Fusion 360 post for mill-turning on PCNC 1100?

Mill
#1

I’m trying to do a simple mill-turn test on our PCNC 1100. I’ve got a simple part modelled up in Fusion 360, a cylindrical blank with a 0.5" dia boss for holding in the spindle, and a straight-forward facing and profiling operations in Manufacturing. For the Fusion manufacturing setup I’m using “Turning or Mill-turn”.

When trying to use the Tormach PathPilot post, I’m getting the following error:

Error: Turning toolpath is not supported by the post configuration.
Failed while processing onOpen().

Do I just go ahead and use the Tormach 8L or 15L post instead? Will Pathpilot let me run the resulting nc file on the PCNC 1100? Or do I need to customize the turning post processor to generate code suitable for running on the mill?

#2

Are you utilizing the RapidTurn? If so, I believe there is a specific RapidTurn post that fusion made. They used to have it labeled as generic Tormach Turning post, but I believe Fusion split it into three different posts.

#3

Hi Sam. I am using just the PathPilot post for the mill.

post-processor
post-processor1984×738 101 KB

I got it to work yesterday by making some modifications to the stock Pathpilot post:

  • Added CAPABILITY_TURNING flag to capabilities in the post
  • When doing a tool change, replace the actual tool number with a fixed value (I’m using 98) corresponding to my stock blank mounted in a TTS holder
  • On each operation, retract to safe height, change the WCS to that set for the appropriate tool, and rapid to X0 Y0 (so I descend from above)

actual
actual2018×1296 282 KB

This might not be the best way but it seems to work. Tomorrow I’m going to start looking at the actual tool choice, cutting feeds and speed, etc. At the moment I’m getting a birds nest and a horrible surface finish.

Then on to making a generic fixture plate that can accommodate a number of tools for the specific project I’m working on.

#4

I am not sure how they could integrate the changes without making a whole new post, but I would send your changes to Fusion, regardless. We don’t do any managing of posts on our end, but any feedback is welcome.

#5

You will likely want to get an ER32 collet holder. this will allow you to hold much larger diameter material. Much of your poor finish is likely coming from the thin stem that you are holding with. 300 to 1000sfpm and feed equal to the tool nose radius up to .015. This is very dependent on the size of stock also. It’ll take a few passes but you’ll get it worked out. As for stringy chips, with lower end aluminum and a setup like this, that’s likely what you’ll get. Try to keep the chips off the material and I think you’ll be satisfied with the finish.

Good luck and I’m very interested in this myself. I have small parts that could benefit from this approach and save me the cost of a cnc lathe right now.