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Author Topic: General lathe axis direction help needed  (Read 519 times)

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General lathe axis direction help needed
« on: December 04, 2023, 12:09:52 PM »
I'm trying to sort out proper lathe axis direction of movement, its just normal front mount tool holder type lathe. The Z movement seems standard wherever I read, Z+ is away from the chuck or towards the right.  But X axis movement seems to not be a standard, I have it configured as X+ towards operator, or X- is towards stock, but maybe this is wrong?
 I am using fusion 360 and I have to set it to Turret 102 for the tool movement to be correct, but in the G-code comments on tool change its saying add tool to REAR. So this leads me to believe I have it reversed.   

Used mach3 for many years on a mill but this is first time on a lathe, so really need some schooling on this. Thx
Re: General lathe axis direction help needed
« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2023, 04:11:28 PM »
According to a CNC machinist friend I have it correct, a front mounted turret machine should have the highest X+ value towards the operator. He explained it as the higher the X+ the larger the diameter part, which makes sense. So this seems to be an error in the fusion 360 PP, it also has a couple other bugs related to G53/G28. I'm not sure how so many people use fusion and mach3 and bugs still exist after this many years....mach3 is still being sold to new customers today...gzzz 
Re: General lathe axis direction help needed
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2023, 12:09:25 PM »
I'm using Mach 4 with a small hobby Lathe, and have the turret set to 0 on the tool in Fusion, and the motor setup in Mach to controll the poaitive direction.

If that helps any..

BAR
Re: General lathe axis direction help needed
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2023, 10:32:24 AM »
Think of a lathe as a standard mill lying on its left hand side as viewed by the operator.
Re: General lathe axis direction help needed
« Reply #4 on: December 18, 2023, 11:09:48 PM »
A CNC machinist acquaintance assured me that a front-mounted turret machine should have the largest X+ value toward the operator. That makes sense—the greater the X+, the wider the diameter.