Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: native34 on February 01, 2016, 08:08:15 PM
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Can the mach3 lathe be setup with a Y axis? I'm using my VMC for turning as well as machining and would like to be able to use the y axis to align my tool to centerline so I'm not above or below CL with my tools. then set the x and z offsets.
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Anybody have any experience with this?
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No experience of doing it but there should not really be a problem.
If using it as a Lathe you may be better using a lathe profile as the tool tables and wizards will then be appropriate for a lathe. The standard Turn screen will not have the Y Dro on it but you can easily load a mill screenset, the only thing you need to do is make sure it has a .lset file extension. If you use the mill screenset with the .set file extension Mach will open in Mill mode rather than Lathe.
To change a mill screenset to a lathe one is as simple as copy the chosen screenset to a different location, change the file extension to .lset then save it back to the Mach3 folder. Use the View menu then Load Screens to open the newly done screen, you will have to use the drop down list for file types and choose .lset from the list or you will not see your newly changed screen.
Hood
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Well if you change to Y then nothing toolpath wise will be correct as it uses ZX . Also any Cam gcode will not be correct. Threading will probably not work as it is ZX not would canned cycles.
Is there some reason you cannot use X with your machine ?
Just a thought, (;-)TP
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TP, I think what the OP is planning is likely a Gang type setup with tools aligned on the Y axis but cutting will be done in Z and X axis. Thus the Y would just be to position the next tool.
Hood
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Hood you are correct, I am only using the Y axis to align the tool to the part centerline. All code will be using xz axis