If anybody can help me figure this out, it will have to be the learned subscribers of this list - SDRC & the documentation don't seem to help out much.
Background : We've been using SmartCam here for 5+ years - Adv Turn, Adv Mill, FreeForm - running on HP UNIX (I know, unsupported after V10, but I can get a PC to run on if the answer is there someplace in a newer rev...). We recently took a horizontal machining center with a B-axis, and mounted a C-axis on top. Voila! Instant 5-axis machine. Machine define doesn't support our exact configuration (C mounted on B), but I can get the output "kinda" like I want by describing it as a (B mounted on C). Unfortunately, there are some "bugs" in the way SmartCam calculates the transformations when doing Helix (for threadmilling and such). So I broke down and made a transform section to do all the math to always output the correct XYZ locations (based on the B & C index angles). Therein lies the problem. In any 5-axis transform, there are always two possible solutions : i.e. B90C90 will present the same face to the spindle as B270C270, etc. No matter what combinations of responses I use in Machine Define, SmartCam seems to want to output the index angle that represents the solution closest to where it currently is. For instance, If my next workplane is defined at B90C90, and the current workplane is at B215C180, it will (probably) output B270C270. If my starting point is the XYPlane, I'll (probably) get B90C90 output. This is a problem though for a couple reasons. 1) the wiring of the C-axis prevents us from rotating more than 360 deg. CLW - you must always unwind back to zero before rotating the B-axis to a smaller angle. 2) not all solutions of a compound angle are equal - in some cases the tool must extend out 4" longer to reach a feature at B270C270 than it would at B90C90 3) positional tolerances are coming out "out of tolerance" if a hole is bored at one angle and counterbored at another. Question : Ok, If I can't trust SmartCam to output the EXACT ANGLE AS DEFINED IN THE PROCESS MODEL, how can I query it? I can go into PlaneData, select the Plane Name, choose the order (acb,bac,...) and SEE the rotation angles - But I want to be able to USE those values in the code generator. Can anyone help me out? Thanks! Kevin M. Davisson Computer Systems Administrator Product Information Technology Woodward FSA ====================================================================== To find out more about this mailing list including how to unsubscribe, send the message "info mfg-smartcam" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ======================================================================
