Rotary Table Output

[eliot15]

OK. This is the real deal. I'm rewriting a program that I hope will get GibbsCAM to behave like our Mori Seiki horizontal mill and output the correct B axis code. Our mill looks like this:



The Z axis is the spindle sticking out of the wall, and the rotary table on the floor is the B axis. It does angular positioning by commanding B0., B90., B270., etc.

Here's my Document Control:



I have a tombstone on the rotary table, and a fixture attached to the tombstone that holds two caster housing castings like this:



This image shows the XY plane. Here a 1" end mill faces off the bosses as represented by the vertical tool path. Some drilling and tapping gets done in XY also (not shown).

Then the tombstone needs to rotate 90 dregrees to drill the bosses in the YZ plane, as rerpresented by the horizontal tool path:



Then the tombstone rotates to B270. (a second YZ CS I'll create with reversed Z polarity) and drills the hole through the bosses on the other housing.

I have GibbsCAM behaving correctly so far. I just have some issues with the ouput. I'm using an Advanced Mill post that gives me the following for the two tool paths I have so far:

%
O6200(  7-22-11.NCF )
( FOR FIXTURE HOLDING 2 PARTS 7-25-11 )
( FORMAT: FANUC 11M B007.16.PST )
( 8/13/11 AT 11:41 PM )
( OUTPUT IN ABSOLUTE INCHES )
( PARTS PROGRAMMED: 1 )
( FIRST TOOL NOT IN SPINDLE )
N1G17G70G80G40
T1
M6
( OPERATION 1: CONTOUR )
( XY WG )
( TOOL 1: 1. ROUGH ENDMILL )
( CS#1 - XY CS )
( G54 = X0. Y0. Z0. B0. )
G54
S688M3
G90G0X-3.195Y-2.26B0.
G43Z1.H1
M8
Z.1
G1Z-2.F10.
G41X-3.145D1
Y-.26F20.
G40X-3.195
G0Z.1
M9
G91G28Z0.M19
N2G17G80
T2
M6
( OPERATION 2: HOLES )
( YX WG )
( TOOL 2: .472 DRILL )
( CS#2 - YZ CS )
( G55 = X0. Y0. Z2.645 B-90. )
G55
S1000M3
G90G0X-1.2318Y-1.26B0.
G43Z-1.645H2
M8
Z.1
G81G99X-1.2318Y-1.26Z-2.R.1F4.
G0G80Z.1
M9
G91G28Z0.
M30
%
( FILE LENGTH: 743 CHARACTERS )
( FILE LENGTH: 6.47 FEET )
( FILE LENGTH: 2.04 METERS )

Notice that G54 is at B0. Thats all good. In the comments for G55, its showing B-90. Unfortunately, the code itself is commanding G55 at B0. also. Thats correct from the point of view of G55, but you see my problem.

I need a line of code that reads B90. to rotate my tombstone before doing any work in G55. Typically, I put the B coordinate on a line by itself, before commanding the work offset. I'm just wondering if GibbsCAM can do that, or if thats just something I'll have to add manually.

Thanks

[cadman]

You need to use a C style post to have the angular moves output into the code. The B style post comments what the angles are and the operator does the edit at the machine.

Depending on the posts you have, you may need to have the post department at GibbsCAM modify one to match your specific machine configuration.

[eliot15]

Victory! Life is good!

%
O6200(  7-22-11.NCF )
( FOR FIXTURE HOLDING 2 PARTS 7-25-11 )
( FORMAT: FANUC 15M MATSUURA [IH] C958.12.PST )
( 8/14/11 AT  8:20 AM )
( OUTPUT IN ABSOLUTE INCHES )
( PARTS PROGRAMMED: 1 )
( FIRST TOOL NOT IN SPINDLE )
N1T1M6
( OPERATION 1: CONTOUR )
( XY WG )
( TOOL 1: 1. ROUGH ENDMILL )
( CS#1 - XY CS )
( G54.1P1= X0 Y0 Z0 )
M8
G90G54.1P1G17G0X-3.195Y-2.26B0S688M3
G43Z1.H1T2
Z.1
G1Z-2.F10.
G41X-3.145D1
Y-.26F20.
G40X-3.195D1
G0Z.1
M9
G91G28Z0M5
N2T2M6
( OPERATION 2: HOLES )
( YX WG )
( TOOL 2: .472 DRILL )
( CS#2 - YZ CS )
( G54.1P2= X0 Y0 Z2.645 )
M8
G90G54.1P2G17G0X-1.2318Y-1.26B90S1000M3
G43Z-1.645H2T1
G81G99X-1.2318Y-1.26Z-2.R.1F4.
G0G80Z.1
M9
G91G28Z0
M30
%
( FILE LENGTH: 725 CHARACTERS )
( FILE LENGTH: 6.32 FEET )
( FILE LENGTH: 2.00 METERS )

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[eliot15]

Well, I thought I had it. Now I'm not so sure. I'm running 8 operations in the XY Plane:



They all complete successfully, face milling the bosses and drilling and tapping two 12mm holes.



Now all i want to do it rotate the housings 90 and then 270 degress to center drill and drill the two side holes:



I think I have the left side CS (shown in the image) set up correctly, but I'm not sure. The toolpath works, a drill does come in from that side, but is the Z axis pointing in the right direction?? Or should the Z axis be coming in from the direction the drill is coming in from?? I'm not quite sure how the rotation works.

I'm also wondering why I can't see my frame indicators for the left side CS. It seems like there should be a frame indicator with a Z axis pointing in the direction the drill is coming in from. Thats what has me kinda' turned around.

I really can't make any headway on getting the right side CS set up, until I clarify what I'm doing on the left side CS, but the right side CS will get the same center drill and drill operation that the left side CS gets.

Anyway, I'm going to stay on it 'till I get it, but any help much appreciated as always.

Thanks

[eliot15]

This might be it.