NX Manufacturing 5 axis indexing setup

lspotts38 · May 25, 2017

I have a few questions about getting machining geometry setup in NX for 5 axis work. I am able to get code that works, but seems like I might be missing something in the setup of the machining geometry for 5 axis work. I am using fixture tracking in the below outlined. Currently, I setup a base offset at a known location on the part, see first image. Make that my top level work MCS, set to "MAIN" in the MCS dialog. When I work on any other A or C axis index, I make a new MCS under the main MCS, set to "LOCAL" and special output to "USE MAIN MCS". I then have to rotate the "local" MCS to what the machine would see for X,Y & Z orientations. It works, but it seems pretty clunky to me. Thing that makes me most nervous about this setup is the possibility of not getting the X,Y & Z axis projections correct on indexes that use both "A" & "C", I could see where it would get challenging on compounded surfaces. I have looked for videos on NX CAM programming, and havent really come up with much as far as the setup that is required to post good code. Anyone able to give me a few tips?

Revelstone · Jun 2, 2017

You should only have to set 1 MCS. The post should take care of the rest. I think you are overthinking it.

RTM · Jun 6, 2017

I have a couple different softwares (Mastercam and BobCAD-CAM) but they work similarly as you describe. My software allows me to simply pick a surface that is normal to the angle I am going to machine if I want to. The software always makes the calculations from your main UCS (or MCS as it is called in your system).

You can also be "explicit" in my software and rotate the UCS (or MCS) manually to the direction you want and orient the origin to match the Main origin as I see it done in your screenshots but it is not entirely necessary.

Hope that makes sense. I don't have NX but your screenshots look similar to what I see in my own stuff. I think it probably works extremely similar.

ngmajid · Jul 5, 2019

Hi
Can you say what is your stuff please?

gkoenig · Jul 7, 2019

lspotts38 said:
I have a few questions about getting machining geometry setup in NX for 5 axis work. I am able to get code that works, but seems like I might be missing something in the setup of the machining geometry for 5 axis work. I am using fixture tracking in the below outlined. Currently, I setup a base offset at a known location on the part, see first image. Make that my top level work MCS, set to "MAIN" in the MCS dialog. When I work on any other A or C axis index, I make a new MCS under the main MCS, set to "LOCAL" and special output to "USE MAIN MCS". I then have to rotate the "local" MCS to what the machine would see for X,Y & Z orientations. It works, but it seems pretty clunky to me. Thing that makes me most nervous about this setup is the possibility of not getting the X,Y & Z axis projections correct on indexes that use both "A" & "C", I could see where it would get challenging on compounded surfaces. I have looked for videos on NX CAM programming, and havent really come up with much as far as the setup that is required to post good code. Anyone able to give me a few tips?

Why do you have all these extra MCSs? Each operation can use "Tool Vector" to pick up whatever angle directly from the model geometry.

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NX Manufacturing 5 axis indexing setup

lspotts38

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Revelstone

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RTM

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ngmajid

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gkoenig

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