C-hook Name: tool5ax.dll, tool5ax.scr, tool5ax.txt Date : 29 October 1997 Programmer : CNC Software, Inc. (sl) Usage : Tool5ax c-hook is used to manipulate five axis toolpaths in the following ways: 1) backplot the toolpath and display the position of the tool arm, 2) change the position of the tool arm, 3) add moves, 4) delete moves, 5) set canned text, 6) flip the tool around to the opposite side of the surface, 7) save all changes. Tool5ax Setup --------------- Put tool5ax.dll and tool5ax.txt in the chooks directory, usually c:\mill5. Put tool5ax.scr in the script file directory, usually c:\mill5\scr or c:\mill5. Put curv5ax.acc (not tool5ax.acc) in the main mill5 directory, usually c:\mill5. (Mill55 and Mill60 setup instruction are similar.) Description of Bistable State ------------------------------- On some five axis machines the five axes are X, Y, Z, and two angles. One angle is how much the tool is tilted forward and the other angle is how much the tool is tilted to the side. The combination of the two tilts will allow the tool to be in any position. The problem that occurs is that, for any given position, the tool arm can hold the tool from any angle. This gives an infinite number of ways to for the tool arm to hold the tool, for any given position. If the tool arm is limited to the top plane then, for any given position, the tool arm can hold the tool from one of two angles (except when the tool is vertical). These two angles are 180 degrees apart and cause what is called a bistable state. One of the two angles is called the primary angle and the other is the flipped angle. There is no way in a post to determine which of the two angles is the correct one. The purpose of this c-hook is to allow a way to manually choose which of the two angles is correct. This is done by backplotting the five axis toolpath and showing a default position of the tool arm. The user can then pick the points in the toolpath where the arm is 180 degrees opposite of the way it should be. Once picked the tool arm can flipped to the correct postion on the screen. After all tool arms are flipped into the correct position the NCI file can be rewritten with flags on the g11 lines that indicates when the tool arm is flipped. Backplot and Display ---------------------- 1) Tool5ax backplotting has all of the features of regular backplotting, except linear interpolation, simulate cutter comp and time estimates which are not supported for five axis toolpaths. 2) Backplot will work with 'run' and 'step'. If 'step' is selected then the user can step through the toolpath and flip the tool arm, if desired, at each point on the toolpath as it is backplotted. This includes backstepping and flipping tool arms. 3) The user can choose to display the unflipped position of the tool arm as either a right hand vector or a left hand vector. For a vertical tool where the tool arm has zero angle, the user can choose to display the tool arm along the X axis or the Y axis. This is for display purposes only. 4) The user can set the length of the five axis tool line and the length of the tool arm for the backplot display, or use default lengths. The default length of the five axis tool line is the actual length as found in the NCI file and the default length of the tool arm is 20% of the length of the tool line. The user can also choose a color for the five axis tool line and unflipped tool arm, and another color for the flipped tool arm. Change the position of the tool arm ------------------------------------- 1) The user has five choices for any tool arm: 1) do nothing, 2) flip, 3) same angle as the previous point, 4) same angle as the next point, 5) restore to orginal. The effect of these options depends on whether the tool is vertical or non-vertical. 2) A vertical tool does not have a bistable state. Thus it does not have a primary angle and does not flip. For this reason the primary angle for a vertical is initially set to the zero angle. If 'same angle as the previous move' is picked then the primary angle for the vertical tool is set to the primary angle of the previous tool. If the previous tool is also vertical then there is no primary angle on the previous move. For this reason, if the previous moves are vertical they will be skipped until a move is found that is not vertical. A vertical tool set to 'same angle as next' works similarly. The other difference between vertical and non-vertical tools is with the flip option. Since a vertical tool has no bistable state it does not flip. So the flip option with a vertical tool means add 180 degrees to the primary angle. 3) A non-vertical tool does have a bistable state. This means there is one primary angle and one flipped angle for the tool. If 'same angle as the previous point' or 'same angle as the next point' is picked then the five axis line will be recalculated. The bottom point will be the same but the top point will be moved so the tool arm points in the desired direction. This means the five axis line will no longer be normal to the surface. 4) If a vertical tool is set to 'same angle as previous' and the previous move is changed then the angle for the vertical tool is recalculated. A vertical tool set to 'same angle as next' works similarly. 5) The user can set the vertical line tolerance. This determines how much the tool can tilt from vertical and still be considered vertical. The vertical line tolerance must be set to the same value in the post or there could be a conflict where tool5ax thinks a tool is vertical but the post thinks the tool is non-vertical, or vice versa. The default and minimun allowed tolerance is 0.00005. Delete moves -------------- 1) The user can delete a move from the toolpath. This is useful for removing a retract move that is not needed. 2) The last deleted move can be undeleted, but only one last move. Or all deleted moves can be undeleted. 3) When the start move in a contour (cutpos=1) is deleted, the cut position of the move after the deleted move becomes the new start. When the end move in a contour (cutpos=3) is deleted, the cut position of the move before the deleted move becomes the new end. 4) If a vertical tool is set to 'same angle as previous' and a move is deleted before the vertical tool then the angle for the vertical tool is recalculated. A vertical tool set to 'same angle as next' works similarly. Add moves ----------- 1) The user can add moves to the toolpath before or after an existing move. This is useful for adding a retract move where one is needed. There are two ways to add a move, copy an existing move to a new point (copy option) or make a new move out of a line (line option). 2) If line option is used there must be a line on the screen to make into a five axis move. The user can either create the line before running tool5ax or while tool5ax is running. To make a line while the c-hook is running press the F8 key to get the 'create menu'. Then create the line and exit back to the c-hook. Once the line is created the user can make a move out of it. When the prompt comes up to select the line select the line near the bottom. The bottom is the end toward the part being cut. The top is the end connected to the tool arm. A new move will be made where the line is but the original line will not be deleted. This can cause a problem selecting the new move since the original line and added move are in the same place. You can delete the original line by pressing the F5 key to get the 'delete menu'. Be careful to delete the original line and not the added move. 3) When a move is added before the start move in a contour (cutpos=1), the cut position of the added move becomes the new start and the old start move becomes a middle move (cutpos=2). When a move is added after the end move in a contour (cutpos=3), the cut position of the added move becomes the new end and the old end move becomes a middle move (cutpos=2). 4) The cut type (cuttyp) and feedrate of an added move are the same as the move that it was added with. Thus, if a move is added before another move then the cut type and feedrate will be the same as the original move that the new move is added before. 5) Added moves cannot be restored to the original position. 6) If a vertical tool is set to 'same angle as previous' and a move is added before the vertical tool then the angle for the vertical tool is recalculated. A vertical tool set to 'same angle as next' works similarly. Set canned text ----------------- 1) The user can set canned text on any five axis move. This will cause a number from 1 to 10 to be added to the NCI line for the move. The default value is 0 which means no canned text values have been set. Each number from 1 to 10 can be assigned a different meaning. For example, 1 could mean 'laser on' and 2 could mean 'laser off'. The user would then set all of the moves in the toolpath where the laser should turn 'on' with canned text 1 and set all of the moves in the toolpath where the laser should turn 'off' with canned text 2. The post used with the NCI file must be set up to know what each of the canned text ...
mmp12