Help with spiral layout gadget required

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fordtman
Posts: 24
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 11:04 am
Model of CNC Machine: AKG6090

Help with spiral layout gadget required

Post by fordtman »

I was having trouble using the spiral layout gadget with a wrapped job so I created a simple cylinder using the wrapping gadget and ran into the same problem. I have attached some images of the configuration and results I got when I tried to use the spiral layout gadget and hope that someone can put me on the right track. I am cutting a profile toolpath around a cylinder using vectors created by the spiral gadget. Images spiral1, spiral2 and spiral3 are supposed to show a left hand thread, images spiral4, spiral5 and spiral6 ar supposed to be a right hand thread. Why does the left hand twist (spiral 1,2,3) look like a right hand twist (my CNC actually tries to cut a left hand twist), also why only one turn when the vector supposedly created 20 turns (I note that the vector is outside of the workarea after one turn). Why does the right hand twist show only as a slight mark with no toolpath cut (the vector is way outside of the workarea). This did not cut anything on my CNC apart from a start/end hole on the CNC.

Can someone supply me with good documentation on how the spiral layout is supposed to work or a pointer to a video on how it works. I would really appreciate it if you could. Thanks in advance.

Jim
Attachments
spiral1.PNG
spiral2.PNG
spiral3.PNG
spiral4.PNG
spiral5.PNG
spiral6.PNG

CharlieP
Vectric Staff
Posts: 156
Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2014 10:25 am
Model of CNC Machine: Saimsmart CNC

Re: Help with spiral layout gadget required

Post by CharlieP »

The Spiral gadget creates the long toolpath that as you can see, goes off the side of the material space in the software.
At the moment, the toolpath preview only previews the cuts made on the material space.

While the toolpath is there and when correctly cut will indeed make the 20 turns of the spindle to cut it, the preview is only showing the short amount of the cut that is on the material space.

If the Spindle turns the opposite direction to the expected direction, then it might be that your spindle is setup to turn the opposite direction in the controller then the Post Processor is setup for.

fordtman
Posts: 24
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 11:04 am
Model of CNC Machine: AKG6090

Re: Help with spiral layout gadget required

Post by fordtman »

Charlie, thanks for the reply and my apologies for the delayed response. I have been doing some more research on the spiral layout problem I am having. Their are actually two problems, one was the post processor I was using and the other was the representation of a right hand spiral shown in Aspire. I generated a simple wrapped job consisting of a cylinder and applied a RH spiral to the cylinder. The attached images shown the result, which to me looks like a LH spiral. My interpretation could be wrong because I do live in the southern hemisphere and Vectric are in the northern hemisphere and tornadoes/cyclones spin differently in the south and north, but we do drive cars with the steering wheel on the right :). However I should point out that when I ran the G-Code on my CNC I ended up with a RH spiral :? . I originally changed the Post-Processor to isolate the A-axis movement from the X & Y axes movements because it was causing an issue with some of the turning I was doing, but it turns out the to cut a spiral using Mach3 G-Code these operations must occur at the same time. If all axis movements are specified on the same line of G-Code they will occur simultaneously so the rotation occurs while the Y-axis movement occurs and the spiral is cut as expected. Why am I seeing a LH spiral in toolpath drawing->wrap X values (around Y axis)? Please note that to get the spiral vector to show up in the toolpath drawing preview I had to shift it from the LH side to the RH side of the work piece.
thread1c.PNG
Threade.PNG
thread1a.png
thread1b.png

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