Continuous 4th axis toolpaths

[pjstevenson]

G'day Folks,

I'm trying to figure out how to produce a continuous 4 axis toolpath or if it's possible.

After a quick look at NYC CNCs' youtube I've had a go with wrapping a 2d adaptive.

I'm posting here in the hope somebody can point me to a tutorial somewhere.

I've attached a part file that I'm using as a test.

I'm routing timber so grain direction has an effect on my toolpaths.

Therefore a parallel toolpath is preferred. Is that possible.

Any chance that multi axis could be discussed in more depth on the Friday hangouts?

They have been really helpful for me and thanks for putting them up on youtube - I'm asleep when they're live as I'm on the other side of the Pacific.

Peter

[Laurens-3DTechDraw]

Hello @pjstevenson,

I just made something for you.(Part is attached)

You would need the HSM Ultimate package (previously called Inventor HSM Pro).

I made a short video on what I did.

Not everything is in there but it should give you a good starting point to replicate what I did.

[pjstevenson]

Laurens you legend,

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you for the video & part.

Only had a quick look at your tool path ............so far

It would appear that Number of Stepdowns becomes the equivalent of stepover and stepover becomes equivalent to stepdown.

Therefore if you wanted a stepover of say 1mm you would divide the distance between the 2 contours divide by 1mm which would equal the number of stepdowns required?

OK now I'll post the code to see what that looks like.

[Laurens-3DTechDraw]

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@pjstevenson wrote:

Therefore if you wanted a stepover of say 1mm you would divide the distance between the 2 contours divide by 1mm which would equal the number of stepdowns required?

OK now I'll post the code to see what that looks like.

---

That's about right.

You should look for the largest distance between the curves and divide that by the step-over you want and get the number of step-overs.

As far as I know that's also the reason they make you give in number step-overs vs. width because the distance between the curves can vary and with morph turned on it can't add passes at some place to still obey to that.

So it's a little thing that could and probably will be solved with the release of the 5x-blend strategy(Probably somewhere this year), but at least this is something.

[Anonymous]

This is great, only issue for me is I am trying to run the swarf with my tool normal to the surface around a circumference with a flat. When I do the 0 deg, it runs a perfect toolpath, with the side of the tool. When I try the 89.99 deg trick, my inventor just sits and says generating [0.0%] and does nothing. It doesn't fail, it just sits there. I tried at 45 deg and noticed i had to move my bottom plane lower by the length of my tool, it then generated at 45 deg but still nothing at 89.99. I tried it again with just 89, it generated a toolpath but it has gone pretty bonkers, it has random linking moves everywhere and doesn't match what was shown in your vid.

I have attached my model to see if you can help me out. Also, will I be able to post this code to a machine with just 3+1, I am running a Haas TM1 with an A axis equipped. I know I tried to post a multiaxis contour and it didn't post out.

Lastly, is there no feature like mastercam that allows us to just "lock" an axis? I was able to do this part in mastercam pretty quickly, but I would much rather start utilizing HSM on my inventor exclusively.

Thanks! 

Nick

[pjstevenson]

Nick,

Sorry I can't help you.

I've been trying to post my test exercise with no luck.

I'm posting to mach3 - with a processor that works OK when indexing the A axis (thanks Daniel Lyall)

When posting the toolpath as Laurens explained I get an error with regard to direction of the machine.

I did get it to post with another post processor (wish I could recall which one) the first A axis position was 1200 and something degrees. 

I figure I have something wrong in the post processor file.

Would love to find a tutorial re multi axis .

Peter 

[scottmoyse]

@Laurens-3DTechDraw do you rely on the geometry to stop the 5th axis from kicking in? Because there is no 4-axis locking at the moment, unless you turn on Beta mode.

[Laurens-3DTechDraw]

---

@scottmoyse wrote:

@Laurens-3DTechDraw do you rely on the geometry to stop the 5th axis from kicking in? Because there is no 4-axis locking at the moment, unless you turn on Beta mode.

---

Well in this case I didn't think about that much no

So to do that we might need to turn on the beta mode indeed.

[Anonymous]

How can I turn Beta mode on? I am using the latest development version of
hsm.

Peter thanks for the update. I wonder if I can post to a generic fanuc
based controller once I lock out an axis and then just adjust my header to
work on my haas. Maybe the same for you.

Thanks all
Nick

[scottmoyse]

Hold down ctrl + shift on your keyboard and right click on the browser background. Then enable Beta Mode.

You will also have to make sure your post is configured for 4 axis to suit your machine configuration.

[scottmoyse]

Hold down ctrl + shift on your keyboard and right click on the browser background. Then enable Beta Mode.

You will also have to make sure your post is configured for 4 axis to suit your machine configuration.

[Anonymous]

Ok guys, so here is an update... I have attached a screencast with a few different selections for this part, none of which just follows the outside contour with just rotation about the x (A axis). 

Even selecting 4 axis limitation on the multiaxis contour once in beta mode, it still generates a gimbal head movement of my tool. Putting an angle restriction on just fails the generation.

The only way I have gotten around this was to select 2d contour, select the geometry as an open link and piece together toolpaths one radius at a time. This is not going to lead to a good part once I make it. The tool will stop at the end of the radius, and if I select tangential extension, it will just bury the tool into the part because it will follow only one radius per feature.

It seems that HSM jumped right from 3 to 5 axis and forget about true 4 axis. If I am missing something simple someone go ahead and slap me down, but if this 4 axis stuff is just not developed yet, I need to know to stop wasting my time and just stick with X5 for another couple of years. I'm really pulling hard for autodesk but its letting me down! 

I have also attached an actual component I am working on as a picture. Sorry guys I can't share the actual file or tell you what it is for but you can see how I pieced together 2D toolpaths to make it somewhat continuous. I will be making this part next week so I will update if I chose to post out of HSM. 

Thanks all!

Nick

[scottmoyse]

True 4-axis is only available in HSMWorks.

[Anonymous]

I don't mean to sound like an a**hole, but what you're saying is that HSM, an Autodesk product now, has a feature that only works on the Dassault systems Solidworks platform, and not inventor? 

[scottmoyse]

Correct. 4th axis locking will come once 5-axis has been dialed in for the new multi-axis Blend toolpath.

[Anonymous]

Ok, well thats super dissappointing, but thanks for the update, you saved me a lot of head scratching. I will continue to check in on the developmental versions but it looks like its back to MasterCam for now.

Thanks

Nick

[lenny_1962]

This is why HSM Ultimate has been released where you now get all three platforms, HSMWorks, Inventor HSM and Fusion360 to be able to use the software that has something the others may lack.

everyone should remember to state which one they are asking their questions about, saves time for you to get the answer because yes there are some differences or cannot do what you want.