4th axis indexing

[dfarneth]

Hello All:

I'm just getting back to my 4th axis problem from three weeks ago.
Thanks to who all replied, every little bit is helpful.
I think I've got most of the bugs worked out.
But one problem remains and I can't seem to find a solution.
As you can see in the following text I drill a row of holes and during
the rotation to the next row,
I get a rough tool path between A180. and A90.
Included is a jpeg of the tool path, it looks as rough as the code.
Any ideas?

G00X-1.0685Y0.A180.
Z2.M08
G81X-1.0685Y0.Z.9648R1.7848F1.A180.
X-1.9425
X-2.8165
X-3.6905
X-4.5645
X-5.4385
G80
G00Z2.

X-5.5628Y.138A158.355
Z1.9951
Z1.9995
X-5.6709Y-.0263A131.39
X-5.7956Y-.1322A102.664
Z1.9952
Z2.
X-5.8755Y0.A90.

G81X-5.8755Y0.Z.9648R1.7848F1.A90.
X-5.0015
X-4.1275
X-3.2535
X-2.3795
X-1.5055
G80
G00Z2.


Thanks in advance
Don Farneth
(303)277-4686
dfarneth@coorstek.com
www.coorstek.com <http: www.coorstek.com="/>







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[ttsmith1]

This is very common. What you see are what I call "intermediate
repositioning moves". These occur at your retract surface or cylinder. I
don't think that you can completely eliminate them, but you can minimize
them by setting the retract "tolerance" to a larger number at the
operation set-up dialog box. Likewise, you can also increase the number
of moves by making the retract tolerance value smaller. The default
value is usually 0.1 and can be changed if you select a retract surface.
Let me know if you find a way to eliminate them.


Terrance (Terry) T. Smith
Sandia National Laboratories
Computer Applications For Manufacturing Dept. 2431

[paulstern]

One way we were able to clean these moves out of our code was to create
everything as a 3-axis tool path. So for your two sets of holes at two
rotation angles we would create two holemaking tool paths using the same
tool. The post must be written with this in mind because it will put in
the code to get from one location to another. This works well for
4-axis positioning only, but it gives you the flexibility to use the
safe zones built into your machine for rotation rather than retract
surfaces since your post can be customized to output any code you like.



Paul Stern
Manufacturing Engineer - C&CE
14001 Carowinds Blvd (28273)
PO Box 7047
Charlotte, NC 28241-7047
Phone (704) 587-2942
Fax (319) 287-1235

[cfarah]

Hi Don,

Most likely, you are using a retract surface/sphere/cylinder which causes
the tool to position along that retract surface between holes. This is OK
when you are using a gantry machine (or any machine where the rotary axes
are on the tool).

If you have rotary tables, it is best not to use these retract surfaces,
since the rotation of the table clear the part anyway, so we do not need
these intermediate positions. I recommend using CLEARANCE_OFFSET parameter
for 5-axis holemaking sequences for any additonal retract you want prior to
the rotary repositionning.

Regards,

Charles



<http: www.sigmaxim.com=" assets=" images=" autogen=" clearpixel.gif=">
Charles Farah
Sigmaxim, Inc. www.sigmaxim.com
1895 Centre St, Suite 102, Boston, MA 02132
(Tel) 781-329-5235 877-SIGMAXIM
(Fax) 781-329-9511

<http: www.sigmaxim.com="/>