[kfwittekiend]

I have a PCNC 1100 and the 8" Rotary Table as a 4th Axis that mounts on the right side of the table.

I am machining a complex part using the 4th Axis and after all the rotary machining was finished and the machine came in to do the last operation (pocketing) it was trying to do the pocketing on the wrong side of the part.

I read somewhere on the internet that the "Flip 4th Axis" message is used to tell the machine that the 4th Axis is located on the right side of the table.

Does anyone have a definite answer as to what the "Flip 4th Axis" message means during post processing?

Thanks,

Ken

[MichaelHenry]

I'm not quite clear on your question, but Tormach has posted a SprutCAM tutorial on YouTube that demonstrates how the program can be paused to let you manually flip the part over to machine the reverse side. Is that what you want to do?

I think that they also had an older SprutCAM tutorial that demonstrated the use of a rotary table to rotate the part by 180° to machine the reverse side. There would be no need for a pause in that case.

Mike

[kfwittekiend]

I had sent an e-mail to Eric at Tormach last night asking the above question and he replied this morning.

Basically here is how it works.

The "Flip 4th Axis" message that appears during post processing is set to default of N for No.

If your machine is equipped with a tool changer and/or you have the 8" rotary table that mounts on the right side of the mill table this default "N" has to be changed to "Y" so that the 4th axis will turn the correct way.

Ken

[Steve Seebold]

I had sent an e-mail to Eric at Tormach last night asking the above question and he replied this morning.

Basically here is how it works.

The "Flip 4th Axis" message that appears during post processing is set to default of N for No.

If your machine is equipped with a tool changer and/or you have the 8" rotary table that mounts on the right side of the mill table this default "N" has to be changed to "Y" so that the 4th axis will turn the correct way.

Ken

I like the idea of the rotary axis being mounted on the right hand side of the table. That's the way it is on a real machining center.

It would seen to me that your rotary axis mounted on the right hand side of the table is still addressed as the "A" axis. That being the case, you should be able to do a global edit and change "A" to "A-" or vise-versa.

Are you actually using your 4th axis for coutouring, or are you using it as just a positioner?

[kfwittekiend]

Steve,

I am using the 4th axis to contour a part that is 3" long and basically round with a bunch of small angular faces and then coming in to do ten different pockets.

I am running it now, and hopefully it'll come out right.

Ken

[Steve Seebold]

Steve,

I am using the 4th axis to contour a part that is 3" long and basically round with a bunch of small angular faces and then coming in to do ten different pockets.

I am running it now, and hopefully it'll come out right.

Ken

Pictures?