Rotate an existing 5A program...HELP

[CTRP]

I am a little new to Mastercam, a long time APT and Pro-NC programmer but only been using Mastercam for a year or two. Pretty much learned on my own so I may be doing something wrong

that has created the problem I am having. At any rate, I have a Mitsui horizontal 5axis trunion, new machine and this is the first program for it. I am hitting all 4 sides of the part,

front, right, back and left, also some compound angles around the part. Also hitting the top and some compound angles up there as well. The program is written, all rotations and tool path look good and have run on the machine. We have run into some problems with reach and clearance with the pallet hook which is forcing us to shift the setup 2.5 in X and rotate the fixture and part 90 degrees on the pallet. So, I have tried Xform, Translate 3D making the Front the Left, and from the Top have tried a Rotate.

Both of these methods move the part and geometry to the correct location.

My big problem is that the toolpath stays in the original location. So, HOW do I make the toolpath follow the part with the rotation and shift. Do I just need to go through all of the cuts in the program and select the planes, create new ones for the compound angles, and adjust all of the Z values. My hopes are that

one of you guys are going to say, HEY, did you ever think to do this because it is a big program with a lot of cuts. If it matters I am

running X4 MU3 (13.3.0.22). If any of you guys can set this newbee straight, I am hoping that one of you have the Silver Bullet that is at least going to minimize the effort to move the program.

Thanks in Advance for any suggestions, CTRP

[john316]

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I believe you can create a new wcs with the position you want and make that the wcs for your toolpath and it will create your rotations based on the new orientation. Leave the Tool and Construction planes as they are to generate the correct angles.

 

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[CTRP]

Hi john316,

Thanks for the suggestion, I think I know where to create the WCS, will have to play with this a bit and figure out how to make all of the rotations use it, but it does give me some ideas, will just have to figure out how to do what you are talking about.

Thanks agin for the suggestion.

[Joe788]

What John said. Don't do ANY translating at all, or all of your Z depths are going to change (unless you used ALL incremental values).

 

Just create a new WCS that represents the rotation and translation, and then assign ALL of the toolpaths to that WCS. Keep all of your Tplanes the same, and everything should turn out OK.

[john316]

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quote:

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I think I know where to create the WCS, will have to play with this a bit and figure out how to make all of the rotations use it, but it does give me some ideas, will just have to figure out how to do what you are talking about.

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Do a search for WCS in this forum and you should find a lot of info on the subject. There's also a WCS tutorial around somewhere that will help you a lot.

 

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[CTRP]

Nope, did not use incremental. So, to make sure I have the process down you have described. Sorry if I am completly off path here but have never had to do this in Mastercam yet. I would first go into WCS and create a new one with my Z vector at the new rotation that will be B0. If that is correct, please explain how I assign ALL of the toolpaths to use that WCS. Sorry if this is pretty basic stuff for you guys, have done this 100s of times in other systems, but never Mastercam. Thanks for your help.....

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Something to concider on the MACHINE side... do you have Tool Center Point Control - G43.4 (Full 5 Ax and 3+2 support) or Dynamic Fixture Offset G54.2 (3+2 support)? If you do, don't even mess with the Mastercam file, just shift your offset(s) and you should be off to the races.

 

HTH

[CTRP]

The machine has full dynamic offsets, G54.3 and tracks excellent, and that is exactly what I have done and it is working. Problem is that I work at one of these places where you have to draw pictures for everything, setup, tool drawings, you name it, and with out a doubt they are going to want the program updated and the offsets removed. I have done this with other programming software I have used and just thought it would be simple in Mastercam since it does everything else so well, and I guess for the guys that have used it for a while and understand all of the terminology it probably is simple, as for me, I am simple minded and still struggling, but do not give up easy. Thanks