Haas VMC vs HMC

[Rocketmachinist]

What would be the differences if any between setting up a Haas Vertical vs a Haas Horizontal. I know I can setup a new Machine definition with all HMC components but what will that buy me? Should I just continue to use the VMC post to run the HMC?

[Colin Gilchrist]

The post would be identical. It is the Machine Definition changes that signal to the post the difference between HMC/VMC output.

 

This is done by the post, during the call to 'pmachine_info$', which itself, is triggered by the call to 'rd_md$'.

 

When that happens, the default logic in the post looks at the Axis of Rotation, and determined if we rotate about the "X/Y", or the "Z" axis of the WCS.

 

For Top/Top programming, you get rotation about X or Y.

 

For Top/Front programming, you get rotation about Z. (All of the rotation I'm describing is in terms of the "WCS").

 

So setting up the MD itself, it doesn't matter if you use HMC or VMC components. The post doesn't care. The post checks each "component" in the Axis Combination, looking only for the rotary components. Once it finds a rotary component, it captures the "Axis of rotation", and the CW/CCW direction information.

 

So yes, you should create a VMC and a HMC machine definition, using the "correct" components. Then pay special attention to the Rotary axis settings, and make sure you have a working Axis Combination created...