4th axis - safe Z problem

[Momill]

Firstly I'd just like to say how happy I am with MadCam.
I've just made a 4th axis for my machine and everything seems to work fine but when I make an indexed or continuous 4 axis path with MadCam it won't raise the Z to a safe level before rotating the part - I've been using the select stock model tool but the stock I'm using is rectangular so for instance I'd cut one side then as the 4th axis rotates the stock hits into the cutter.
Is there something I'm forgetting to do, any ideas how to avoid this?

Thanks a lot

[svenakela]

You have to run simultanous 4 axis to get the stock model functionality. It doesn't take notice of the stock when running indexed, except for the area that's processed at the moment.
What you could do is either changing the post processor to always raise Z to a safe level when transporting, or you can simply select the transport paths and move them to a safe height in Rhino before you post process.
If you want to go for the first option you can send an e-mail to MadCam and tell them what post processor you're using and what you need and you'll get help with it.

Hope it helps!
Sven

[Momill]

Thanks a lot for that Sven, that makes things clearer, I wasn't sure if I was missing something. I tried bringing the model into Rhino with the widest point along the Z axis then cutting from the front and back (rather than top and bottom) and bumping up the Z safe level, that seemed to work OK but I think I'll try your suggestion of just editing the Z path before the rotations. Joakim is very fast with custom post processors, I need one a while ago and i think I got it about half an hour after sending the email.

Thanks again for your help