CAM software for CNC Lathes - With C axis and constrained live tool

Here's the video of Ecam doing some Lathe & C Axis work. It's a bit slow in parts, but should (hopefully) still get the message across.

Martin.

Martin, Thank you Very much for your splendid effort! That is really great, and shows very well indeed the capabilities of Ecam. Impressive for a relatively inexpensive package.

The Milled thread is something I will dig further into - it is very useful, esp for high pitch threads, and for oscillating cams with a pin running in a sinusoidal groove around the cylinder.

Martin, may I ask if you could post the G-code for what you did? I would like to see how the selection of the C axis and the coordinated C - X/Z axis is coded.

Thank you very much again!

Regards

Joe

Joe.

There are other Post Processors for Doosan, Mori-Seiki and Mazak, but you can modify one to suit your own machine too.

I have tweaked the Post Processor for my lathe (PlanetCNC) and get perfect code that I am 100% confident with.

Martin.

Martin - I have LinuxCnC actually driving my 3D router quite reasonably at the moment, so it has potential, but is has been a big journey, and there is a lot more to do - just to add Jog Wheels (MPG's) on each axis is such a mission - spent hours again reading forum Crypto_Speak and MPG's are simple things! Trying to implement a C axis on LinuxCNC I think is just going to take far more time and effort than I wish to spend on it - Trying to build a nice little lathe, not become a LinuxCnC expert.

I am going to try make closer contact with Mr PlanetCNC in the next week or so - I did not push it with all the Holidays, etc, and see If I can get closer to his claim of the lathe doing it all. If that has potential, I think I will just go that route - It is just so much easier to set up boards like that!

I will dig tomorrow to see how and where to get hold of Ecam, maybe a demo, and start playing!

Thanks again Martin, for your assistance and time.

Regards

Joe

Edited By Joseph Noci 1 on 03/01/2021 20:37:38

Joe.

Get Ecam here

Ecam is free at the weekend. You can get your job set up and tweaked on the week days and generate code at the weekend. Never the less, I've bought a full licence because I like the software and I've had a good response from the author when I've found bugs etc.

Same goes for PlanetCNC. Have you downloaded it yet? It has an unlimited simulation mode that does everything except drive a CNC machine. I test my code with it first before going into the workshop.

Get it here and run it on any platform including RaspberryPi.

Martin.

Thanks Martin - I will get Ecam and learn - At least those lessons are more main-stream than LinuxCnC!

I do have the PlanetCNC's TNG software - Early this year I looked quite deeply into the PlanetCNC stuff as I was looking for a MACH3 alternative to drive my 4 axis hot wire foam cutter, and had good discourse on the Planetcnc forum. The software was able to do it all just fine, and I was ready to procure the controller and TNG software, and the virus arrived, shipping stopped, etc - I did not revive that route as my lathe project woke up in all the lockdowns, and so the research regarding able controllers started. If the Planetcnc board can do my C axis lathe, then it is really a no-brainer - I will persevere with LinuxCNC, but right now , only because It is a challenge, but to what end I am not sure. As I said before, the Centroid ACORN and the PlanetCNC boards and associated softwares are just so polished - the software user interface, the look of the machine screen, layout, etc is very professional, and looks 'machine tool' like - MACH3 is so poor in that regard, and LinuxCNC is not a huge improvement - I know both can be changed - you can create your own screens, setups, etc, but again, that's not the objective for a machine user is it?

As it is, there are big learning curves involved as soon as you start in the CNC realm - finding and learning an (affordable?) CAD package, ditto the CAM software, setting up the machine, etc - And then the Controller software it self - TNG, the Centroid offering, LinuxCNC, etc, also has to be 'learnt' so spending time learning the inner guts to just add handwheels, etc, is not useful at all!

Martin, your video is very good - you have done a few videos I see, and you do them well! A natural! - My very few videos are silent movies - with some titles if I think it needed - but I would have to read from a script to voice it! - too many umms and aahhs.

Thanks Again for your help.

