Sodick Taperflex, couple questions and expectations.

[Luke.kerbey]

Hi folks,

This is a lead on from my previous post about taper cutting. Im trying to get my taper work down to a tee and I’ve had some really decent results. I couldn’t even see the transition between two tapered plates in the majority of a contour on a few plates now, So I’m dead chuffed so far.

But I’ve got some minor issues that I need to sort. This is a few posts worth combined in one.

1) firstly can any of you cut complex profiles on multiple plates with angles from 0 - 30 degrees over night reliably with no breaks? Or am I being unrealistic?

2) can your machines rethread after breaking on steep angles? My wire gets a curl in it and just alarms out. Can I prevent this? Im using Sodicks own hard wire.

3) does anyone ever get a DPW protection alarm often? I get this always in harsh angles corners or rads over at steep angles. I’ve prevented it somewhat by taking 7 microns off my first and second cuts. (3 cut program). What else does anyone do to stop this alarm? We had a newPC last year and I’m thinking maybe a parameter might be causing this and really there’s no issue in my actual cutting.

4) what are anyones standard setting changes for steep angles? I currently select open conditions and up the A on MAO and up the SV. But I’m getting 25% cutting speed if it was a straight cut. My machine cuts at the standard table speeds in parallel cuts pretty well. I’m wondering if im being to safe used open flushing by default.

5) What on earth causes wire breaks on second and third cuts?? This is with the slug still held with a thick 10mm tag. It’s happened a few times recently and has stopped the machine mid night.

6) I’ve also got about 5 years worth of wire spools. How should I be storing this to prevent brittleness and corrosion/ oxidisation?


If anyone wants to take a stab at any questions and share from experience, I will be very appreciative.

 

[JZ.]

Hi folks,

This is a lead on from my previous post about taper cutting. Im trying to get my taper work down to a tee and I’ve had some really decent results. I couldn’t even see the transition between two tapered plates in the majority of a contour on a few plates now, So I’m dead chuffed so far.

But I’ve got some minor issues that I need to sort. This is a few posts worth combined in one.

1) firstly can any of you cut complex profiles on multiple plates with angles from 0 - 30 degrees over night reliably with no breaks? Or am I being unrealistic?

2) can your machines rethread after breaking on steep angles? My wire gets a curl in it and just alarms out. Can I prevent this? Im using Sodicks own hard wire.

3) does anyone ever get a DPW protection alarm often? I get this always in harsh angles corners or rads over at steep angles. I’ve prevented it somewhat by taking 7 microns off my first and second cuts. (3 cut program). What else does anyone do to stop this alarm? We had a newPC last year and I’m thinking maybe a parameter might be causing this and really there’s no issue in my actual cutting.

4) what are anyones standard setting changes for steep angles? I currently select open conditions and up the A on MAO and up the SV. But I’m getting 25% cutting speed if it was a straight cut. My machine cuts at the standard table speeds in parallel cuts pretty well. I’m wondering if im being to safe used open flushing by default.

5) What on earth causes wire breaks on second and third cuts?? This is with the slug still held with a thick 10mm tag. It’s happened a few times recently and has stopped the machine mid night.

6) I’ve also got about 5 years worth of wire spools. How should I be storing this to prevent brittleness and corrosion/ oxidisation?


If anyone wants to take a stab at any questions and share from experience, I will be very appreciative.

Hey Luke,

1) firstly can any of you cut complex profiles on multiple plates with angles from 0 - 30 degrees over night reliably with no breaks? Or am I being unrealistic?

Depending on how thick the plates are, I don't think your being to unrealistic. It will take some tinkering around with settings for sure, but I feel even with the steeper angles you should be able to burn overnight without many or any wire break issues.

2) can your machines rethread after breaking on steep angles? My wire gets a curl in it and just alarms out. Can I prevent this? Im using Sodicks own hard wire

What are alarm are you getting? Occasionally when the wire breaks on a steeper angle for me I will get a H10171 alarm with either Detail 5 or 21 being the cause for the alarm. I haven't really found the solution for that yet.

4) what are anyones standard setting changes for steep angles? I currently select open conditions and up the A on MAO and up the SV. But I’m getting 25% cutting speed if it was a straight cut. My machine cuts at the standard table speeds in parallel cuts pretty well. I’m wondering if im being to safe used open flushing by default.

If you have your TaperFlex book, there is a section that gives some good reference info with different cutting conditions for making adjustments with 4axis burns. Anything over 10° I tend to adjust quite a few settings. I'll see how it starts to cut first if I'm unfamiliar with the conditions, but I'll adjust my MAO altogether, WT, WP, SV, SF and if needed my ON and OFF time to achieve a good stable burn. If the cut is steep I'm dropping WT down to 140, take 5/10 off WP, typically creep up on the SV and also drop the SF a little bit. You would think making these changes would only slow the machine down, but that is not always the case. I am always after high precision cuts, so keeping my wire size Offsets in mind I tend not to focus so much on the speed of the cut, but how stable the burn is. My 4axis burns require 4 sometimes 5 passes to achieve the outcome I need location and surface finish wise. Sometimes I think I may be a little too safe as well, but if the end results are good I don't care.

