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Author Topic: 5 axis, crossing the finish line. need a tiny bit of direction pointing  (Read 1232 times)

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Hello all.
I've finally finished my year long 5 axis build; It was supposed to only take 3 months. ;D
I jumped in both feet, with only my brains, this forum and youtube to help me; having never built a milling machine before.
Hard for me to ask for help when i'm so close to the end, but I could really use it on the last part to expedite the completion of this machine.
super proud to almost have it done, learned soo much along the way, from wiring to g code to technical metal skills, love it. Long story short:
On my head to head gantry style machine. I have the B axis configured to rotate around the Z axis, (b is like a spinning top) and the A axis to rotate the spindle angle relative to XY plane. (A is like a steering wheel).
mach needs to know the distance from the tool end, to the B axis to know how far to drop the z when b is at an angle to keep the tool tip at the same height. where do I program this? is there a mach4 plugin? what is the term for this?
I don't need the offset for the tool programed in. I can, and would prefer to figure that out.
Cheers,
MDA
DDDllc
Re: 5 axis, crossing the finish line. need a tiny bit of direction pointing
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2020, 04:28:49 PM »
looks like I just need a post processor to configure this for me. maybe i'll have this figured out before anyone responds! ha ha ha
....
I have a mach 3 post processor, configured for A and B axis setup. I think i'll check and see if I can figure out how they did that.
anyone know what that distance is called?
the z value increase that results from a swing in the b axis.
Re: 5 axis, crossing the finish line. need a tiny bit of direction pointing
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2020, 01:28:15 AM »
its not only Z its suld be also X and Y ,its kinematic,you must divide yours tool path to multy small lines ,then calculate each position according the A and B the new X Y Z ,i think mach not support this
i thoght do this in the past but until now no need because my client use SolidCam that already have Tcp(tool  center point)
but if you need this develope i think i can help you
Re: 5 axis, crossing the finish line. need a tiny bit of direction pointing
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2020, 01:33:29 PM »
I might focus more on 3+2 machining. For the work I do, this would be totally acceptable.
my research indicates that multiaxis for mach4 is way beyond my level. I'm a builder and a designer, not a programmer. ha ha ha.
Cheers!
-MDA
 8)
Re: 5 axis, crossing the finish line. need a tiny bit of direction pointing
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2020, 02:43:38 PM »
Do you think you could help, would you be interested, to program a 3+2 axis post?
via fusion or inventor cam, i would re-orient the tool based on a feature on the part. say to mill an angled plane at 20 deg, the new z axis is 20 degres positive from the machine coordintates.
I have no idea how to write the post that would tell my machine to rotate the b axis 20 deg, B20 and move X negatvie to compensate for the angle change. I would use the g 43 g44 codes to make sence of the b arc length change. (longer tool) the general mach 4 code is aroudn 1000 lines, I have no idea where it says this in it.
I guess i'm looking for where in the post I can program the b axis arc length, and how to tell the post to write g code for a change in WCS coordinate system.
Re: 5 axis, crossing the finish line. need a tiny bit of direction pointing
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2020, 04:53:37 PM »
please send me small sample of yours gcode
Re: 5 axis, crossing the finish line. need a tiny bit of direction pointing
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2020, 07:54:02 PM »
here is the generic mach4 post,
and a 5 axis maker post I found online.