Hurco vmx42 with h200 rotary 4th.
First, let me start off by saying im still new to the flat world, most of my years has been on cnc lathes, so the piddly 4 years of playing with cnc mills doesnt amount to much but enough to get myself in trouble fast :)
Anyways, we bought a vmx42 with the h200 last year new, and my limited experience doesn't bring full potential out of this machine ( i still touch tools off on parts and dont know how to use cutter comp properly yet if that gives you a clue). But I can easily program NC code or use mastercam x3 here for more complicated parts.
The issues i have are limitations to the machine software stopping the 4th axis at 9999 degrees rotation and not knowing how to loop the program like i can with a cnc lathe (m99 in lathe).
I have a few thousand uhmw parts to drill precise hole patterns in, and would love to put the h200 on its back and use a octagonal or more sided fixture to automate the parts to the location of where the work will be done. When it gets done drilling those, i would like the 4th to rotate the fixture to the next location (which would be a A call out in NC), and loop the drilling program, to make it automated. However when jogging the rotary, it stops at 9999 degrees on the absolute position, which would stop this process from full automation.
Say the fixture is 12 sided like a clock. at 6 o'clock, you load the part. at 12 o'clock it does the work. at 2 o'clock the clamp arm pushes off by way of fixturing, and at 3 o'clock its sliding the part off the fixture to slide tray out of the machine. so a person could load constantly at 6 o'clock and not have to worry about unloading due to the rapid drills times from the soft material. So constant automation except for loading, but could be easily done by one of the shop drones (general labor help), while keeping cycle times fast instead of constantly loading and unloading kurt vises.
So how do i loop a simple drilling program and how do i bypass the absolute position limiter?
Thank you.
Shane
Re: Hurco vmx42 with h200 rotary 4th.
shane
My understanding from your explanation of the plan, I have a suggestion.
you apparently do not need the rotary to spin your part, just to spin the "magazine" since the operator must load a new part every cycle, just have the rotary axis spin 6 to 12 after start then rotate 12-6 on finish of cycle( unload finished part and load stock) yes you wll add the "unload part time" to the cycle time.
if your part is only drilled without moving , i would suggest a gang approach on a custom pallet. it will save allot of cycle time....make 2 pallets and the operator will pick and place one while the mill hammers away the other.....
OSHA would not like the doors open with movement of table+ spindle+Hands !
