BRIAN.T
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2018
- Location
- Los Angeles
This is going to be specific to heidenhain/mastercam. But ill make it as general as possible for you fanuc people.
When i first started programming 5 axis about a year ago the machine apps guy told me to change WCS and Tplane for each plane change, as long as i had the same fixture offset number everything worked fine with my post, and is actually a really easy way to program. in this situation my post took advantage of heidenhain's cycle 7. (if you're unfamiliar ill explain below).
My post builder later told me this was incorrect, and that WCS should be left at "top" (which is how the rest of the world does it), in this situation, no cycle 7, but everything works just fine.
Cycle 7 on heidenhain is a code that switches your coordinate system to wherever you're Tplane is built. So if you're drilling .500 deep holes in a 2" cube (you've probed the center and top of that cube as your work offset). The hole drilled on the top of the part with B at 0, your control will show a drill depth of -.500, tilt the table 90 degrees and your control will change coordinates to show a drill depth of z-.500, as opposed to z +.500 from the probed position. i find cycle 7 to be helpful for set up, as well as when my guys change tools, they can single block to make sure their tool is in approximately the right spot (z+.1 above top of part at 90 degrees, instead of z+3.925 or whatever)
So when you guys are doing 5 axis work, at the control do you expect all your numbers to come from the probed position, or do you take advantage of plane shift type codes (not sure what fanuc calls it).
Furthermore, what would then be the purpose of cycle 7? i see 4 different scenarios.
1)one part, one work offset, all coordinates coming from probed position
2)one part one work offset, all coordinated shifted to various faces/planes of part- cycle7
3)two parts, two work ordinates, coordinates coming from each independent work offset
4)two parts, one work offset, cycle 7 controlling coordinate shift for each part (only adjustable in CAM, and per my post builder, the correct way to use cycle 7, which to me seems pointless.
When i first started programming 5 axis about a year ago the machine apps guy told me to change WCS and Tplane for each plane change, as long as i had the same fixture offset number everything worked fine with my post, and is actually a really easy way to program. in this situation my post took advantage of heidenhain's cycle 7. (if you're unfamiliar ill explain below).
My post builder later told me this was incorrect, and that WCS should be left at "top" (which is how the rest of the world does it), in this situation, no cycle 7, but everything works just fine.
Cycle 7 on heidenhain is a code that switches your coordinate system to wherever you're Tplane is built. So if you're drilling .500 deep holes in a 2" cube (you've probed the center and top of that cube as your work offset). The hole drilled on the top of the part with B at 0, your control will show a drill depth of -.500, tilt the table 90 degrees and your control will change coordinates to show a drill depth of z-.500, as opposed to z +.500 from the probed position. i find cycle 7 to be helpful for set up, as well as when my guys change tools, they can single block to make sure their tool is in approximately the right spot (z+.1 above top of part at 90 degrees, instead of z+3.925 or whatever)
So when you guys are doing 5 axis work, at the control do you expect all your numbers to come from the probed position, or do you take advantage of plane shift type codes (not sure what fanuc calls it).
Furthermore, what would then be the purpose of cycle 7? i see 4 different scenarios.
1)one part, one work offset, all coordinates coming from probed position
2)one part one work offset, all coordinated shifted to various faces/planes of part- cycle7
3)two parts, two work ordinates, coordinates coming from each independent work offset
4)two parts, one work offset, cycle 7 controlling coordinate shift for each part (only adjustable in CAM, and per my post builder, the correct way to use cycle 7, which to me seems pointless.