[neeboy]

Hello to all:

I have a newbie question about multi-axis machining. I have been doing 3 axis routing with Vectric products and having great success, so now I'd like to do more than just 2.5D reliefs.

SolidCAM has been mentioned to me as the easiest of the 5 axis programs to work with...hence the question in this forum.

If I have a square block of wood, can SolidCAM generate code that will carve holes on all 4 sides of that block without me having to physically re-orient the material? I'm planning on adding a trunnion/rotary table to accomplish this so the block can be physically rotated by the machine (um...right??)

I know that multi-axis is much more involved and I'm certainly willing to learn but at the same time I don't want to have any false assumptions while trying. Thanks!

[KUWill]

If you slot the bottom of the trunnion (Read: make much less rigid and susceptible to vibration) then yes, you could machine all four sides of a block. From most of the multi-axis machining I have seen, the 4th axis is typically used to make features that are perpendicular to the sides that require positional accuracy relative to features created in the top of the block. Combined with the fifth axis and you can create complex curves in all 3 dimensions for the tools to follow. (I'm sure you've seen impellers machined) As far as programming in SolidCAM goes, I haven't tried it much, but I found it fairly difficult to setup a machine (and post processor) to create acceptable code and movements. Realistically, you can always buy a post processor from SolidCAM if you don't know how or would rather pay and move on with life.

From what I just toyed around with in SolidCAM, it uses the Simultaneous 5th Axis Machining and "Locks" the 5th Axis at an angle.

[Brakeman Bob]

There are two different flavours of five axis machining, known in the trade as "3+2" and "full five axis". the first, "3+2", is where the machine rotates the part to a position, locks the axes and then the machining takes places as per a normal vertical, so this used for drilling, tapping, 3D machining etc. In SolidCAM this necessitates setting up a MAC position for each re-position so MAC1-POS1 would be the top face of your cube, MAC1, POS2 the LH face, MAC1 POS3 the rear face and so on, and the machining units are just the same as for 3 axis. "Full five axis" is short for "full five axis simultaneous machining" which is when you machine a feature with all the axes of the machine moving together and an example of this is a conic face or an impellor fan blade. In SolidCAM this is programmed about MAC1 POS1 and the CAM supplies all the rotary and linear movements, so SolidCAM needs to know important information about your machine such as the centres of rotation and the order of precedence. This is known as the "kinematics" and can be quite difficult to set up; get it wrong and you risk an almighty bang when you run the code (this is one of the reasons people love VeriCut as it lets you check your CAM output for kinematic errors).

There is a feature in SolidCAM called "5X drilling" which allows you to drill (say) all the Ø5mm holes on a part in one machining unit no matter what their orientation is. I have never used it because most of the holes I drill have multiple diameters, chamfers and other features that are tied up to each other and from what I can see, 5X Drilling removes some of the control that I need. However, that isn't to say that it doesn't work, just that I haven't had the time to investigate its usage properly.

If you are retro-fitting a five axis trunnion to your machine, give mind to how you integrate it into your control. If you want full five axis, the servo's need to be tuned to each other and the main control because for rotary moves the feed rate is usually time based on a control other than Heidenhain.

[Winks]

5 axis machine porn.