing it. I would think defining the tailstock parameters would be the best option. Without proper parameters you could still crash with a z.5 then down in x if say you called up a boring bar with the tailstock inplace. With it defined you'll get a alarm.

 

Tim

[PA Hogman]

I'm having the same problem with my new Haas TL1. It always sends X first then Z. If the tailstock is anywhere except parked in the back there will be a collision. I tried using reference points and Mastercam shows that it is using them but it is not outputting the moves in the post. Whats a poor lathe jockey to do?

[MILLRUNNER]

I usually just edit the program. But if you have a very complex (Cam created) program, I can understand wanting the post to do it. I have used reference epoints also.

[YoDoug®]

PA Hogman, What post are you using. Can you share a file? If you have The reference points set up correctly the post should output them. We need to determine if you have incorrect reference points or a post problem.