cellis8200
Plastic
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2018
Hey guys. I've lurked for a while and gotten a lot of good information from here. Today the search function is failing me(or I am failing it) so I'm hoping I can get some help.
I've been tasked with a problem to solve and I'm having trouble narrowing down my options due to some question of how tool center point control behaves on a Fanuc 31i. The machine is a Matsuura MAM72. I spent some time on the phone with applications at Matsuura, but our connection was crappy so I don't think he quite understood what I was trying to ask. I'll try to keep this simple.
Currently we program our parts from centerline of rotation of the C axis. Those offsets are set in the common, and G54 is set to all zeroes. You will see why this is important in a minute.
The problem:
We're machining castings with compound curves on a 5 axis table/table machine. We're trying to machine as close to the casting floor as possible without gouging it. We have a +.05"/-.00" tolerance where the floor meets the wall.
Casting variance is such that batch and queue doesn't make sense, nor can we really just pick a height and run. The parts are consistent to themselves, but not to each other, if that makes sense. These are production run parts, so it makes sense to invest the time into automating as much as possible.
My solution:
I wrote a probe routine that probes X amount of points along the surface that can't be touched with a cutter and dump the difference between nominal and actual into macro variables. I then found the average of that deviation from nominal and added .020". I dumped that number into G54 "Z".
Now my plan is to take that average variation +.020, insert it before the tool path starts, run the tool path, and then take the variation out so I don't affect any other geometry. I can control this all inside NX so that is not a problem. There will be no hand editing.
The probe routine does what is expected, the code to do all the offset shifts works great. Where there is some question is what is going to happen if I raise G54 Z when G43.4 is active.
I expect that it will just run the same exact 3D tool path a little higher or lower. Which, if I am not mistaken, was what I saw on the Mazak table/table machines I used to program and run. They all used G43.4 and G68.2. I've never had to do what I'm being asked to do now though.
My co-worker disagrees. He is using probe routines that probe the part, and choose a program to run based on material condition(deviation from nominal). While this is a great solution to a very challenging problem, he is leaving the company and I'd like to simplify it if possible. I am not as good of a programmer as he is, and I was having a little trouble following his logic.
The other issue with his solution is that you only have as many options to handle casting variance as he's programmed. With mine you would have infinite options.
I'm trying to get some machine time to do some R&D, but in the meantime I thought I'd bounce it off the collective knowledge of this forum and see what I come up with.
Thanks in advance!
I've been tasked with a problem to solve and I'm having trouble narrowing down my options due to some question of how tool center point control behaves on a Fanuc 31i. The machine is a Matsuura MAM72. I spent some time on the phone with applications at Matsuura, but our connection was crappy so I don't think he quite understood what I was trying to ask. I'll try to keep this simple.
Currently we program our parts from centerline of rotation of the C axis. Those offsets are set in the common, and G54 is set to all zeroes. You will see why this is important in a minute.
The problem:
We're machining castings with compound curves on a 5 axis table/table machine. We're trying to machine as close to the casting floor as possible without gouging it. We have a +.05"/-.00" tolerance where the floor meets the wall.
Casting variance is such that batch and queue doesn't make sense, nor can we really just pick a height and run. The parts are consistent to themselves, but not to each other, if that makes sense. These are production run parts, so it makes sense to invest the time into automating as much as possible.
My solution:
I wrote a probe routine that probes X amount of points along the surface that can't be touched with a cutter and dump the difference between nominal and actual into macro variables. I then found the average of that deviation from nominal and added .020". I dumped that number into G54 "Z".
Now my plan is to take that average variation +.020, insert it before the tool path starts, run the tool path, and then take the variation out so I don't affect any other geometry. I can control this all inside NX so that is not a problem. There will be no hand editing.
The probe routine does what is expected, the code to do all the offset shifts works great. Where there is some question is what is going to happen if I raise G54 Z when G43.4 is active.
I expect that it will just run the same exact 3D tool path a little higher or lower. Which, if I am not mistaken, was what I saw on the Mazak table/table machines I used to program and run. They all used G43.4 and G68.2. I've never had to do what I'm being asked to do now though.
My co-worker disagrees. He is using probe routines that probe the part, and choose a program to run based on material condition(deviation from nominal). While this is a great solution to a very challenging problem, he is leaving the company and I'd like to simplify it if possible. I am not as good of a programmer as he is, and I was having a little trouble following his logic.
The other issue with his solution is that you only have as many options to handle casting variance as he's programmed. With mine you would have infinite options.
I'm trying to get some machine time to do some R&D, but in the meantime I thought I'd bounce it off the collective knowledge of this forum and see what I come up with.
Thanks in advance!