VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Posted by
Tom Benedict
on 2002-02-28 07:17:14 UTC
I've got a Taig CNC mill with the Microproto controller. I got EMC
working fine with three axes (I'm having little to no luck getting the
fourth axis working, but that's neither here nor there.)
Last night, just for grins, I turned the mill head 90 degrees, mounted a
lathe toolpost on my mill bed, and brought the spindle down until it was
level with the lathe tool. In effect I made my mill into a poor-man's CNC
lathe.
I've got the VectorCam demo set up on a machine at home, and have been
trying it for mill work. But I've been wanting to test it for lathe
functionality, too.
I ran into a problem. I'm hoping someone can help:
I used a CAD package to draw up the profile of a ball handle (two arcs,
one tapered straight section, and the second arc was cut short so it
would leave the ball handle firmly attached to the stock.) The DXF
imported into Vector perfectly. I used the lathe pocket function to set
up a toolpath, saved it as NC code, simulated it, everything checked out
fine.
There were two problems when I tried to run it using EMC. One was my
fault, one I'm not sure of. The one that's my fault was because I didn't
know CNC lathes use X and Z axes. After some time reading Machinery's
Handbook, I figured that out, swapped my motor plugs, and was back on
track.
That's when I ran into the second problem: The roughing passes went
perfectly. The finishing pass died as soon as it hit the first arc. The
error message was something like, "K word on an arc in the XY plane."
Far as I can tell, the G-code generated by Vector is spot-on. It had an X
word, a Z word, an I word, and a K word. The arc is in the X-Z plane, not
the X-Y plane.
Any idea how I can fix this? Is this an EMC thing? My EMC installation
is off the latest BDI.
I'm probably not going to use my mill like a lathe very much (I'd rather
build out a dedicated CNC lathe), but I'd like to go ahead and buy Vector
next month, and I've got some short-run stuff I'll need to do with it in
this configuration. So any and all ideas are much appreciated.
Thanks,
Tom
working fine with three axes (I'm having little to no luck getting the
fourth axis working, but that's neither here nor there.)
Last night, just for grins, I turned the mill head 90 degrees, mounted a
lathe toolpost on my mill bed, and brought the spindle down until it was
level with the lathe tool. In effect I made my mill into a poor-man's CNC
lathe.
I've got the VectorCam demo set up on a machine at home, and have been
trying it for mill work. But I've been wanting to test it for lathe
functionality, too.
I ran into a problem. I'm hoping someone can help:
I used a CAD package to draw up the profile of a ball handle (two arcs,
one tapered straight section, and the second arc was cut short so it
would leave the ball handle firmly attached to the stock.) The DXF
imported into Vector perfectly. I used the lathe pocket function to set
up a toolpath, saved it as NC code, simulated it, everything checked out
fine.
There were two problems when I tried to run it using EMC. One was my
fault, one I'm not sure of. The one that's my fault was because I didn't
know CNC lathes use X and Z axes. After some time reading Machinery's
Handbook, I figured that out, swapped my motor plugs, and was back on
track.
That's when I ran into the second problem: The roughing passes went
perfectly. The finishing pass died as soon as it hit the first arc. The
error message was something like, "K word on an arc in the XY plane."
Far as I can tell, the G-code generated by Vector is spot-on. It had an X
word, a Z word, an I word, and a K word. The arc is in the X-Z plane, not
the X-Y plane.
Any idea how I can fix this? Is this an EMC thing? My EMC installation
is off the latest BDI.
I'm probably not going to use my mill like a lathe very much (I'd rather
build out a dedicated CNC lathe), but I'd like to go ahead and buy Vector
next month, and I've got some short-run stuff I'll need to do with it in
this configuration. So any and all ideas are much appreciated.
Thanks,
Tom
Discussion Thread
rainnea
2002-01-18 15:09:32 UTC
5-axis Taig Mill
Scott A. Stephens
2002-01-19 21:10:14 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] 5-axis Taig Mill
rainnea
2002-01-20 05:44:55 UTC
Re: 5-axis Taig Mill
Scott A. Stephens
2002-01-20 15:04:02 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: 5-axis Taig Mill
Tony Jeffree
2002-01-21 07:28:55 UTC
Re: 5-axis Taig Mill
Michael Milligan
2002-01-21 08:29:56 UTC
RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: 5-axis Taig Mill
Andrew Werby
2002-01-21 11:27:40 UTC
Re: 5-axis Taig Mill
rainnea
2002-01-21 14:11:25 UTC
Re: 5-axis Taig Mill
Alan Marconett KM6VV
2002-01-21 15:47:33 UTC
Re: 5-axis Taig Mill
rainnea
2002-01-21 18:12:33 UTC
Re: 5-axis Taig Mill
Alan Marconett KM6VV
2002-01-21 18:43:25 UTC
Re: 5-axis Taig Mill
rainnea
2002-01-22 00:50:10 UTC
Re: 5-axis Taig Mill
ballendo
2002-01-22 07:32:24 UTC
Re: 5-axis Taig Mill
Alan Marconett KM6VV
2002-01-22 10:31:52 UTC
Re: 5-axis Taig Mill
Tom Benedict
2002-02-28 07:17:14 UTC
VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Tom Benedict
2002-02-28 08:15:26 UTC
Re: VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Matt Shaver
2002-02-28 09:14:56 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Scot Rogers
2002-02-28 09:25:33 UTC
RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Jon Elson
2002-02-28 11:02:18 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Chris Clough
2002-02-28 11:06:17 UTC
CAM Software
Tim Goldstein
2002-02-28 11:35:34 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Tom Benedict
2002-02-28 11:58:15 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Tom Benedict
2002-02-28 12:03:35 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] CAM Software
Chris Clough
2002-02-28 12:16:25 UTC
RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] CAM Software
follicely_challenged
2002-02-28 12:51:56 UTC
Re: CAM Software
Chris Clough
2002-02-28 12:53:52 UTC
RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: CAM Software
Alan Marconett KM6VV
2002-02-28 13:27:10 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Alan Marconett KM6VV
2002-02-28 13:42:46 UTC
Re: VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
vrsculptor
2002-02-28 13:43:36 UTC
Re: CAM Software
Peter
2002-02-28 13:59:52 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: CAM Software
Bob Campbell
2002-02-28 14:05:49 UTC
RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] CAM Software
Tom Benedict
2002-02-28 14:09:08 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Alan Marconett KM6VV
2002-02-28 14:19:58 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] CAM Software
Hugh Currin
2002-02-28 14:29:40 UTC
Re: VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Alan Marconett KM6VV
2002-02-28 14:39:16 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
stevenson_engineers
2002-02-28 14:52:51 UTC
Re: CAM Software
Alan Marconett KM6VV
2002-02-28 15:11:23 UTC
Re: VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Tom Benedict
2002-02-28 18:06:04 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Alan Marconett KM6VV
2002-02-28 18:21:07 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
vrsculptor
2002-02-28 19:17:25 UTC
Re: CAM Software
docholliday01201
2002-02-28 19:33:11 UTC
Re: CAM Software
imserv1
2002-02-28 21:00:51 UTC
Re: VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Tim Goldstein
2002-02-28 21:04:10 UTC
RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Jon Elson
2002-02-28 23:08:41 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Tony Jeffree
2002-02-28 23:23:59 UTC
Re: VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
ptengin@a...
2002-03-01 01:10:58 UTC
[CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] CAM Software
Tom Benedict
2002-03-01 07:19:09 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe
Tom Benedict
2002-03-03 19:33:19 UTC
Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: VectorCam Demo and EMC - Lathe