Joe

Just a bump to a moderator please - If you would be so kind as to delete the now space wasting G_Code posts - 

No-one else will have much interest in them and they will annoy fellow readers I think..

Joe

Edited By Joseph Noci 1 on 04/01/2021 07:43:58

I own a Tormach so I enjoy the pleasures and luxury of using PathPilot. It is a clean easy to use interface and the various tabs for conversational routines, probing and tool table etc are very professional.

I visited IMTS a few years ago and had been tasked by a friend to look out for CNC control software. As a result of my searching on his behalf I spent a very enjoyable few hours on the Acorn stand/booth. A really nice bunch of guys and what looked like an impressive product. I was so impressed I asked if they could sell a board and licence off the stand at the show to take home to the UK for my colleague to use. They said sadly no but if I came back the following day they would see what they could do. Next day I duly turned up and received a controller board that had been hand carried overnight by one of their factory team. Speaks volumes about their attitude to customer support.

Finally for those frustrated by the Mach3 visual presentation, have a look at Physics Anonymous YouTube videos SO3E13 and 14. This is as close to a professional layout for Mach3 that I have seen. It is not totally bug free but an update is promised. I have a small CNCEST mill that now uses this interface and I tend to forget I am using Mach3.

Alan

Joseph I wouldn’t worry about the space taken up by the CNC programme, far more space is wasted on this forum by pointless discussions on what lathe is best, what lathe do I need, comparing Myford to Chinese etc etc.

Doesn't annoy me, but if Martin drops me a PM confirming it, I'll delete the G-code. Your question but Martin owns the answer, and his post is within the rules. Harmless, and I expect a few people may have been interested in what G-code looks like. No obligation to understand it, or look at it at all.

Dave

Dave.

I don't mind one way or the other. I'll leave the decision in your capable hands.

Martin.

I've followed this CNC thread with a good deal of interest but (I'm afraid) no practical experience. So I can't add anything to the practical or technical advice being offered I'm afraid - although fortunately others here can do so.

Clearly, the posters are also working at the leading-edge of CNC (at least for hobbyist use) but I think it's confirmed my view that even 'basic' CNC is currently well beyond my capabilities (not to mention purse) and possibly (in truth) my practical needs.

Admittedly, I used to have the same view about 3D Printing but I have found it relatively easy to design and print simple 3D parts that would be a problem (or time consuming) using other modelling methods. So 3DP is part of my workshop capability now - being a useful addition without dominating it.

CNC would of course open up some very interesting opportunities for my modelling but until there is an affordable CNC 'package' that makes this as approachable as 3D Print - I think it's going to be a bit beyond my reach. There are probably also simpler (and cheaper) ways for me to enhance my machining. The most obvious one would be the greater use of DROs on my existing (e.g. old) machinery - or at least in my case - some modest equivalents.

My CNC needs would generally be for smaller (multiple) detail parts, which can be time consuming to make and expensive to buy-in. Many of these I could 3DP now of course but I currently still "prefer" (it's hard to define exactly) to make them in metal - so perhaps a game-changer for me might be new 3DP materials and technologies. These technologies do seem to evolve at a bewildering rate these days, so who knows what we will have available to us in a few years time.

Regards,

IanT

Edited By IanT on 04/01/2021 12:33:33

It's going, going, gone!

Ta,

Dave

IanT,

Well, I am not sure about where on the cutting edge I may or may not be! I believe you can get into useful 3D CNC work quite inexpensively, esp if it is 'small' modelling - the are many Eastern desktop routers that with a bit of engineering sense can be made quite serviceable - they can be made to 'mill' aluminium thin sheet, slowly, and other modelling materials very easily. I know I deride MACH3, but it is available cheaply, old PC's with a printer port are available for next to nothing, and MACH3 for such applications is a doddle. The other bits are needed of course - some sort of CAD and CAM, but the Workshop version of Alibre is excellent and will do most if not all you could want.

