NewBie to 4th axis milling

Hi people.

any help for what i'm trying to would be good, i'm new and just triling this software to see if i like it.

The problem i'm having is i'm trying to 4th axis index as the machine i am building will have XYZA axis.

i've drawn up a random part in solidworks and imported it into FeatureCAM.

i could post a pic if people need but i'll try to explain it the best for now.

it is 50.8mm (2in) round stock x 60mm (?in) long, 25 mm of it is stepped down to 25.4mm (1in).
it has 3x 6mm (?in) holes 120deg around the axis to the middle of the stock.
and also has 3 flats from the end of the step to the hole to make like a rebate kinda thing, it is 12.7mm (.5in) wide and covers the hole.
Hope this all makes sence.

The Problem i'm having is macining the step of it.
I can get the holes and slot to index and cut but cannot work out how to take the stock from the 50.8mm down to 25.4mm
Also the other thing the i get is and error when it changes from drill bit to milling cutter for the flat is before the first cut it sits just on the stock and gives warning.

Wondering if anyone can help me out or if there is any 4th axis tutorials out there that i could use to learn how to do this to try the software.

Any help would be good. Thanks For reading and hear from you soon.

Do you want to machine the step into the 50.8mm dia, or is it already there? If its already there, make a new sock solid, and import that as your stock.
Make sure your stock axis and UCS are Lined up with the part UCS and axis.

Hi there, thanks for the reply.

Yes i would like to machine the step, i will post a pic soon to make it easyer to see what i'm trying to a achive and see if you or anyone can help me out.

catch you again soon.

there are 3 files: 1 is a solidwork eview
2 is the solidworks drawing
3 is the featurecam file

What I'm trying to do is 4th axis index everything in this as i don't have a lathe setup on my machine but i'm having no luck, wondering if it can be done??

Any help would be good.

Maybe someone knows some walkthoughts or tutorials???

also wouldn't mind if someone could teach me how to engrave on the 4th axis indexing side of things.

Thanks to anyone who can help
Will

Did you use the unwrap feature for cutting the slots and drilling the holes?
I created a curve around the " nose" (25.4mm Dia) of the part, unwrapped it ( in the curve wizard ) and machined that. Should work for you.

I make a lot of Shift drums for transmissions here and use it frequently.

thanks for the help, i will try this sometime if i can get my head around it (sounds complicated), maybe some more investigation work on my part using the help section or just playing round.

on the slot part, no i did not do anything like you said, as i am like 1 hour new to this software so thought might as well go balls out to learn it, and what a good job i think i have done. what i did to get it was used the face/side feature for memory and it seamed to work.

the part i got stuck on was the "nose" part, but will hope to try what has been mentioned if i can get my head round it and all, like i said maybe read the help file some more and stuff.

anyway anymore replys/help would be good thanks people, and also same as last post, if anyone knows of tutorials or walkthoughts that would be good to.

sorry if i rambled but it's kinda late here and i keep forgetting what i'm talking about.

catch you all again soon and thanks for the help.

Hey will, if I understand you correctly you are trying to turn the rad and dia like you would on a lathe. Go into the surface milling paths, select the surfaces you would like to machine, then select the four axis rotary path, then select radial. you will have to play with it from there, maybe some check surfaces, etc. If you are considering purchasing the software you should ask the rep about some training.

cool that sounds good hope i can wing my way round it but that sounds good and easy and i will give it a go sometime like the other post someone did the other day, but just been to busy latley to play with this but hope to find some time again soon.

anyway thanks for the help and if anyone else can enlighten me any more that would be good.

i have worked out i need to use the mill/turn setup and the kinda worked but need to play some more.

but now i i'm stuck on exporting the gcode but i'm sure i will work it out i hope

but if anyone can enlighten me on a step by step guide or something that would be great, thanks

William

Well hello once again,

i'm still haveing trouble with making this work and trying to find the information or use the things people have said is not working for me.

i don't know if it's the way i'm asking the questions or if i just don't understand what people are telling me, probaly both of the above.

anyway i'm wondering if anyone out there could take a look at the files i have posted previously and either offer a walk thought, send back a file or even a video with the way they would program it.

like i said earlyer i will be using a xyza(indexed) machine.

what i'm looking at doing is as follows:

1 rough milling the step on the end as the stock will just be solid bar
2 finish mill the step
3 cut the slots
4 drill the holes

now i have no problem doing the slots and holes, the part i'm stuck on is the roughing and finishing of the step, and here i go again repeting myself which prob don't help.

anyway like i asked before in this post i'm wondering if someone could walk me though the process, send me a file back or even a video so i can have a look at how you did it.

i'm only toying around at this stage so please don't think i'm getting you to do my programming for me

if anyone can help with my request that would be great and thanks in advance.

until then i'll just keep trying and see if i can work it out.

Will

Haven't been here for a while, are you still "toying" with this?

Hi dcalp

yeah i am still playing round with this for when i build my mill/router

still having no luck like i said last time apart from making a finishing path.

which is all good if the machine i build was able to take cuts as big as the program makes in one go.

what i'm looking for is some way of making it do the following:
1 rough pass(s)
2 finish pass(s)
3 spot drill [already got a handel on this]
4 drill the holes [already got a handel on this as well]

also when i output the gcode file it has like 9000 lines.
i took a look and understand a little about gcode programming and read the that when i do the finishing pass on the outside of the part every 2 deg rotation it write a new line of gcode and changes the z axis by 0.002 or so up or down. this does not make sence to me as i'm not offseting anything so it should just be a goto z???.??? then rotate a360 move x???.??? rotate a back to 0.

hope someone can help me of point me in the right direction

it would be to long and involved to explain so i just programmed it and you can look it over and pick it apart. if you have a lathe, i would do the main part that way or do it 3 axis standing up and then do the slots and holes on the 4th. see what you can figure out and let me know what you come up with.

i agree, there is no good way to machine the "nub" on your part in a 4th axis. at least not efficiently, with acceptable results.