Cable drum grooving program

This a program I made to test the grooving of a cable drum on a cnc lathe. The one I need to do is much larger but I think I will run this one just to see how it works. Now this is only the finishing pass. I know I will need to rough it out first. These points will be the center of my 1/4" wide radius tool. This will produce an 8" drum With 10" long grooves with a .866 lead. The one I really need to cut is 19 5/8" Dia and 10' long. Do you guys think this will work?

grooving-program — ImgBB

cuttergrinder said:

This a program I made to test the grooving of a cable drum on a cnc lathe. The one I need to do is much larger but I think I will run this one just to see how it works. Now this is only the finishing pass. I know I will need to rough it out first. These points will be the center of my 1/4" wide radius tool. This will produce an 8" drum With 10" long grooves with a .866 lead. The one I really need to cut is 19 5/8" Dia and 10' long. Do you guys think this will work?

grooving-program — ImgBB

Click to expand...

YouTube

Hardplates said:

YouTube

Click to expand...

Yes I saw that but he doesn't show exactly how he programmed it.

I don't speak Fanuc but one thing you'll probably have to do - take your tool and tip it some way to where it's at a 90* to the thread. Those round inserts don't cut very well otherwise and your support blade will probably rub.

Also, what the cable sees is not going to be symmetrical because your drawing is in ZX plane, while the thread is at an angle to that. Don't know if that matters, but the rope may have a tendency to hug one side or the other instead of laying centered in the groove because of that ? If you want to make it symmetrical for the cable you'll have to tilt that profile.

Your method definitely works, that's one of the ways to cut a big worm.

All I see is a screenshot of what you're working on. I can't even read the code.

O0004 (Rope drum grooving)
G99 G20 G90
G00 G54 X25 Z8 T00
G50 S200
T0101 (Grooving tool)
G97 S200 M04
Z -2.5802
X 8.2
G32 X8. Z-2.5802 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.9959 Z-2.6052 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.984 Z-2.6296 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.9645 Z-2.6527 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.9378 Z-2.6739 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.9048 Z-2.6928 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.8661 Z-2.7088 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.8228 Z-2.7215 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.7761 Z-2.7306 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.7382 Z-2.737 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.7013 Z-2.7447 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.6657 Z-2.7538 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.6314 Z-2.764 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.5986 Z-2.7755 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.5676 Z-2.7881 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.5384 Z-2.8018 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.5113 Z-2.8165 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.4863 Z-2.8321 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.4636 Z-2.8485 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.4432 Z-2.8657 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.4254 Z-2.8836 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.4102 Z-2.9021 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.3976 Z-2.9211 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.3877 Z-2.9405 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.3807 Z-2.9601 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.3764 Z-2.98 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.375 Z-3. F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.3764 Z-3.02 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.3807 Z-3.0399 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.3877 Z-3.0595 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.3976 Z-3.0789 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.4102 Z-3.0979 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.4254 Z-3.1164 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.4432 Z-3.1343 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.4636 Z-3.1515 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.4863 Z-3.1679 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.5113 Z-3.1835 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.5384 Z-3.1982 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.5676 Z-3.2119 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.5986 Z-3.2245 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.6314 Z-3.236 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.6657 Z-3.2462 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.7013 Z-3.2553 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.7382 Z-3.263 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.7761 Z-3.2694 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.8228 Z-3.2785 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.8661 Z-3.2912 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.9048 Z-3.3072 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.9378 Z-3.3261 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.9645 Z-3.3473 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.984 Z-3.3704 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X7.9959 Z-3.3948 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
G32 X8. Z-3.4198 F .866
W -10.
X 8.2
G00 W10.
M30

EmanuelGoldstein said:

I don't speak Fanuc but one thing you'll probably have to do - take your tool and tip it some way to where it's at a 90* to the thread. Those round inserts don't cut very well otherwise and your support blade will probably rub.

Also, what the cable sees is not going to be symmetrical because your drawing is in ZX plane, while the thread is at an angle to that. Don't know if that matters, but the rope may have a tendency to hug one side or the other instead of laying centered in the groove because of that ? If you want to make it symmetrical for the cable you'll have to tilt that profile.

Your method definitely works, that's one of the ways to cut a big worm.

Click to expand...

yes I may have to rotate the drawing a little. The larger the diameter drum is, I think the less this will effect it though.

Are you doing this on the back side with a normal side up cutter ? You'll get a left-hand thread that way. Just mentioning in case you hadn't noticed ... looks good, but ...

I can run it either way.

cuttergrinder said:

I can run it either way.

Click to expand...

Yup, just thought I'd mention it because ol' doofus-head here had a bit of a shock the first time I did threads on a turret-in-back lathe. Looked good, measured good, but the nut won't go on ! What the heck ?

Oh

EmanuelGoldstein said:

Yup, just thought I'd mention it because ol' doofus-head here had a bit of a shock the first time I did threads on a turret-in-back lathe. Looked good, measured good, but the nut won't go on ! What the heck ?

Oh

Click to expand...

Yes i have only run mazaks in the past and ive never done it but it would be very easy to do

The drum i make needs one left and one right handed set of grooves.

There are lots off different ways to do this and I don't claim to know the correct way but your code is really long. I would use a G92 threading cycle to shorten it up and make it a little more simplerish.

Just a sample of what some of my G92 cycle looks like.


(THREAD1)
N14 T0303
N15 M8
N16 G99
N17 G96 S750 M3
N18 G50 S1500
N19 G0 X3.8 Z0.1969
N20 G0 Z0.6263
N21 G92 X2.7698 Z-5.9987 F0.125
N22 X2.7572 Z-6.0023
N23 X2.7476 Z-5.9996
N24 X2.7395 Z-6.0019
N25 X2.7324 Z-5.9999
N26 X2.7259 Z-6.0017
N27 X2.72 Z-6.
N28 G0 X3.8 Z0.1969

Ive never used a G92 cycle but i need to make it plunge in X while in the threading cycle because the grooves dont start at the end of the drum. Can G92 do that

cuttergrinder said:

Ive never used a G92 cycle but i need to make it plunge in X while in the threading cycle because the grooves dont start at the end of the drum. Can G92 do that

Click to expand...

That's a good question. I'm and I.D.10T and didn't think of that. But it does make me curious so I'll likely take a look in one of my Fanuc manuals later today.

After i drew my points, it only took a second to generate the code

cuttergrinder said:

Ive never used a G92 cycle but i need to make it plunge in X while in the threading cycle because the grooves dont start at the end of the drum. Can G92 do that

Click to expand...

G92 will Rapid to the X Cut Diameter. Therefore, as the Thread is starting within the confines of the Workpiece, the Threading Tool will Rapid into the Workpiece when advancing to each Cut Diameter.

angelw said:

... the Threading Tool will Rapid into the Workpiece when advancing to each Cut Diameter.

Click to expand...

That would be an exciting way to start the day

The rapids on this big machine only go 250 in/ min so maybe it would work that way.

I was originally going to use a spreadsheet to generate this code but i figured out a way for bobcad to do it.