5 axis vise - how high to mount it?

I've been tasked with getting a Brother M300X3 multitask machine up and running. The one person here with 5 axis experience has left so I'm on my own. Before leaving the guy ordered some work holding stuff which I'm trying to get mounted up. It's all 5th Axis brand - I have a V562X vise, RL96-MP pallet and a RL96A-66 base to work with. I can make up an adapter plate between the trunion and base but I have no idea how tall it should be. I measured and the closest the spindle nose comes to the trunion table is 8". We're a job shop and have no specific parts to run on this machine but the majority of parts I can see being run on it would fit in a 6x6x6 cube.

Hi Peroni:
The rule of thumb is to mount it high enough so when the platter is tilted up at 90 degrees, you can still get all the way to the bottom of the jaws (and a bit beyond) with the spindle centerline without crashing the platter into the spindle or machine head.
You need this to be able to face the ends of a block or to be able to machine features into the ends of a block.
This will suffice for 99% of your work.

There will be instances when your work needs to be tilted more than 90% but it'll probably be pretty rare.
If so, you will have to mount the vise even further from the platter surface to accommodate the extra tilt.

The safest way to make the determination is to model the platter with vise, and the machine head with spindle and toolholders, and build the CAD assembly so the platter can rotate and tilt, so you can see it visually.
This model is super useful to have anyway, so it's worthwhile to have it for setups generally.
If you can't do it yourself, get the CAD department to do it for you.

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining

The alternative approach is to use long, narrow toolholders to reach in to the part while keeping the spindle nose above the trunnion. There are obvious disadvantages to this method, but the advantage is that the closer the part is to the center of rotation the less any rotational inaccuracy will effect the part, and the less torque the trunnion needs. I usually split the difference, elevating the vise just enough to reach in with thicker extended holders, but my trunnion only has a 7" swing so 4" holders work great most of the time.

If the adapter plate is a flat plate with some holes in it, a simple spacer...why not make
several ?
Different thickness's and stackable.

implmex said:

Hi Peroni:
The rule of thumb is to mount it high enough so when the platter is tilted up at 90 degrees, you can still get all the way to the bottom of the jaws (and a bit beyond) with the spindle centerline without crashing the platter into the spindle or machine head.
You need this to be able to face the ends of a block or to be able to machine features into the ends of a block.
This will suffice for 99% of your work.

There will be instances when your work needs to be tilted more than 90% but it'll probably be pretty rare.
If so, you will have to mount the vise even further from the platter surface to accommodate the extra tilt.

The safest way to make the determination is to model the platter with vise, and the machine head with spindle and toolholders, and build the CAD assembly so the platter can rotate and tilt, so you can see it visually.
This model is super useful to have anyway, so it's worthwhile to have it for setups generally.
If you can't do it yourself, get the CAD department to do it for you.

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining

Click to expand...

Check and get any ideas of parts you will need/want to make. We actually did 100 ~ 110deg work a decent bit. No matter what, you WILL run into that job that you can't quite reach. We had 2-3 gage lengths to try and minimize the "oh shit" moments. Camplete will be your best friend too. Beg, plead, threaten, whatever you need to get a seat, definitely worth it.

Need to check the height on the brother machine. The Z axis will be offset so make sure you can reach the parts you need to make.
Make a subplate and then make 4 different height adapters for your vise.

This is what I use, It really works nice.

Just a few notes - that machine is not a "true" 5-axis, it is 4+1. It also does not do transform plane functions in the controller, so you will need to model and program everything off a common point (centerline of C-axis rotation at the table surface, for instance) or you will need work offsets for every tool presentation plane, and you need to probe them in. Also, if using a rotational axis, word from Yamazen is that the machine needs to be run in metric to use inverse time accurately. You can always use degrees per unit time, though.

Hope some of that helps.