4th Axis on Demo

[sweckard]

I am looking into possible purchasing Solidcam due to it being incorporated with Solidworks. I have the demo and I can do lathe and 3 axis mill operations with ease. What I am having trouble with is the 4th axis operations in Solidcam. My tool paths seem off and at times a toolpath is not even generated.

Attached is the solidworks part that I have been practicing on.

I have watch solid professor several times and still can't figure it out.

Any help on how you would go about doing this is appreciated. I have been assuming a rotary parallel to the x-axis. And then just doing a profile along the teeth of the tubing.

Thanks,

Sweckard

[TaK]

Make sure you are using a post processor that has the 4th axis functions. The standard FANUC doesn't.

[sweckard]

Make sure you are using a post processor that has the 4th axis functions. The standard FANUC doesn't.

The only post processor / cnc-controller it lets me use is Nakamora-mt. I am assuming that this is a mill with turning capabilities.

Is this correct? To machine the part below in a 4th axis?

[TaK]

I'm not familiar with that machine or that post, but you can inspect the post and the mac and see if they have the commands you're trying to use.

One other thought. The post and the mac have to be set properly for 4 axis operation, but if you are using commands like 'mirror' and 'transform' you need to make sure those are also called out in that particular post.

It won't generate g-code properly without them (in fact it just ignores it and doesn't even throw an error) and I've had strange results in the simulations if it isn't all set correctly. Can you get a post for the machine you have and use that in the demo program? That way you can at least get a complete simulation even though you can't see the g-code.

[MKproto]

Getting the correct 4th axis post and having you coordinate system setup on center with the correct rotation relative to the axis you would be rotating around. you could do a profile operation with the wrap and you probably get what you are looking for.

I would give the Solidcam USA tech support a call 866-975-1115 x2 as I know they help out the demo customers and would probably be able to get you the post you would need to do what you are trying.




Matt

[jjacoby]

>Nakamora-mt. I am assuming that this is a mill with turning capabilities.

I think you have this reversed. I think this is a lathe with milling capabilities.

[sweckard]

Thank you all for your replies. I haven't had time to work on the demo some more, but I do plan on calling tech support soon.

One thing that seems odd, is that the post processor would have control over simulation. I thought the post processor would mainly be used for gcode creation.

Below is what the simulation looks like for me with the Nakamora-mt controller. At first the tool does fine, it shows 4th axis just fine. But on second arc it starts messing up. I thought maybe it had something to do with my settings, and had no idea it was my post-processor is messing up simulation.

thank you all for your help.

[TaK]

It's possible it isn't the post-processor, but rather the .mac file that causes the issue. You define the machine in that file and need to enable and define all the axis.

SolidCam definitely looks at one or both before simulating.

If support can't get you a better post/mac, you should be able to modify one of the existing ones to get what you want.

I've modified the FANUC post to include a 4th axis for my hobby machine running Mach 3; it wasn't so hard.