MACH3 learning curve is easy ( compared to linuxcnc, you could do it in your sleep..) - Alibre is not to bad - and there are many here who can help you with that! Don't let it scare you - amazing what such a tool enable you to do and opens up many new adventures, as you discovered with 3DP...

Joe

Thanks Dave - It was at my request that Martin kindly obliged - I did not stop to think what a clutter that might be!

Joe

Just an example how life can chase you around the block!

I JUST got LinuxCNC working, with 3 (XYZ) MPG's on each axis, etc, on my Router. I had MACH3 on that router for 13 years...Put another hard drive into its PC, made it the boot drive, loaded LinuxCNC and spent 4DAYS(!!) really mucking about trying to configure the HAL files to setup LinuxCNC to use the Router as configured. Eventually got it working nicely - -with 2 parallel ports! Just plug the 2 cables from the Router ( as they were) into the original ports on the 'MACH3' PC, boot Linuxcnc and the router works as it used to....Nice...

But there are some disturbing issues with LCNC. A major issue for me is the inability to halt a machining cycle, and continue from where left off - not a pause, but halt - For example, you break a tool, and stop the machine, jog the z axis up to safety, change to a new preset tool, and want to carry on - cannot in LCNC! In MACH3 I can STOP, jog any axiz, change a tool, and then select a G-code line I want to start from - say 3 or 4 prior to the tool-break, and select 'Run from Here' - To preserve modality, MACH3 starts at the file beginning, runs through fast , sets up, and at the select line carries on the job...

I know you are not suppose to break tools, but I do a lot of PCB engraving - the carbide cutter is a 10deg cutter with a really fine tip and it easily nicks, causing bad burrs during engraving..

I'm afraid, unless there is a fix for this in Linuxcnc, that's it for me!

And then you come along with that really nice MACH screen set - that is very good indeed!

The LinuxCNC screen is also so passé...

Not sure I will go back to MACH, but I believe the Centroid ACORN and PlanetCNC boards and software are now definitely a better option!

The CNC Lathe C Axis still haunts, though..

How does PathPilot handle tool breakage on the Tormach?

Joe

Joe,

Have you tried to configure a machine as a 4 axis mill. with X,Y,Z,C axes with the LinuxCNC, Step Config Wizard 

I have a small EMCO compact 5 lathe bed, with a stepper motor driven spindle, bolted to the bed of my 3 axis Mill.

The lathe gives me a fourth axis of motion. with all the work holding advantages of three jaw, four jaw, collet chucks, faceplate and a movable tailstock. With it, I can do all the normal 4 axis functions. index, machine on the round etc.etc.

Is this in any way similar to what you refer to as a "CNC Lathe with C axis and constrained live tooling"?

Mike

Edited By mike T on 04/01/2021 15:42:17

Edited By mike T on 04/01/2021 15:54:37

Hi Joe

PathPilot supports in program G37 tool length move and measure in the format G37 H~ P~

H saves the current tool length to the H tool library instead of the current tool number.

P is a positive or negative tolerance whereby the measurements in H and the current tool number can be compared and if greater than the defined limit will stop the program.

This was added in 2019 and works very well. It has an inbuilt discipline that needs you to zero the spindle nose at start up which I think sets a G53 reference.

Alan

Mike, No , - I have not implemented what I think you are suggesting - but it is quite easy

I understand you wish to use the 'lathe' merely as a stepper driven rotary axis extension on the mill.

If that is so , MACH handles that no problem, You have to , in your case, set the A axis to be a rotary, setup pin I/O in the Config>Motor pins setup, Make sure SLAVE axes is not set, and Setup in TOOLPATHs the direction the rotary axis lies on the machine - Sound complicated but actually not.

If you need more detail, shout, but it is shown reasonably well in the Mach Mill manual.

IF, however, you wish to use the mill Z axis as a Y axis for the lathe working as a lathe, and then lathe spindle as a C axis, well that just brought a second order complication to my already complicated wish-list!

Joe

Ok Alan, but that does not really answer the question...How do you continue a job when you break a tool in the middle of the job?

Joe