topic Re: prototrak slx lathe post in Fusion Manufacture Forum

prototrak slx lathe post

morgantooldie — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 17:28:47 GMT

Anyone have a prototrak lathe post they can send me? Need one bad

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

George-Roberts — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 23:47:04 GMT

Not sure if I have a post that would be close... could you upload a working NC file for your machine?

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

morgantooldie — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 01:29:57 GMT

I don't have one unfortunately

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

HughesTooling — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 10:47:23 GMT

I have one but can't remember where it came from or if it's all OK so be very careful with it and start on something simple.

Mark

Test the post carefully and I'd better add this

The accompanying advice and or non-standard post processor is provided as-is and without warranty of any kind, and usage is at the user’s own risk.

Do not put custom posts in the generic posts folder. Use the personal folder. or another location.

Fusion 360 CAM Personal Posts Folder Locations

_______________________________________________________________________________

Microsoft Windows:
%appdata%\Autodesk\Fusion 360 CAM\Posts

Mac / Apple / OSX:
/Users/<user id>/Autodesk/Fusion 360 CAM/Posts

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

morgantooldie — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 15:13:49 GMT

ok i have downloaded it and i will give it a shot today. I had to pay someone else to program it for me so i could get running, i will try your post as soon as this job is done. thanks a ton

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

morgantooldie — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 20:27:00 GMT

OK, so the part ran, my x diameters are .055 undersixe and my z seems to be pretty close. not sure as to why this is. Any help?

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

HughesTooling — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 21:40:32 GMT

Have you got the part and code you paid someone else for? And can you upload your test file, export as an f3d.

Thanks Mark

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

morgantooldie — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 20:21:43 GMT

Here is a sample program straight from the machine manufacturer

G20G40             (INCH MODE, CENTER TOOL OFFSET, ABSOLUTE VALUES)
T1M06            (TOOL #1, DRILL)
G97               (RPM MODE)
G98                (INCHES PER MINUTE MODE)
N01 G83 X0. Z-2. Q.2 R.02 F10. (PECK DRILL, .200 FOR EACH PECK DEPTH, .020" RAPID POSITION, 10 IPM)
T2M06            (TOOL #2, RIGHT HAND FACING TOOL)
N02 G00 X0. Z0.       (RAPID TO X0 AND Z0)
N03 G01 X1.   F15.       (FEED TO X 1.0", AT .01" CONSTANT SURFACE SPEED)
N04 Z-2.           (G01 REMAINS MODAL)
N05 G03 X2. Z-3. I1. K0.       (CCW ARC, INCREMENTAL CENTER POINT I & K)
N06 G01 X3.
N07 G00 Z1.
N08 G137 XB+1.0000A ZB+0.0000A XE+1.0000A ZE-2.0000A PI0.1 NP10 SP 02 A29.5 SI0 ST01 S200 T03;
%

PI = Pitch
NP = Number of Passes
SP= Spring Passes
A = Angle
SI = Side
ST = # of Starts
S = Spindle Speed
T = Tool #

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

George-Roberts — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 23:30:42 GMT

I guess they wrote that code by hand? Did you test the post Mark supplied?

I might be wrong as i haven't tested that post, but i can't imagine the output would look like that

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

morgantooldie — Tue, 14 Mar 2017 01:49:59 GMT

That came out of my owners manual for the lathe. I will supply a sample part and program from another software tomorrow

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 15:51:49 GMT

*Bump*

Hi guys. Newish to F360 and just picked up a used Trak 1630 with SLX. Can anyone confirm the post Mark

@HughesTooling provided works? Any limitations with drill/threading?

I've gone thru the other message board posts but haven't seen a thread that seemed confidently solved.

Thanks in advance

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

Trigg3r — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 17:53:08 GMT

I'm currently working on one for the local college for their SLX1630. As above use at YOUR OWN RISK and try everything in TRAKING first. I've literally only cut about 4 parts with it.

It's a modified generic fanuc post that I think I got from the HSM Post forum but can't remember.

Edited to add it's the same post that Mark attached earlier, I've just changed it a little for things like filenames and removal of the leading % etc.

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

bmxjeff — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 18:27:23 GMT

I've been programming an older Trak 97ish and a newer one 2006ish. I'm using the Fanuc post and dumbing it down. The 97 can't handle variable RPM or any RPM haha. Really, an M code except M30. : )

I'm running good parts, let me know if you need a specific question answered.

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 14:38:15 GMT

Great, look forward to trying them both. Tech is here today doing a final install and test part. Using Mark's post I was able to load a simple .cam post which I will try to run this afternoon.

We picked up the lathe used and it came with the Dorian 8 tool indexer. Has anyone had any experience with these on the Prototraks and doing the cam offline?

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 17:56:36 GMT

I've been running a ProtoTrak 1630 SLX with advanced features since "2015".

I don't know if this helps but a friend of mine has been after me to try Fusion. With his help and SWI we were able to run a complex model of a cone profile. We had no problem importing .NC or .STEP files/models to fusion and then in the change work space tool bar changed from model to .CAM. Setting up tools in Fusion right hand turn cut center of radius"VNMG" radius of .0312". Now exported to Prototrak SLX control everything looked good program wise and on the look feature on the SLX. Tried to verify part or simulate run and kept getting a mill to mill error if you keep hitting resume through the whole program to the end it would run, I didn't get a warm fussy feeling from this. The problem was my tool setting in the ProtoTrak controller for is tool was set the same as Fusion ( "VNMG" RAD .0321"). Fusion is already taking this (.0312 rad ) into account, so once I set tool radius to 0.000" in ProtoTrak tools (tool being in reality .0312 rad) errors went away and program ran great, dimensions right on the money..

I hope this helps somebody, as I am very new to this.

So fare I'm sold on Fusion 360 and thanks to my friend for pushing me in this direction, he has used many CAD/CAM programs and is huge proponent for Fusion, and that's all he uses now!

Good luck making CHIPS,

Karl

P.S. I just went through and read your post again and saw it had to do with threading. I have not tried this yet but maybe you can extract something from my experience with tool settings.

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

bmxjeff — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 19:20:57 GMT

I've used Fusion on a Prototrak Mill before. I used the Fanuc post processor but the mill couldn't change work planes. G17-18-19. So I'll killed the Vertical lead in radius because it would post a G17 for that radius. Adaptive, 2D Contour... everything with a vertical radius link. Hopefully that helps.

Once I killed those, it worked.

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

Trigg3r — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 09:42:19 GMT

@Anonymous Have you tried cutting arcs/radii on the SLX?

I've attached a test model I tried when setting up a post processor for the local college. I'll also attach the post again as it's vanished from above. (superseded by latest Autodesk Post which i haven't tried)

As I remember, I found the same with the tool radius set to 0 in the SLX control, but I'm sure there was a problem with cutting the curves on this part. I didn't get a chance to investigate any further though. It was almost like it was using the diameter of the arc as the radius if that makes sense. Rest of the part was fine. I'd be interested to see if you see the same results with your pp.

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 15:34:06 GMT

I'm out of town and will try to remember to look at this when I get back.cheers...........

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

Trigg3r — Mon, 14 May 2018 19:00:41 GMT

@Anonymous Did you manage to take a look at this at all ?

Re: prototrak slx lathe post

morgantooldie — Mon, 14 May 2018 19:04:55 GMT

I have a post that is working correctly. I will upload in a few minutes