Programming a 4th axis on a manual indexer

[Zoeper]

I need to cut a part on the cnc mill but do not have a powered 4th axis. I have never programed a 4th axis and would apreciate some guidance as to the proper aproach.

The part i need to cut requires work on 8 sides and the stock will be a 6" x 24" round Aluminum bar.

I want to do all the machining on one side, then rotate the stock 45degrees with the rotary indexer and then do the next side etc.

 

I pulled the part into MCX as a .SAT file.

Progrqamming the first side is OK, but how do i rotate the stock to simulate the indexing and have the geometry properly shown to program the other sides? (the sides are all different)

 

If someone can give me some pointers as to the strategy/procedure it would be much apreciated.

 

Thanks

P

[pip]

Ì would set every side as a new WCS,tool plane and contruction planes. Maybe post every side as a seperate program, and on the machine tie them all together as sub programs.

[john316]

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Like Pip said except use M00's between sides so you have everything in one program out of the box. Set your Control Definition to use the first WCS for the fixture offset, i.e. G54, on every side.

 

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[Zoeper]

Thank you for the replies. You are still talking above my head though. Setting each side as a new WCS , tool and construction plane would be like Tturning the model". How is this done and wont it affect the ops already defined on the previous sides?

 

P

[john316]

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In the ftp in the text & post files is a WCS-view manager tutorial.zip. It's for V9 but should help you figure out what you need to do.

 

You don't physically rotate the model. It stays in the system top wcs. By making a new wcs with tool and construction planes normal to it you are only rotating the view of the part and the toolpath related to that view.

 

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