Machsupport Forum

Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: Mr. Technical on June 28, 2011, 12:41:21 PM

Title: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: Mr. Technical on June 28, 2011, 12:41:21 PM
Hi Guys,

I recently got my lathe set up, but am having problems using the OD Taper Wizard.  I'm trying to put a 45 deg taper (90 degree included point angle) on a 1" diameter rod.  The wizard seems to want to make a taper with the wrong angle.  It's making the angle very blunt, or flat.  The odd thing is that the display of the toolpath looks right.

What I'm looking for is a point on the end of the bar, that goes from a point all the way to the outer diameter (no step).

The specifics:
I am a licensed user.
I am using Diameter mode.
OD Taper settings are as follows:

X End:  0.0
Angle:  +45.
X Start: .5
Z End: -.5
Z Start: 0.0
Clearance: .1

I have no idea what I'm missing.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Mr. Technical
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: Hood on June 28, 2011, 01:52:51 PM
Does your lathe cut accurately normally?
Can you attach your xml please.
Hood
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: mr.c on June 28, 2011, 02:21:22 PM
I have had some issues with wizards. In particular, direction of cut. I am looking at your settings and it looks,to me (I may be wrong) that with x end at 0.0 you are wanting it to cut to the center of your stock. But your z end is at -.5 which is moving the other direction? Or am I really confused?
Sometimes the wizards are really confusing to me(not particularly intuitive) and sometimes they just will not do what I need them to do and I have to write my own code.
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: Mr. Technical on June 28, 2011, 03:29:59 PM
Hood:  Still figuring out if there are problems with different types of cuts, but 1" of commanded Z movement equals 1" of actual Z movement, and same thing for the X axis.  That was one of the first things I looked at (steps per revolution).  XML attached.

mr.c:  Thanks for the input.  Z zero is the face of the part, and X zero is the center.  X .5 is with the tool touching the side of the 1" diameter barstock, since I'm in Diameter Mode.  Z -.5 is half an inch from the faced end of the part (towards the chuck).

Also, I'm attaching the g code that running the wizard as stated produces.

Mr. Technical

Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: Hood on June 28, 2011, 03:57:08 PM
When I try with your xml it works fine for me according to code and toolpath but when I load the code you posted it is not correct. Can you take a screenshot of the settings you have in the wizard just in case I am doing something different.
Hood
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: mr.c on June 28, 2011, 04:45:35 PM
The way my mind see's it is perhaps why it is not intuitive to me. I understand the positions of x0 being the center of the stockand x.05 being the diametric edge of the piece and z -.5 being a half inch back from the face. It is the start and finish that confuses me. My mind pictures it this way. With a taper to start at x .5 and finish at x 0.0 the tool moves left to right. And to start at z 0.0 and finish at z -.5 is a right to left move. In reality that may not be the intention of the wizard but it is how my mind pictures it, which makes it counter intuitive to me.
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: ERP on June 28, 2011, 04:50:50 PM
Ignore wrong thread
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: Mr. Technical on June 29, 2011, 10:45:28 AM
Here's the screenshot showing how I've filled out the fields.  Thanks for all the help!

Mr. Technical
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: Hood on June 29, 2011, 01:49:44 PM
I get totally different code than you get from the wizard with your settings and xml, have attached what I get, can you load that and see what its like. BTW heres a screenshot of what I get when I load the code you posted.
Hood
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: Mr. Technical on June 29, 2011, 02:36:59 PM
OK, something weird is definitely going on. 

Loading my XML on a different computer, and inputting the ODTaper2 file you supplied I get what you can see in the ODT1 screenshot file below, which looks very close or identical to the simulation diagram I get on the actual lathe computer where all of this started.

Loading the same ODTaper2 file under the standard non customized XML, (Mach3 turn) I get what appears in ODT2 screenshot.  Interesting thing is, this looks like what the lathe actually cut.  You can see how flat the angle is-it's not the 45 degrees I need.

Incidentally, what version are you running?  I'm not at the lathe so I don't know the exact version, but it's in the 2's I think.  The other test computer I'm using is running version 3.042.

Mr. Technical
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: Hood on June 29, 2011, 02:41:39 PM
Default lathe xml is Rad mode so thats the difference between the two above.

I am using Rev 3.043.037 here on the home computer.

Hood
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: Mr. Technical on June 29, 2011, 04:25:35 PM
That makes sense, but any other ideas about why this is happening?

Mr. Technical
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: Hood on June 29, 2011, 04:30:28 PM
Can you try again and post the code as it seems really strange that you get the toolpath you do from that code when I get something totally different.
Hood
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: Mr. Technical on June 29, 2011, 05:17:05 PM
Sure.  This is the code that I generated from the test computer running the same personalized XML that I posted.  Also, I used the same settings for start/end etc as I listed in the first post.  However, although I think the feed and speed settings are the same, I'm not sure.  If that causes any issues, please let me know.

Mr. Technical
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: Hood on June 29, 2011, 06:06:55 PM
That code seems to look fine for me with your xml, have you run it to see?
Hood
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: RICH on June 29, 2011, 09:35:50 PM
I haven't used the OD taper wizard in some time and will need to repost to this thread since i was using a modified version of that wizard.
If i remember correctly the original wizard did not provide the correct angle from the code and the angle is 1/2 the total angle. By incorrect angle i am meaing
that when the G code is backplotted and looked at in CAD you will find that it is off by a small amount.......rounds to nearest angle???

I'll try and find my notes and see why a friend modified that wizard for me. Also that wizard doesn't have any built in safeguards.

Sorry if I cause confusion but will clarify when i find my notes..........Just a case of young senior memory moment..... ;D
RICH
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: Mr. Technical on July 06, 2011, 06:02:29 PM
Hi Rich,

Thanks for shedding some light on this, and glad to hear I may not be crazy.  I'll be anxious to hear what will fix this. 

Hood,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, but I appreciate the help!  Let's see if I have any questions after Rich comes back.

Mr. Technical
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: RICH on July 06, 2011, 09:46:45 PM
Mr. Technical,
Have a look at the attached.  ;)
RICH
Title: Re: OD Taper Wizard Help Needed
Post by: Mr. Technical on July 07, 2011, 10:51:37 AM
Thanks for laying it all out so clearly Rich.  I have cross checked my results (using the standard Mach3 Turn xml AND my customized one, SBLathe) on the testbed PC and everything matches up to your outputs in both Radius and Diameter mode which makes me happy   ;D

I have to check all of this on the lathe itself, but using the same xml should give me the same results.  The strange thing is still that what was actually cut using the SBLathe xml doesn't look like either of your drawings.  The nose is very blunt, almost like it cut 27 degrees as measured from the face and not the axis. It's similar to your first drawing if it were rotated 90 degrees CCW.

It definitely looks like I need to stay in Diameter mode to use this wizard.  I'll experiment more and try to find what I may be doing to mess this up, and post it here of course.  Thanks again!

Mr. Technical