GearHeads Corner

Good Morning Guys,

Stating this over and over, I am quite weak when it comes to any design program. That being said, and using the following as an example, I have used the trial version of CamBam with success and I'm quite happy with the program. One aspect of the program that I really appreciate is, I can tell the program where to begin cutting and then set up my machine's table accordingly before beginning an operation.

(Q) I cut my first gear using Gearotics and quickly found that I had to first figure out where the machine was going to begin cutting. My question  is, "Is there a way to tell Gearotics where to begin cutting"?

When cutting my first gear, I centered the piece in the Y axis, brought my Z axis down to the part, and then placed my cutter (X axis) at the face of the part to be cut. I lowered the knee and begin cutting in air. I "basically" figured out that the program had been written in such a way that setup required that I first "center" X and Y on the part and then the program told  the machine ( automatically pre-determined beginning) to move a certain distance in the X axis before it began to cut. I am hoping there is a way to pre-determine (assign) beginning cutting coordinates.

Harold

Hi Harold:

  Yes.. and No.. Depends if your speakign 3 axis ork, or 4th axis work.
In 4th axis, you must zero the tool on top of the blank, in the center..
All coordinates are calculated from that spot.

  In 3 axis work, you can drag the gear any place you wish, the grid shown is
your milling table. ( In options you tell gearotic the size of your table. You also
tell it if you consider the center to be 0,0 or the corner...and which corner.).

  So configure Gearotic for your mill table size and position, and from then on you can
just drag the gear ( or gears ) around to place them where you wish, when you generate
the path it is relative to the placement of the gear on the table.
  If you move a gear after creating a path, the path moves with it, so if you unhappy with
how close it is for example to the side of your table, just drag it a bit to get it out of the way.

  The Z coordinate of zero, is always the top of the material your cutting..

Art

ArtF wrote: Hi Harold:

  Yes.. and No.. Depends if your speakign 3 axis ork, or 4th axis work.
In 4th axis, you must zero the tool on top of the blank, in the center..
All coordinates are calculated from that spot.

Hi Art,

Please allow me to paraphrase, using an example, and let me know if I am understanding.

The gear I cut was 0.9167" OD and Face Width was 0.8000". Naturally, during setup, the center of the cutter was positioned at 0.45835" for the Y axis (0.9167 / 2 = 0.45835) and the DRO set to ZERO. So if I understand you correctly, because I am using my 4th axis and when setting up the X axis, since the cutter is centered in the Y axis I would then need to move the table in the X axis and touch the cutter at what I will call the face of the blank (the end that's sticking out from my 4th axis) and then move the X axis to the center of the *Face Width* which would mean that the center of the cutter comes to rest at 0.4000" (0.8000 / 2 = 0.4000) from the exposed end of the blank. Is that correct? If that's correct then all I need to do is ZERO the X axis and then I'm good to go. Right?

Thanks,

Harold

Harold:

  Yes. The system takes it all from there. Id run in the air first (
zero up an inch or so and watch to ensure it clears before turning
the blank. If you entered a good wide facewidth value in the program, it will
clear with no problem. The FaceWidth you enter in the program should be a bit wider than your actual blank..to make sure you have it clearing.. OR make sure the clearance entry has a value in it. Either one will ensure you are clear
before any rotations.. ( But I saw your earlier attempts...so I think you have it...)

Good luck
Art

Thank You Art. This helps a great deal. I'm slowly learning. Someday it will all "click" for me.

Harold

Harold:

  Im hoping some day it all "Clicks" for me as well. :)

Art

ArtF wrote: Harold:

   Im hoping some day it all "Clicks" for me as well. :)

Art

Art,

All I have to say about the above is, "You've forgotten more about this subject than I will ever know".

Harold