CAM Manufacturing Full Simultaneous 4th Axis Rotary

[ryansmith_]

It would be great to have rotary 4th-axis toolpath programs (parallel or otherwise) that don't require the tool to only point at the center of rotation and allow the tool to be normal to or at a defined angle to the surface at the tool contact point. This would let the tool move across the rotary axis as needed when the machined surface isn't concentric with the axis. It would also prevent the tool from machining with the leading side of the tool on some slopes and the trailing side on opposite slopes. This leaves an inconsistent finish where the tool transitions from the front to back (or vice versa).

[a.laasW8M6T · Accepted solution]

Hi

You can use other 3d toolpaths such as Geodesic, Steep and shallow, Blend and Flow to do this.

Geodesic is easy, you can set it to 4 axis mode and use lead and lean and it will machine normal to the surface or at whatever lead/lean value you want..

Steep and shallow and flow etc are a bit trickier to do, it's not very obvious how to get them to machine in 4 axis only but it is possible

See attached file, the 4 toolpaths at the end are ones I have added,  Geodesic is definitely the best option here

[ryansmith_]

This is awesome @a.laasW8M6T  ! I actually don't have the machining extension since I didn't find this out earlier and my trial ran out. So I can't see all of the settings but they seem to work and post fine. I also like the Steep and Shallow because it has consistent stepover and does it all in one pass. I think the post-processor or the setup would have to be changed to get the axes all correct.

[a.laasW8M6T]

That example is for a lathe so the rotary axis is around Z, for a rotary around X like most mills the setup would be different and there are some additional toolpath settings to get them to work