Hi Swifty,
thanks, that was exactly correct. Found that Mach4Core.dll had been quarantined. Restored it and now I'm back in business.
I need to write some probing code so I can tram the vice in my new trunnion/fifth axis. I have come to realise that you need to set the A and C axes within
20arc seconds or better to tram the vice with the desired accuracy. Home switches with that sort of resolution are going to take a while to design and implement.
In the mean time I have made a plastic block that is 'keyed' to the vice with Ohmic contacts which allows use of a probing routine to tram it.
Using 'Home in Place' could probably use this a a temporary homing procedure.
I need to write some scripts to automate the tramming procedure, and have that procedure start from an on-screen button or buttons.
99% of my work is just regular three axis, and therefore being able to tram the vice (while sitting atop the A & C axes) is vital. Otherwise I would have to remove the trunnion/fifth
every time I wanted to run a three axis job....and that would be a severe drag....it weighs 85kg!
As time progresses I will explore the four and five axis uses.
For some months, before converting my fourth axis with a lathe chuck, to a trunnion table I have run quite a few simultaneous four axis toolpaths, using Fusion and Fusion Machining
Extensions to generate the tool paths. Works well. Now that I have converted the fourth axis into a trunnion to run a simultaneous four axis path requires that I set the trunnion to 90degrees
and now the the C axis is parallel to the Y axis. Provided I alter the Fusion Post to match then I should be able to run simultaneous four axis paths again.
Fusion has a Mach4 Post which is four axis ready. You have to edit the Post to 'turn on' the fourth axis...but its there and ready to go. The Post is not five axis ready.
I was of the opinion I was going to have to write my own extensions to the existing Fusion Mach4 Post, but apparently that is not actually required. In Fusion you can
create a 'Machine Definition' and that in turn generates a compliant Post WITHOUT me having to code it!!! Hoping that is correct, the Post is written in Java, and I don't really want to have
to learn yet another new language.
Mach4 has no kinematics and cannot therefore support TCP. In the first instance I will generate five axis paths without TCP, this was how five axis was done prior to TCO being available.
I want to see how that works out. I may thereafter be looking to write Mach4 five axis kinematics to give TCP ability. That could be quite some months or even a year away yet....but that's where
I'm heading.
Just before Christmas I bought a new spindle. It's in NZ Customs at the moment, and Customs are getting really hinky about it for some reason, so all I can say is that I hope to get it
sometime soon.....it would be a very expensive disappointment if I don't get it!!! It is 3.5kW rated, 6kW peak, 10,000rpm rated and 40,000rpm max with an HSK32 ATC tool interface.
The deal includes 10 HSK32 to ER20 toolholders.
I still have to buy a high frequency VFD, and an ATC carousel will pretty much follow that....so I have a lot of development work ahead.
Craig
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