[marty7001]

I feel dumb not being able to figure out the answer to this problem. How do I go about cutting a simple arc in the X, Z axis? I have V20.5.

Thank you
Marty

[GNS]

Make three points; for example one at 0,0,0 (XYZ) one at 20,0,20 (XYZ) and one at 40,0,0 (XYZ) join them together using the "arc through three entities" function.

Start the NC processor,
set the tool depth settings,
click "3D" to on,
Select the arc,
click "cut auto"

[marty7001]

That is basically what I have been trying and I get no change in Z. It goes to whatever setting is in the up-down menu and stays there for the cut.

[Randall]

Make sure you click the 3d on the cam side.
Randy

[marty7001]

I have checked that several times. It seems like such a simple thing to do, I am sure I will kick myself when I finally figure it out.

Marty

[HuFlungDung]

I'll hazard a guess here that most guys will have purposely configured their post to eliminate Z and K commands in G02 and G03 moves. This would likely have been done in the conversion window.

You might want to make a new duplicate of your machine configuration and modify the G02 and G03 to allow these proper coordinates to post out and also to eliminate the coordinates of the unneeded plane.

Keep in mind that you need to inform your controller that you have switched arc planes from XY (G17) to XZ (G18) or YZ (G19) as the case may be. The new arc plane is modal until you change it with the appropriate gcode.

This is something that the cam system is not really equipped to deal with in a simple manner. So this type of programming is such that you might just want to edit the changes to your program, because it cannot be easily done within one type of post configuration.

The plane must lie in only one of the standard planes, ie., most controllers cannot do anything with an arc that crosses two planes at an angle.

For this reason, the most common method of perform XZ or YZ arcs is to interpolate them into short line segments which simulate the arc. No plane switching needs to be programmed if you do it this way.

[marty7001]

You were right. My problem was that I always kept playing with 3D in the CAD side. I overlooked the CAM side until this afternoon. Thank you for the answer. Too bad that it took so long for it to sink in.

Thanks to all that tried to help me and put up with me.
Marty