630 II T variaxis (rare)

[mikiet]

i have the mazaks brand new turn/mill variaxis 630 2 t - only one in new york at present, but it stills incorporates mazatrol matrix programming
has anyone actually programmed a turning unit using a bar, bak ?
meaning having a cnmg or dnmg or whatever profile insert cutting edge face away from spindle and go behind the piece to turn features?
i get double reverse alarms , wrong starting point!
because you cant put a negitive value, and if you start with a larger "z"value in than the fpt"z" it alarms double shape crap
it is a screwy function, i know i know, i can easily eia it, or write a mnp, but damn it all i wanna figure that damn unit out!!!
thanks

[jimiscnc]

Back turning on mazatrol is tricky because it isn't done a lot.

Your cutting point X and Z should be the left most coordinates in your unit. the shape should then progress from left to right. Z machine coordinates should be progressively less minus. the coordinates in your mazatrol units would then be starting with the biggest Z positive number and the magnitude of the positive Z number should be getting smaller as you progress towards the front face of the part.

So if you have a shoulder that's at Z-2.0000 (mach coordinates) the CPT-Z should be around 2.1 in your unit.

The only mazatrol units that match the machine coordinate system for Z is the EDG/FCE type unit. This is the program specific unit that only faces a parallel Z face. Z plus is to the right of part program zero which is always the front most finished face, by Mazatrol conventions. This unit only allows a start point X-Z and end point X-Z. If facing to center, end point X-Z is typically X0 Z0. Starting point X is always stock dia. and SPT-Z is always facing allowance.

reverse shape contour alarm is caused by changing the progression in Z. Z must always progress in the same direction in a mazatrol bar unit. there is a assigned parameter that opens up this tolerance, however. It's not good practice to make this reverse tolerance much larger than .1" or .2" or so.

The above is based on 2 axis mazatrol turning. I never handled a lathe type Variaxis.

Hope this helps.

Jim

PS - congrats on having one of the sexiest Mazak high tech machines currently out there!

[mikiet]

Thanks Jim,
i actually figured it out after i wrote the post, out of frustration! i walked away a bit and then it fell into place,!
sexy! i dont think its a sexy machine , but its sure quite a handful like a woman would be!

[jimiscnc]

Stout Mazatrolling, there, Mike!

Sexy in terms of technology. Making a trunnion type rotary table into a lathe spindle is very outside the box cnc design. (it's been done before - I'm aware of the INDEX GL-200 - which had an indexing headstock spindle. Stama has a milling machine with RT and through hole and barfeed. There has to be a few others out there I'm not aware of)

I would guess that maybe one in one thousand in your line of work gets a chance to interface with such an unusual machine. You have a great opportunity there for extremely outside the box CNC processing.

I would guess your employer has a lot of respect for your CNC abilities?

-jim