4th Axis (rotary table) g-code X.axis wandering?

[alvaroguillen]

I have an 11inch diameter circular disc shaped part made in Autodesk inventor. contour around edge is smooth and even no ellipse or a-symmetrical surfaces.

 

part is on my rotary table set up to rotates around the z axis.

 

 

I figured out how to post for my tormach mach3 system. everything runs well and looks good.

 

however,

 

end mill goes to correct z depth and x distance from center of disc, but when A axis rotates the X axis wanders between X 5.9450 - - to - - X 5.9459 - ? this is written into the gcode, not a tormach malfunction. based on my 3d file X axis should stay the same position per one rotation of a axis to make the smooth contour.

 

I have no idea why it would do this, almost looks like it is drawing polygons off a low res circle, but files come straight from inventor as a circle extrusion, even tried .step file and code still looks the same.

 

any clues greatly appreciated.

[Greg Williams]

What is the toolpath tolerance?

 

 

[alvaroguillen]

thanks for reply.

 

yes tolerance was a place i looked.

 

tolerance is .001

 

i tried changing it to .0001, but then generating the simplest toolpath took forever, gave up after 10 min of a simple contor.

 

do you think that would fix the problem?

 

i will try again, set it up and then go out to lunch while all the toolpaths re-generate to new tolerance.

 

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[alvaroguillen]

tried higher tool tolerance but it didn't change anything.

 

now set to .0001

 

i made a simple mastercam file with a circle extrusion, done in mastercam, and gcode output has the same wandering X axis.

 

 

 

the g-code looks like this, notice the x axis position moveing back and forth even though shape is straight circle extrusion on a axis rotate table.

 

(DATE - DEC-31-10)

(TIME - 14:48)

(POST DEV - NovaLab)

(NWDTOOL N" 5/16 FLAT ENDMILL" T236 D.3125 F.75 L2.5 CD2. CL1. SD2. C0)

(NWDSTOCK X10.6 Y1.25 Z0. OTC OX0. OY0. OZ0.)

N10 G00 G17 G20 G40 G49 G80 G90

N20 T236 M06 ( 5/16 FLAT ENDMILL)

N30 (TOOLPATH - ROUGHCTOUR)

N40 (STOCK LEFT ON DRIVE SURFS = .05)

N50 G00 Z1.39

N60 G00 X5.0857 Y0. A-134.968 S1711 M03

N70 G01 Z1.29 F6.37

N80 X5.0858 A-136.528 F71.72

N90 X5.0859 A-138.098

N100 X5.0858 A-139.666

N110 X5.0853 A-140.486

N120 X5.0857 A-141.307

N130 A-141.45

N140 X5.0859 A-143.019

N150 A-144.592

N160 X5.0857 A-146.168

N170 A-146.242

N180 A-147.658

N190 A-147.801

N200 X5.0859 A-149.371

N210 A-150.939

N220 X5.0853 A-151.759

N230 X5.0858 A-152.58

N240 X5.0853 A-153.436

N250 X5.0858 A-154.292

N260 X5.0859 A-155.865

N270 X5.0858 A-157.441

N280 X5.0857 A-157.515

N290 A-158.931

N300 X5.0856 A-159.075

N310 X5.0858 A-160.644

N320 X5.0859 A-162.212

N330 X5.0858 A-163.78

N340 A-163.853

N350 X5.0857 A-165.422

N360 A-165.565

N370 X5.0858 A-167.138

N380 A-168.715

N390 A-170.204

N400 X5.0857 A-171.774

N410 X5.0858 A-171.918

N420 X5.0859 A-173.485

N430 X5.0858 A-175.053

N440 A-175.127

N450 A-176.695

N460 X5.0852 A-177.553

N470 X5.0858 A-178.412

N480 A-179.988

N490 A-181.478

N500 A-183.047

N510 X5.0857 A-183.191

N520 X5.0859 A-184.759

N530 A-186.326

N540 X5.0853 A-187.147

N550 X5.0858 A-187.968

N560 X5.0857 A-189.541

N570 A-189.685

N580 X5.0858 A-191.261

N590 A-192.677

N600 A-192.751

N610 A-194.321

N620 X5.0852 A-195.176

N630 X5.0858 A-196.032

N640 X5.0859 A-197.6

N650 X5.0853 A-198.42

N660 X5.0858 A-199.241

N670 A-200.815

N680 X5.0857 A-200.958

N690 X5.0858 A-202.535

N700 A-203.951

N710 X5.0853 A-204.772

N720 X5.0858 A-205.594

N730 A-207.162

N740 X5.0857 A-207.305

N750 X5.0859 A-208.873

N760 X5.0858 A-210.441

N770 A-210.515

N780 A-212.088

N790 X5.0857 A-213.664

[alvaroguillen]

Problem Solved!

 

I had to go into system settings into tool and change system tolerance to .00005

 

then go into settings in the tool-path editor and change tool tolerance to .00005

 

 

long delays generating tool-paths happened when trying to change tool tolerance without first changing system tolerance.

 

 

code looks great. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

 

much appreciated.

 

now all i have to do is output arcs correctly, and get feeds and speeds for rotary table correct.

 

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