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5 axis pencil


88Matt
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I need to pencil trace the internal radii of the open pocket you see in the attached file.  I tried using 5 axis curve with "from point" for tool axis control, but cant get it to hit the tangents of both surfaces. 

 

FYI, I copied and remove the radii to machine to.

 

Thanks in advance,

Matt

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The pencil w/ convert to 5 axis worked decent enough with from point, going to try some different tool axis controls.

 

Try parallel to surface limited to 1 pass. It works far better than pencil.

 

I would be interested in a sample as well. Thanks

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I need to pencil trace the internal radii of the open pocket you see in the attached file.  I tried using 5 axis curve with "from point" for tool axis control, but cant get it to hit the tangents of both surfaces. 

 

FYI, I copied and remove the radii to machine to.

 

Thanks in advance,

Matt

Am I missing something.. I don't see and attached file???

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I would do a 3-Axis Pencil, with Overthickness applied. Try limiting the # of passes to '3' or '5'. (Just to see the toolpath motion, then adjust as necessary).

 

After you get the 3-Axis path looking the way you want it, do a 3 > 5 axis conversion. I'd try using "Chain" as the Tool Axis Control option, and create a chain that is roughly "U" shaped, and above your geometry by a couple inches. You'll want to take the upper wall edges, project them up in Z, then offset them to get the centerline of your tool axis away from those walls.

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Are they all the same radius? They look different to me from that picture. If they were all the same not sure of any one operation that would work.

 

Here is a file with no extra geometry needed all drvien from the solid.

 

 

This is what I was thinking. It works really slick. Sorry I got busy and didn't get a file posted.

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On 2/15/2016 at 0:37 PM, Aaron Eberhard - CNC Software said:

Did I miss the reason you can't just use the high speed pencil toolpath and turn on "tilt away to avoid collisions" on the holder page?  That seems like the easy button to me, but I just skimmed this thread..

 

Not that I am aware of I guess you could. Was just pointing out the flexibility of the Mastercam suite of toolpaths.

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Are they all the same radius? They look different to me from that picture. If they were all the same not sure of any one operation that would work.

 

Here is a file with no extra geometry needed all drvien from the solid.

 

There are 2 radii, .25mm & .5mm.  

 

 

Did I miss the reason you can't just use the high speed pencil toolpath and turn on "tilt away to avoid collisions" on the holder page?  That seems like the easy button to me, but I just skimmed this thread..

 

I've never used that feature.  I'll give it a try tomorrow.

 

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions.

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You'll like it :)  Listen to what David says above about making sure your post is up to snuff, and keep in mind depending on your geometry & machine kinematic layout, you can hit singularity pretty easily, since you're taking a 3 axis toolpath and then only tilting when needed, you're often near perpendicularity.  It's the same as any other multiaxis toolpath, really, but easier to get into that condition since you start there.

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...you can hit singularity pretty easily, since you're taking a 3 axis toolpath and then only tilting when needed, you're often near perpendicularity.  It's the same as any other multiaxis toolpath, really, but easier to get into that condition since you start there.

I have only ever run into a singularity on old-school machines where I used an origin at the centerline of the table/table centerline intersection point.

 

This may be a dumb question, but can a singularity happen using TCP?

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I have only ever run into a singularity on old-school machines where I used an origin at the centerline of the table/table centerline intersection point.

 

This may be a dumb question, but can a singularity happen using TCP?

 

It's not a dumb question at all!  This is a really, really complicated subject, with a lot of gotchas (I discover new ones every day it feels like :))

 

Yes is the answer, but with TCP it "doesn't matter."  Next time you're at a show, walk past the pretty new machines with their super-fast rotary axis and smoooth Heidenhain controls, and you'll see that whatever demo part they're doing is constantly rotating/flipping the C axis 180° as it passes over perpendicularity.  There it is!  Singularity is really a function of what happens when you get the rotary axis perpendicular to the spindle, TCP won't change that part of it.

 

On the older controls without TCP, those big C axis moves wouldn't be compensated correctly in between the vectors (i.e.:  the position X Y Z C90 would be correct, and X Y Z C270 would be correct, but the traversal from the first to the last wouldn't be synchronized to keep the tip at the right place), so you'd gouge pretty bad in between those points, but your "start" and "end" positions would be correct.

 

Now-a-days, if you're trying to machine efficiently, you'll still want to spend some time trying to avoid those rotations, but at least you won't gouge when you have them anymore, it just wastes some time and can affect the finish a bit.

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Aaron is correct with TCP you almost not a problem, but you will get those spins sometimes that don't show up in the CAM and you only see once you either run it through,Machine Sim, Simulation Software or at the machine. Even a .001 degree kick is enough to get away from the singularity and once you identity where it is happening then you can make the adjustments needed to reduce them. Head-Head machine seem to do it more than Head-Table and Table-Table from what I have seen.

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