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Camworks mill/turn help

DanASM

Hot Rolled
Joined
Mar 11, 2019
Google Image Result for https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mPMsSkXfJwM/maxresdefault.jpg

I am learning the chess series on CAD/CAM but I am using Camworks and not fusion 360 like most of the tutorials are based on. So far its been very easy to use and the similarities are many and even the differences are not hard to figure out.

I am however having trouble with the pawn. I cant for the life of me get the Ball Mill coming in from the Y-Axis. It always comes in from the axial side and or it comes in at a 45 degree angle. I just want to have the tool make 1 pass from the low side up to the chuck. Then rotate C-Axis and repeat. I have spent too much time today on it and I am sure its something easy to figure out.

Thanks in advance,
-Dan
 
Google Image Result for https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mPMsSkXfJwM/maxresdefault.jpg

I am learning the chess series on CAD/CAM but I am using Camworks and not fusion 360 like most of the tutorials are based on. So far its been very easy to use and the similarities are many and even the differences are not hard to figure out.

I am however having trouble with the pawn. I cant for the life of me get the Ball Mill coming in from the Y-Axis. It always comes in from the axial side and or it comes in at a 45 degree angle. I just want to have the tool make 1 pass from the low side up to the chuck. Then rotate C-Axis and repeat. I have spent too much time today on it and I am sure its something easy to figure out.

Thanks in advance,
-Dan

I'm probably not going to be much help here but can you post a screen shot of what's currently happening and then scribble / mark up how you want your hypothetical machine to move.

What machine are you emulating ?

Some indication of driven tool orientation might be helpful.

Ta.
 
I am emulating a lathe with mill/turn capabilities. For some reason I cant get the live tool to come in at 90 degrees from the y axis. It comes in from the axial side of things as if it was a standard drill but live.

I want this to happen...

YouTube

When my CAM software does the live tools it comes in parallel to the part and wont avoid the sphere at the tip of the part. Or if I try to run it with multi axis milling the toolpaths are so far off I cant begin to explain it.
 
I know there is all kinds of terminology in the tooling setup that I am unaware of. I know some are basic knowledge but I dont know what the abbreviations are on everything. ex= WIP = work in progress. I had to google that one.

Damn near 30 years of machining experience but I feel like a 3rd grader when it comes to figuring out the computer side of things.

I'm sure Ive seen WCS but i do not know what it means yet.

I just need someone to hold my hand and walk me through it.

I will play with it at another time and see if I can figure it out.

Thanks
-Dan
 
WCS= Work Coordinate System ie the “XY” plane the tool is working on. If you want the tool to come in 90* from the front face there’s a good chance you need a plane that is in the desired orientation.
 
WCS= Work Coordinate System ie the “XY” plane the tool is working on. If you want the tool to come in 90* from the front face there’s a good chance you need a plane that is in the desired orientation.

That sounds familiar. I do remember getting to a point where I could change planes like that but I didnt know what I was doing so I stopped and tried other things and or gave up for the day.

Thanks for the tips. I watch youtube for help but its not always what I am looking for.
 
I got the tool to come in from the right direction but now I cannot get the toolpath correct. Its just a simple pass from the center of the part on a slight rise to the collet. The software is taking the weirdest toolpaths and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to manually make the toolpath where I want it.

everytime I play with this software I learn something new.

-Dan
 
I got the tool to come in from the right direction but now I cannot get the toolpath correct. Its just a simple pass from the center of the part on a slight rise to the collet. The software is taking the weirdest toolpaths and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to manually make the toolpath where I want it.

everytime I play with this software I learn something new.

-Dan

If you want to send me a screen shot or three of what you have going on, or post them here (maybe better) I'll see if I can help you out.
 
Pawn Cam.jpg
pawn Cam2.jpg

The toolpath the ball mill seems to take is around the part I want machined. It circles around it no matter what I try to do. I cant figure out how to do this manually either. I dont even know if there is a way to do this.

Example... Pick a spot to start toolpath, pick a spot for it to end, then set speeds and feeds. It doesnt seem like it should be this hard.

Thanks in advance.
 
View attachment 262581
View attachment 262582

The toolpath the ball mill seems to take is around the part I want machined. It circles around it no matter what I try to do. I cant figure out how to do this manually either. I dont even know if there is a way to do this.

Example... Pick a spot to start toolpath, pick a spot for it to end, then set speeds and feeds. It doesnt seem like it should be this hard.

Thanks in advance.

I'm going to have to windex my screen so I can zoom in to see them better, but I suspect it's an issue of selecting z limits. Do you have a higher res picture you can email?
 
Well Im trying to get something you can see better. I dont really have the toolpaths for the ball mill due to the emulation being all over the place and not really view able.

When I select the ball mill and what feature I want to machine is where I get lost. I can click and highlight the features but it seems to machine around the feature and not the actual feature itself. I tried 2.5 mill and 3 axis mill with no luck. I tried multi axis mill and it was also all over the place although it was closer to what I wanted it was not right at all.

I am not sure what you need to see. So I have the turning ops done and I am trying to set up the mill operation. I cannot seem to figure out how or what operation to use to make this work. Any chance you could walk me through it from here?
 
Camworks is a tough one to use. I've used solidcam, featurecam, currently working in mastercam. Camworks was the most annoying one to use. Has a mind of its own.
 
View attachment 262581
View attachment 262582

The toolpath the ball mill seems to take is around the part I want machined. It circles around it no matter what I try to do. I cant figure out how to do this manually either. I dont even know if there is a way to do this.

Example... Pick a spot to start toolpath, pick a spot for it to end, then set speeds and feeds. It doesnt seem like it should be this hard.

Thanks in advance.

You may need to pick a containment boundary to get your toolpath to show up.
 
pawn cam 3.jpg

I keep getting stuff like this. I try a bunch of different ways to go about it (Boss,Slot,Pocket,open pocket,face feature,etc) but none have worked so far. Im still playing around with it and having no luck.
 
Just a heads up. Got it to work correctly. I had to play with so many features and run simulations to see what they did. Apparently my tool was just a few thou too big for the feature and the software wouldnt let me get toolpaths for it. I accidently had a smaller end mill in the program and it ran better but not the best toolpaths that I wanted. After spending the weekend playing with this and watching youtube videos I feel much more confident with CAD/CAM.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I am sure I will need help again in the future.

-Dan
 








 
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