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Vector length in Curve 5 axis path question


Joeyls319
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Got a question in regards to the "Vector Length" box in a curve 5 axis tool path, under the Tool axis Control tab.  

What does the length really do for me?  If I increase the length, do I get better rotational control?  

Is longer better?

Trying to understand this more.

Thanks ahead of time.

Joey

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As you haven't had much luck I will share what I know.

As you might be aware the views and rotations are controlled by a system of vector matrices. This is from the original "Compaq" language which then developed into APT. Later GUI interfaces were developed to overlay these matrices and make the whole thing more user friendly.

Views and rotations (other than the standard front, back etc.) are derived by matrix algebra using the standard view / rotation matrices. These can get pretty hefty in terms of calculation time for the user so the GUIs do it for you in the background.

Standard vector magnitude (at least in APT with which I am somewhat familiar but by no means expert) is 1(") and that is the value used in the matrix calculations.

Why they give you a choice of length/ magnitude I do not know, but there must be a reason. Whenever I have constructed vectors in MC (not the moduleworks version yet) I have always used 1" length.

Perhaps an e-mail to Moduleworks might get a better answer. I'd be interested to know myself....

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Really comes down to many factors. What type of machine and what is the length of your holder. Many times when trying to work in a tight area you get too much pinching of the tool and you may need to change some things around. Remember Mastercam is not Kinematic aware. These when long on a head head machine are good way to visualize what the head is going to be doing when making the cuts is you make then 15 or 30" long. Now you will get a good idea what the head will be doing as it is taking the cuts. On a Table head they help, but on a Table table they can help you see other things. I for 99% of the parts I program leave it a 1.0, but sometimes I will change to see a little more I am not seeing. With Machinesim I have not needed to do it this way. 

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I was told by a co-worker(Service 4 Automation co-owner and tech guru Steve Biehl) not to mess with the number, especially shortening it.....the thing being that it is used in the calculation and and changing it "could" affect toolpath generation....

I never did mess with it too much and left it alone...

My thinking was, "if it can affect a path, why even allow access to it then?"

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Thanks for the replies guys.  really appreciate it.

I'm trying to put a .3mm chamfer on two 4mm open holes at the end of a slot which is on a convex surface.  My problem is that it's digging in a little on the edge of the hole towards the end of the path of when the surface changes angles.  I was messing around with the curve 5  axis paths trying to correct it.   I was playing around with the vector lengths to see if would control the tool angle better but I couldn't figure it out.  I made the vector lengths the same as my tool stickout (15.5mm)

Then I started playing around with the project tool path and got a little closer symmetrical, constant path but still digging in a little.

The machine is a robodrill with a Lehmans 5 axis on the table.

I'm thinking the problem may lie with the 5 axis on the machine.  The paths look good in mastercam and when I dry run it on the machine.  Thinking it could be backlash in the rotarys.

I attached a couple of pictures (sorry about the poor quality).

Slide2.JPG

Slide1.JPG

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3 hours ago, JParis said:

I was told by a co-worker(Service 4 Automation co-owner and tech guru Steve Biehl) not to mess with the number, especially shortening it.....the thing being that it is used in the calculation and and changing it "could" affect toolpath generation....

I never did mess with it too much and left it alone...

My thinking was, "if it can affect a path, why even allow access to it then?"

When he showed us some 5 axis stuff he said that shortening it would make a less precise calculation, but it would make the screen cleaner during backplot.

I never mess with it

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