Using the spindle to hold the stock and a vice to hold the lathe tool on X is there some way to trick fusion into cuting a profile? I’ve been working for days to get my lathe to do it but I just can’t get anywhere. (Sherline lathes apparently never had a working post processor).
It’s just a simple small aluminum knob and I was just thinking if I could set fusion up so it thinks the mill is a lathe I could be done.
I’ve never done this, but are you talking about millturning?
There’s several YouTube videos out there on this. Here’s one but there’s a lot more. https://youtu.be/XtnjgdB1ghU?si=osL72sjr90kvfxfN
Hey!
We’ve done this on our Haas TM1-P mill and made spinning tops (before we bought our 8L). I ended up hand-coding it and becoming way more familiar with G18 than I had been before. Depending on your part’s complexity, that’s not a bad way to go with it. I bet that you could run a complex part through Fusion’s 8L post and utilize those X and Z movements. You’ll still have to copy/paste them into a mill program, but that’s most of the work done. Best of luck!
Yes. I used to do that quite a bit a while back. The most important thing to do is to add turning to the capabilities list in the post processor. From there, it’s “relatively” straight forward. Put Fusion in lathe mode and build your program. Tool changes are kind of a nightmare though, you need to use a separate WCS for each one. Back when I was doing this I built a gang block to hold a variety of tools and wrote a program so I could touch off on one corner of the block and automatically set all 7 WCS based on known offsets to each from that initial corner. It worked really well but was definitely a good bit of work to get started. I even wrote a modified post that enabled CSS in mill mode so I could get better surface finishes. That’s still posted over on cnczone I think.
Here’s a video of the gang block in use and showing the CSS function working: https://youtu.be/5Js1YjJoYyk?si=U2HAvc_vtDmXE57D
This was kind of the culmination of the whole project, and also, more or less the last time I used my mill this way: https://youtu.be/5L-7aJxUBK0?si=FdtWAQbT8dSuNVkr
I’ve since gotten a rapidturn which I rarely use either so I scrapped the gang block.
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I’ve done a fair amount of mill-turning on my PCNC1100. Here are a couple of brass knobs as they came off of the mill. I set up the blanks to get 2 knobs per tool. Lacking a lathe, this is a very viable technique, especially for soft material like brass and aluminum. I can write it up as a separate community post if others are interested in seeing the steps.
@Ian_Vivero I love the gang block you made for doing mill-turning operations on your 1100M. I take it that the CSS isn’t possible on the older 1100S (belt-driven) spindle. How are the TTS collets for drilling ops held in place and prevented from rotating? If you aren’t using this fixture any more, would you care to sell it?
BTW, I searched CNCZone but could only find your posts about the home-brew 4th axis, not the mill-turning.
I know I need it. Brain can’t process running 3 machines all day while trying to figure out how to setup Mill turn and fight with fusion all at the same time.
Can someone attach two of those za6 robot arms to my brain
As far as I know, all tormach machines are belt driven, including the 1100M so there’s no reason CSS shouldn’t work on the older machines as well. The capability is in the controller, you just need a post that outputs the appropriate code. Here’s a link to the latest version I put together: CSS Post processor
Standard disclaimer, this was a post that I created for my purposes and it worked for me. I accept no liability for damages or injuries resulting from other people using it. Proceed with caution and use at your own risk.
That fixture is long gone. When I upgrade to the BT30 spindle I got rid of all my TTS holders. Without the holders, the gang block was largely useless so it ended up in the scrap pile.
@Ian_Vivero Can you enlighten me as to how those TTS holders were secured vertically in the fixture? Did you weld TTS holders into holes in the plate?
Oops, I meant to respond to that in my last post but I forgot. The holders were not welded in. I bored some close fit holes for them to drop into and used brass tip set screws to secure them. In the second video I linked to, you can see the set screw holes for each of the TTS holders.