5) What on earth causes wire breaks on second and third cuts?? This is with the slug still held with a thick 10mm tag. It’s happened a few times recently and has stopped the machine mid night.

I haven't ever had to finish anything with the slug still attached, but if you are breaking wire on 2nd and 3rd passes, I would think there is material build up in the swarf from roughing that could be causing the wire breaks. Do you get any short-circuits at all when doing this?

 

[Luke.kerbey]

Hi Jz,

These are plates up to 60mm (so nothing extreme) and up to 30 degrees. The issues i’m facing are at the corners where compounding makes a harsh angle. Because the form changes all the way around it’s hard to establish a setting before hand as it’ll be at night where it starts cutting the hardest part.

I also get H10171 alarms when I fail a rethread, it’s normally a BLOW or WCLP error. I think they are red herrings as the wire normally ends up in a kink or curl above the blow guide pipe.

And regarding your WT @ 140, is that for hard wire? As Sodick suggest around 110 for 25 degrees for hard wire, and I’ve been running at 130. But other then that I’m on the same line as you, however I only do 3 cuts for these plates as Surface quality is less important over accuracy. And time constraints also.

And I don’t ever get short circuit alarms, it just randomly breaks on second and third cuts. I think i can remember this also on some parallel cuts too.

 

[Shane030173]

Luke,

You mentioned you're using Sodicks hard brass wire. That is only good up to 15 degrees. Its recommended using a 1/2 hard wire for 15-25 degrees and soft wire for anything over 25. We use Bedra MegaCut type T wire for our 4 axis cuts. It a 1/2 hard coated wire good for 45 degrees. Its specifically designed for large tapers with poor flushing. It cuts great, threading is ok, great finishes as well.


We use open upper cutting conditions. Change my MAO to 382. If using Taper Flex cups WP to 63. Up to 20 degrees WT 120 to rough 140 for 1st and 2nd skim pass. Over 20 degrees 85 to rough 110 1st skim 120 2nd skim. Also, you need to change your WK if using 1/2 or soft wire. If using .010" ( 25mm ) hard wire WK is 025. 1/2 hard or soft needs to be 125. This tells the machine its soft wire and changes the power to anneal the wire for threading.

Not sure about the DPW alarm. Wire breaks during skimming could be the wire tension.

 

[JZ.]

Hi Jz,

These are plates up to 60mm (so nothing extreme) and up to 30 degrees. The issues i’m facing are at the corners where compounding makes a harsh angle. Because the form changes all the way around it’s hard to establish a setting before hand as it’ll be at night where it starts cutting the hardest part.

I also get H10171 alarms when I fail a rethread, it’s normally a BLOW or WCLP error. I think they are red herrings as the wire normally ends up in a kink or curl above the blow guide pipe.

And regarding your WT @ 140, is that for hard wire? As Sodick suggest around 110 for 25 degrees for hard wire, and I’ve been running at 130. But other then that I’m on the same line as you, however I only do 3 cuts for these plates as Surface quality is less important over accuracy. And time constraints also.

And I don’t ever get short circuit alarms, it just randomly breaks on second and third cuts. I think i can remember this also on some parallel cuts too.

I see what you are saying, I hate those situations. Have you tried the AutoThink with the C555 condition on your rough cut and dropping the EPA? I don't use it that often, but when I have had some screwy burns and breaking the wire I have had success with it.

For the 140WT, yeah that is for hard wire, but I guess I should remember my "steep" angles stay between 12-15°, which might be not much compared to others. I've gone down to 130 on my nocore though. I have a kurf that leads into the holes, so if my tension is loose I have to watch the flushing so it doesn't want to bounce around when it passes by the kurf line. I think for steeper angles you want something Semi-Hard.

That would be really annoying to be breaking the wire on the 2nd and 3rd passes like that, seems like the slug should be pretty solid with a tab that size.

 

[Luke.kerbey]

Thanks for the replies.

Shane,

Yer I’m leaning towards hard wire and tension settings being the cause of finishing cut breaks, as it’s in the hard angle corners where it has been happening.

Weve thought about different wire types before, I think I need to re-mention the idea.


And Jz,

I’ve got the auto think option on our machine, it works well for not breaking but runs hellishly slow. I feel it’s a bit lazy to use it sometimes aha, I like to reserve it for real rusty horrible gappy parts, but I must admit I haven’t thought to use it on plate work. I’m a little reluctant still as I’m so close to getting really consistent, decent work done overnight. I’m running plates every night and day this week, so I’ve got enough practice time.


So In conclusion so far, I think our wire selection is hittting my performance by the sounds of it. I’ll sit my boss down and try and extract some from him