There are different ways to handle this. It depends on the control and the head. Does the head index to the four sides or 360 degrees? Do you have parameters that you can use to store offsets? We have a machine with a right angle head and an adjustable angle head. We use parameters to store the offsets for the heads and in the program we use one of the G54 thru G59 systems for the part and offset that coordinate system with G52 for the heads. Are you going to use cycles with the right angle head and does your control handle that? Does your head reveres the spindle direction? Do you think you may purchase an angle head at some other angle in the future? If your only working on one side the swap works but not if you are working multiple sides. I started with a c.g. using the swap but ended up rewriting it with formulas to recalculate the XYZ locations. The code generator is proved out for our machine but it has extensive logic for tool-head changes and indexes. If you want to start with it let me know and I will send it to you.
Bill Wepking CAM Programming Mgr Landis Gardner -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Saturday, March 02, 2002 7:10 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [mfg-smartcam] Semi OT: Right angle heads-how do I setup the machine side? Hi all, I posted these questions already, but am not sure if it went through: Just today, we had our first right angle head installed. Up to now, all of our programming has been XY plane. Can any of the great minds here share some pointers on the machine side of things, as to how you set up your tool length offsets, and how you set the "zero" for the point of the tool? If I have a piece setup on the machine table with one of the corners set at X0,Y0 and Z0 set on top of the part, how do you set X0,Y0,Z0 for a tool mounted in the right angle head that will be machining one of the side faces of this same part? Can I set the XY plane coordinates in G54, and set XZ plane coordinates in G55? Or do I use the same work offset and just switch between G17 and G18 in the program? If I use G55 for the XZ coordinates, do I "swap" coordinates where G55 "Y" becomes the "Z" measurement? As you can see, I need some guidance here. Please feel free to expound beyond the above questions. Any help, as always, is greatly appreciated. Christopher Kocourek Tool & Die Designer Flextronics Tool & Design ====================================================================== To find out more about this mailing list including how to unsubscribe, send the message "info mfg-smartcam" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ====================================================================== ====================================================================== To find out more about this mailing list including how to unsubscribe, send the message "info mfg-smartcam" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ======================================================================
