5 Axis Help - B Rotation Control

[Rotary Ninja]

I am programming a blade type part on a 5 axis trunnion setup and everything is programmed from the top, how do I keep the B axis rotated so the fixture is facing the front of the machine? I have four blades I am cutting. Between two blades the fixture is facing the front, and the other two it is facing the back. I assume there is a way to control this and keep it all on the same side since it's the same detail copied 4 times. The only reason I am asking is I cannot get a transform toolpath to show the rotations in machine sim. So I just copied the toolpath down 3 times and reselected the geometry on each side of the part.

 

Thanks.

[TK-32™]

Mach Sim won't show xformed toolpaths. Period.

If you really have to simulate it you have to make real toolpaths. You get good after a while.

 

Edit: I read your post again. Seems like you already knew that

[Rotary Ninja]

Yeah. I have a transform toolpath for the actual rotations. But to see the finished part in machine sim I created 4 separate toolpaths.

 

This is only my second 5 axis program. And it's only being done in the learning edition. So I have no way of really knowing what my program will look like when done. That is why I was trying to run it in machine sim to see how it would run.

 

Would the transform toolpath keep B facing the same direction?

[slyym]

Just hide the parts of the machine that are in the way. Thats what I do.

[mayday]

It takes a custom post. I had our Haas pst set to force rotation to the front or the back for tool clearance issues

[Rotary Ninja]

Ok. So there is no way to make this viewable in machine simulation?

 

Thanks guys.

[CJep]

Would the transform toolpath keep B facing the same direction?

 

Yes,...

Depending on the multiaxis toolpath you are using the machine sim will show or not show the translations. I assume you're using one of the classics, then you could use the toolpath translation utility to index to the next position similar to how you would do 4 axis positioning. ( as stated earlier; machine sim don't like tpath transforms)

 

If you use one of the "advanced" multiaxis toolpaths then in the roughing utilities page you can activate a transform there. Because it is coming from inside the toolpath, machine sim will run that transform.

 

Also as Wes stated you can force neg / pos rotation, depending on the post you are using check the misc values, for the Gen Haas post it is misc integer #9 & 10, although it is not necessarily going to show in the machine sim. By activating those misc values you are telling the post to calculate the rotations with a neg / pos bias. Remember machine sim is preprocessed information.

[Rotary Ninja]

Thanks CJep. I am just trying to get a handle on 5 axis programming using the Home Learning Edition and taking Jay's 5 axis course. So I can't post anyway. But that helps. I will try the advanced toolpaths. Is there somewhere I can find out how to use the advanced toolpaths a little better? I have programmed the swarf advanced toolpath. I fumbled my way through it and got good results. But there are a lot of settings in those and I have no idea what most of them do.

[CJep]

Is there somewhere I can find out how to use the advanced toolpaths a little better?

 

Using them, taking a multiaxis class,...

 

The first thing you already noticed is there is a crazy crapton of control in the advanced multiaxis. The best advice I can give you, is give Mcam the least amount of information possible to get a toolpath running, then start adding control as needed. As you use these toolpaths you'll start to see how small changes in cut parameters, tool axis control, linking and gouge checking can cause significant changes in the toolpath.

 

I look at it like setting up a racing chassis, make incremental changes so you have a base to work from, if you throw too many conditions at it you won't know where to start if it's majorly "jacked up"

[Rotary Ninja]

Makes sense. Thanks for the tip.

[Aaron Eberhard]

My advice on the advanced multiaxis:

 

Understand that Morph Between 2 Curves and Morph Between 2 surfaces will do 90% of everything you need. 2 curves is the multiaxis equivalent of blend, surfaces is the same, except "3d" (if that makes sense).

 

The most important thing to start with is getting the correct pattern you're trying to cut. Like CJep says above, When I started out, I often just created one of those toolpaths, choose my tool, the curves, the surfaces and then hit "okay." Only after I have something down will I start going to change things. I would tweak the toolpath settings until I had the right pattern on the part, and then I would start playing with the collision settings.

 

The next is how you want the tool to move (Tool axis control). This is really challenging to think about "Okay, how do I want the tool to tip through here."

 

Collision Control are the "tricky" part of multiaxis, and you really have to think long and hard about what exactly you expect the toolpath to do. For example, "Just move away" doesn't help. Do you want it to move away on the surface normal, the tool vector, just "up" in the Z? It's a lot harder than you think

 

The thing about multiaxis is a lot of things you take for granted (X travel, Y travel, ESPECIALLY Z travel) are no longer "fixed" so now you have to think about how to control it. When you were in 3 or 4 axis mode, you can always guarantee your tool is vertical, so if you could see it, you could cut it..

 

Good luck, it's a lot of fun!

[Rotary Ninja]

Thanks Aaron. I will look at those toolpaths and see if I can work something out. I am going to move on to my next assignment and come back to this one when I am done and try to get it working properly in machine simulation. .