C-Axis Roation on Face Contour

[David Colongioli]

I just finished the Mastercam X5 Lathe training book i got, and went to program some milling on the face contour and it just does the line, without turing the caxis.

 

Lets say i wanted to mill out a bowl on the lathe using a 1" diameter cutter, if i was to chain the drawing it would just cut the path of the chain, what am i missing to get it to rough it all out using c axis?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

David.

[Guest SAIPEM]

You won't see any kinematically correct C-Axis simulation in Mastercam.

 

You'll only see it it the NC code that is output by the post

[David Colongioli]

Here is the code i get when i just chain a face contour with no roughing. Do i need to change the planes?

 

 

 

G0 T0100

G17

M23

G0 G54 X9.0189 Z.2206

C6.366

G97 S0 M55

Z.0706

G98 G1 Z-.0294 F0.

X8.8774 Z-.1433 C6.468

X8.7371 Z-.2563 C6.572

X8.5978 Z-.3685 C6.679

X8.4596 Z-.4799 C6.789

X8.3223 Z-.5906 C6.901

X8.1859 Z-.7005 C7.017

X8.0503 Z-.8098 C7.136

X7.9156 Z-.9185 C7.258

X7.7816 Z-1.0266 C7.383

X7.6726 Z-1.1146 C7.489

X7.5636 Z-1.2025 C7.597

X7.4906 Z-1.2539 C7.672

X7.4054 Z-1.3002 C7.761

X7.3092 Z-1.3407 C7.863

X7.2037 Z-1.3748 C7.979

X7.0906 Z-1.4019 C8.108

X6.9717 Z-1.4216 C8.247

X6.8488 Z-1.4335 C8.396

X6.724 Z-1.4375 C8.553

X6.4849 C8.871

X6.2496 C9.207

X6.0182 C9.565

X5.7905 C9.945

X5.5667 C10.349

X5.3466 C10.78

X5.1302 C11.24

X4.9177 C11.733

X4.7089 C12.261

X4.5038 C12.829

X4.3132 C13.406

X4.1231 C14.036

X3.9966 Z-1.4332 C14.49

X3.8725 Z-1.4205 C14.965

X3.753 Z-1.3994 C15.453

X3.6401 Z-1.3705 C15.945

X3.5356 Z-1.3342 C16.43

X3.4414 Z-1.2911 C16.893

X3.359 Z-1.2419 C17.32

X3.2896 Z-1.1875 C17.697

X3.2346 Z-1.1288 C18.009

X3.1946 Z-1.0669 C18.242

X3.1704 Z-1.0028 C18.386

X3.1623 Z-.9375 C18.435

G0 Z-.6875

G28 U0. V0. W0. H0.

T0100

M30

[David Colongioli]

here is the part i drew up, and am trying to pocket out the face with an endmill

[Guest SAIPEM]

If you tell it to do a C-Axis Face Contour what did you expect it to do?

If you want it to rough it out you have to tell it to do that.

Learn how to use multiple radial and axial passes.

 

Asking questions in the forum is not a substitute for real product training.

You need some real training.

[David Colongioli]

Yes i am aware i need more training. Are there any other books other than the Lathe course offered here that goes in depth without having to travel and participate in a classroom?

 

The emastercam lathe book never made mention of this particular setup, however it did offer a wide range of examples.

 

David

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Are there any other books other than the Lathe course offered here that goes in depth without having to travel and participate in a classroom?

Hey Dave, there is no substitute for formal training to completely honest. I realize there are situations where that is very difficult but it is so worth it. 1 hour of face time with someone that is good at teachine the software is better than a week with a book. With all that said, I'd like to ask a question ... I'm curious as to what your expectations were for the toolpath. Al lot of times if someone states an expectation when asking a question, it makes for a better more thorough explanation so that in the future your expectations line up a little better with your results.

 

[David Colongioli]

It did exactly what i expected it to. It went in at the contour that i chained.

 

What i want it to do is go in lets say 0.25" and rotate 360 degrees, then down a percentage of my cutter width and rotate again roughing the cut out.

 

I do realize its doing what i asked, i just cannot find anywhere in the settings to tell it to do what i want.

 

David.

[Guest SAIPEM]

Again, you will not see the C-axis motion in the simulation.

Mastercam does not show kinematic simulation for Mill/Turn.

The best you will be able to do is simulate the rotary motion during a backplot.

The code appears correct for a single path.

 

What you want to do can't be explained in simple terms on the forum.

James is correct.

Face time is worth every penny.

You should also consider some web based training on Mastercam University.

[MikronGuy]

Mike Materra has a few training CDs on his site 'Tips for manufacturing.' i have used one for the lathe with no regrets. they are a little pricey but well worth it.

[hot_chip]

Well I don't see of an easy way to use a lathe C axis contour to rough out a bowl aside from drawing geometry and using it as chains. If you have solids you can take your flat geometry, revolve it into a solid, and then create multiple curve slices down the bowl to create geometry.

If you don't have solids, you can set your construction view to the right side, and use different Z depths to sketch your diameters begining at the center and ending at where ever it intersects your geometry.

 

If you have a lathe seat with 3D milling you can revolve your geometry to either solid or surfaces, pick a 3D toolpath like area clearance. You'd set the tool's working cordinate system to be the top plane and the tool plane and construction planes to be the right ( or left side). Pick the edge of the bowl as your containment area, and then wooopitidoo...

[hot_chip]

Oh and then you would select "C axis" under the Rotary Axis Control section.

[David Colongioli]

Thanks alot for the tips

 

David

[Chris Rizzo]

We've got 30 videos (ranging from 3 to 10 min each) on Mill/Turn here at StreamingTeacher. All videos are up-to-date with X6 material. With a subscription, you have access to hundreds of other videos, not just mill/turn.

 

Very efficient way to get the information and training. For instance, to learn what you needed for this particular question, you could have spent about 10 min watching two videos and been off on your way.