Converting a 4axis vertical mill program to 4axis horizontal.

[danielm]

Is there an axis-rotation code or macro that makes this a straight forward fix at the machine rather than re-posting? 

 

Thanks!

D

[Guest]

even reposting it won't be straight forward unless your HMC post is set up to rotate like a rotary 4th axis

 

Otherwise new WCS & planes and resetting geometry

 

Don't think you'll the the 

 

 

for this one

[djstedman]

I would think given the other differences that are possible between the machines that there probably is not a simple code / macro for this, though you might be able to make some kind of converter it would need to be tailored to the specific machines in order to avoid any problems in every case.

 

So yeah.. best bet is to re-post with the proper post, next best would be to manually go through the code, either way I would expect its going to be a lot easier / safer to do it in front of a PC than at the control.

[danielm]

Well it turns out that this is very straight forward and this is how I did it:  using the right hand rule; x- becomes y+, y+ becomes x+, z+/- stays, y- becomes x-, x+ becomes y-, I- becomes j+, j+ becomes I+, j- becomes I-, I+ becomes j-, k+/- stays, all A rotations become B rotations.

 

Using any editor just make the changes and use a random substitution character when needed so that only the intended codes get changed.

 

The backplot on the editor verifies that it works but I'm going to run thru Vericut for the final proof.

[danielm]

PS: that qualifies as an easy button I think.

[Guest]

Square blocks with holes

[CJep]

If your verifying the code and it works cool,..

However, all it takes is one neg that should have been positive to make the difference between a good part and total chaos.

[Guyinthedesert]

you could also use G68 to rotate it 90 deg.

[The Cathedral]

you could also use G68 to rotate it 90 deg.

 

You could also just flip the machine on its side.

[danielm]

if my grandma had wheels she coulda been a bike.

[danielm]

"you could also use G68 to rotate it 90 deg."

 

 

Um.  Thanks for the reply.

[Sticky]

If you programmed it with a work offset for every rotation/index all you need to do is update the values on the machine. If you programmed with one offset you are stuck doing real work.

[Guyinthedesert]

We inherited a bunch of jobs that were originally programmed for a 4th horizontal and converted to 4th vertical, and G68 was how they did it. Just thought i'd throw that out as an easy solution.

[danielm]

I forgot to mention that its programmed to rotary center....only one offset.

[Sticky]

I forgot to mention that its programmed to rotary center....only one offset.

 

That's what you get for being lazy

[Bob W.]

Any reason to not re-post the program?  For me, I would save-as a new Mastercam file (if I wanted to keep the original in tact), replace the machine definition, and dynamically rotate the WCS and all associated planes to index about Y instead of X.  The whole process would take a few minutes and be a lot less likely to miss something that could cause major issues.

[Bob W.]

I guess I favor re-posting because I have so much more in my programs that are specific to each machine (machine modes, movement style - tight linear vs. arcs, probing, work offsets, break detection routines, macro routines, etc...) that getting them all transferred and accounted for would be a lot more work than simply re-posting.  If the code is dead simple maybe it wouldn't be much of an issue and there is an easy button.  One mistake and the easy button becomes a stupid button.

[Newbeeee™]

even reposting it won't be straight forward unless your HMC post is set up to rotate like a rotary 4th axis

 

Otherwise new WCS & planes and resetting geometry

 

Don't think you'll the the 

 

 

for this one

Love the easy button JP!

Need a couple around here...

[danielm]

Any reason to not re-post the program?  For me, I would save-as a new Mastercam file (if I wanted to keep the original in tact), replace the machine definition, and dynamically rotate the WCS and all associated planes to index about Y instead of X.  The whole process would take a few minutes and be a lot less likely to miss something that could cause major issues.

 

Yeh...this program was done in NX originally and the operators have tweaked it what it is now.  So in this case the manual conversion method was the quickest way to get proven code up and going on a different machine.  But I agree,  if it was mastercam and up to me I'd have taken the time to 'do it the right way'.

 

Update: Vericut proved out the code and it worked first shot.  Will me making minor mods to the fixture to fit the table of the horizontal today and be making chips.

[Joe957]

Well it turns out that this is very straight forward and this is how I did it:  using the right hand rule; x- becomes y+, y+ becomes x+, z+/- stays, y- becomes x-, x+ becomes y-, I- becomes j+, j+ becomes I+, j- becomes I-, I+ becomes j-, k+/- stays, all A rotations become B rotations.

 

Using any editor just make the changes and use a random substitution character when needed so that only the intended codes get changed.

 

The backplot on the editor verifies that it works but I'm going to run thru Vericut for the final proof.

I wrote a batch program  that will do just that to any NC file.  Had to do this to a few programs that were written before my time, hand edited over the years, etc.  the program I used was called fart.exe    (find and replace text)

[danielm]

I wrote a batch program  that will do just that to any NC file.  Had to do this to a few programs that were written before my time, hand edited over the years, etc.  the program I used was called fart.exe    (find and replace text)

 

Nice.  Would you like to share that little piece of code with your colleagues? I'd like to test it out on this program and do a comparison.

[Joe957]

Nice.  Would you like to share that little piece of code with your colleagues? I'd like to test it out on this program and do a comparison.

so download fart.exe (sourceforge.net is where I downloaded it) and and put it in the same folder as the file -  then just create a .bat with something like this.  obviously tweak for whatever orientation it was put in the machine.  Im pretty sure this one has the base of the tombstone in the horizontal on the left side of the table in the vertical.

 

 

fart "C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\test\testfile.NC" X U

fart "C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\test\testfile.NC" Y X

fart "C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\test\testfile.NC" U Y

fart "C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\test\testfile.NC" Y- V

fart "C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\test\testfile.NC" Y Y-

fart "C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\test\testfile.NC" V Y

fart "C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\test\testfile.NC" I U

fart "C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\test\testfile.NC" J I

fart "C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\test\testfile.NC" U J

fart "C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\test\testfile.NC" J- V

fart "C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\test\testfile.NC" J J-

fart "C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\test\testfile.NC" V J

PAUSE