Surfacing from a Point 4th axis.

[NOTW Programmer]

Hi Guys,

 

Attached is the pic of a manifold surface I am trying to finish on a 4th axis rotary, this due to tool clearance issues from the top side. I have created a plane at a random angle but get collisions against the tubes, I rotate the WCS and clear one tube but hit the other. I have seen toolpath that are pivoted from a point, does anyone here know how to apply that on this part. I want the tool to stay at a fixed point and rotate the A axis in order to avoid the collision.

 

Regards,

 

Greyman !

[K2csq7]

Tool axis control.

Choose "from point".

[NOTW Programmer]

Which toolpath, any other suggestions ? I can only rotate on A, off the center of the flange on the right side. I do not have 5-axis !

[K2csq7]

I don't know how your holding it or what surface your trying to get to.....

Maybe flowline?

[Rotary Ninja]

Is your tool cutting through one tube to get to another? If so try picking the inside of the tubes as check surfaces. Not really sure what else to suggest without seeing the file.

[NOTW Programmer]

See additional images.

 

No the tool gouges the outside wall of the tubes. Will setting them as check surface make the tool tilt away ?

[NOTW Programmer]

See the uploaded MANIFOLD.MCX file on the FTP.

 

Regards,

 

GM

[MotorCityMinion]

Are the holes and and flange mating faces finished prior to this op?

[CJep]

No the tool gouges the outside wall of the tubes. Will setting them as check surface make the tool tilt away ?

 

Getting a toolpath to use a tilting strategy requires the use of a multiaxis toolpath, when you use the 3D surface toolpaths you are basically locked into a fixed position.

[NOTW Programmer]

Are the holes and and flange mating faces finished prior to this op?

Yes they are, I milled them looking down the axis of the big hole. I used a tilting table and pins to index to the right angles. I was able to machine most of the back surfaces with a ground sidemill. Clearance impedes this for the surface shown. Sorry I forgot to mention the file is in the X6 files folder; can we search the FTP site by filename ?

[CJep]

GM, about all you can do with this is "tweek" the Z normal of the custom toolplane you have associated to the toolpath.

 

I used your New View 18 and a surface parallel, in backplot I didn't see the tool collide with the runner, the reason I used the surf parallel is because you can change the bias angle of the toolpath.

 

I used a 65* bias angle.

 

I did find a contact point toward the end of the toolpath, are you using a tool that has been ground back on the arbor?

[NOTW Programmer]

Getting a toolpath to use a tilting strategy requires the use of a multiaxis toolpath, when you use the 3D surface toolpaths you are basically locked into a fixed position.

I was looking at Flow 5-Axis locked to 4-Axis and from a point so it pivots away from the tubes, it looks very promising. Any tips on how to use that best ?

[CJep]

I was looking at Flow 5-Axis locked to 4-Axis and from a point so it pivots away from the tubes, it looks very promising. Any tips on how to use that best ?

 

With the multiaxis tpath you can use a number of strategies to control the tool axis' From a point would be one way to go after it, or the other possible solution would be a chain. The distance the TAC geom is away from the surface being cut will determine how much tilt will be used.

[MotorCityMinion]

"Are the holes and and flange mating faces finished prior to this op?

Yes they are, I milled them looking down the axis of the big hole. I used a tilting table and pins to index to the right angles."

 

The reason I ask is that another option would be to make a simple fixture with short pins that locates the flange face and the three existing holes for the a axis. Using small clamps, like a top insert clamp from a lathe tool to hold the three areas that do not require machining. Now you can 2d contour the back side of the flange. If you have design flexibility, back spot face in the same op that you machined the flange. BTW, thats a cool part.

[Tyler Robertson]

You can use an advanced multi-axis operation (like parallel to multiple curves) locked to 4-axis (on the tool axis control page, make sure to define what the 4th axis is under the dropdown menu on the left) and then you can tell the path to tilt away from check surfaces under 'collision control' set it to just side tilt or just lead/lag and the settings are much easier to use

[NOTW Programmer]

 

 

That's actually a great suggestion, im concerned about the weight of the part being an issue.

 

Here is where I got with Flow and a point, I got the first side but cannot get the second side to stop gouging the tube. Any suggestions? The file will be on the FTP again, under X6 Files. MANIFOLD.MCX-7

 

 

 

 

I tried the advanced multi-axis but I had no luck, I am just starting to dig into heavy 5-Axis, a little help ?

 

P.S. Quick question, did I over do it on the amount of levels to separate my geometry? I got this Levels template from an instructor way back.

[Tyler Robertson]

if I can get back to this I will take a look - just got booked out onsite tomorrow so I'm trying to get some things out today

[Tyler Robertson]

got pushed to monday! I'll try to do a better one, but here's something simple to get you started with advanced paths. the convert to 5-axis utility can be really handy when you have a cutting path you like in 3-axis positional

 

just set it to 4-axis under "tool axis control", I forgot to do that, it's still set to 5

MANIFOLD.zip

[NOTW Programmer]

I get the following error "You do not have permission to view this attachment.", whats up with this ?. On another note I successfully ran 1 flange(C-C), I cannot get a toolpath to work right for the other flange (F-F). Help !

[Tyler Robertson]

if you did the one flange alright you can just copy that toolpath, replace the surfaces and pick new planes. What's the issue with the other flange?

[Tyler Robertson]

Shoot - give this a shot

MANIFOLD.MCX-7

[SledGeek]

Still can't open......dang, kinda interested to see it. Used to do a ton of structural protoypes with lots of pockets and ribs with draft that sounds like kinda this job.

[SledGeek]

Duh.....just noticed it's in X7...i'm in 6

[NOTW Programmer]

if you did the one flange alright you can just copy that toolpath, replace the surfaces and pick new planes. What's the issue with the other flange?

Clearance, or so I thought. Turns out that when I rotated my WCS for some reason my X-axis got twisted at a 45deg from the rotary center, MCAM could no longer machine the entire surface. I deleted and regenerated, its all good. Can you shed some light on the Advanced 5-axis, I still would like to try your suggestions. New file is on the FTP (MANIFOLD2.MCX-7), can anyone tell me why I had to set my rotary axis to Z when it is A ? Seems like it is going off the Main WCS rather than the one I created !

 

P.S. Why cant we overwrite our files on the FTP !

 

GM

[MotorCityMinion]

"P.S. Why cant we overwrite our files on the FTP !"

 

Individuals with devious intentions could alter the files.