Hi, After playing with Ed's scripts which work fine for my purpose, my frustration with AXIS has grown..... I wish I was able to modify it but I'm not clever enough :-( .
I appreciate that the cause of my frustration is not to do strictly with the way AXIS works - it does so very well - but with the way it is limited in displaying some scripts relating to rotary axes. In the case of Ed's scripts, you set the Y-axis zero to coincide with the edge of the disk or cylinder you wish to cut teeth into and the script then cuts a groove along the X-axis, returns and rotates the A-axis, then repeating until all teeth are cut. The AXIS display, however, shows only a single toolpath which it repeats while the tool angle changes around the X-axis. Whilst giving a fair interpretation of what the script is asking for, this doesn't really relate to what one sees when looking at the machine where the work, not the tool, is rotating around the A-axis and each toolpath generates a new cut which remains permanent. I guess what I am suggesting is that it would be nice if there could be a feature in AXIS which would allow you to offset the X, Y and/or Z axes from the tool position (to put the tool on the edge of the rotating work) and for the repeating cuts (toolpaths) already made to be shown arrayed around the relevant axis. Is this possible? While on this subject, would it also be possible to make the axes interchangeable? I'm sure there are a number of people who have 4-axis machines who, like me, tend to use the rotary axis in different positions. In the real world, or on a multi-axis machine, each of these different positions - parallel to the each of the three linear axes - would normally have its own axis designation A, B or C. However, in our world, the rotary axis always seems to be A whichever way it is mounted and so, again, the AXIS display doesn't reflect what is really happening on the machine. It is, of course, possible to give the axis parallel to the Y-axis, the designation of B in our scripts but, to do so would require a new .ini file to handle that axis and, as far as I can tell, AXIS is not capable at the moment of displaying a B-axis. While actually cutting the work, these limitations are probably not too significant but they do take on some significance when you are trying to develop a script and verify that it is going to work correctly before you commit to hacking at metal.. I realise that I am probably asking for the moon but it would be nice if these points could be considered in any future development of AXIS or any other display system. Thank you, Ian -------------------------------- Ian W. Wright Sheffield UK ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
