b'\x1b\x1a\x19 \x1f\x18\x1d\x17\x16Get With the Program USING TOOL CENTER POINT CONTROLBy Ivan MikesicM aking the leap to five-axis ma-chining can be intimidating. Luckily, five-axis machine tool build-ers and controller manufacturers have developed tools to make theTool center point control leap a bit easier. One of those toolsand tilted work plane that has been around for quite somecommands use kinematic time is tool center point control. data on a machines Before we dive into what toolcontroller to ensure that work center point control is and why itsoffsets and tool lengths are important for five-axis machining,effective at any angle. In lets consider how we would set upother words, these commands a three-axis job. We would set ouraccount for the kinematic tool lengths on the controller, setconfiguration of a machine so our work offset and run the pro- users dont have to.gram. Simple, right?Now consider a five-axis job. We would set our tool lengths on the controller, set our work offset and run the program just like we did on our three-axis machine, correct? Not so fast. When setting up a five-axis machine, theres a lot to beCAMplete Solutionsmindful of. Depending on the kine- it, you could enter the location oftion provided to the post-processor, matic configuration of a machine,your work offset relative to the in- the program would have to be re-the introduction of rotary motiontersection of the tilt and rotary axesposted to capture the change.can affect tool length offsets, workso the post-processor could per- With tool center point control offsets or both. form the compensation. For tiltingand tilted work plane commands, Thats where tool center point con- spindle-style machines, you usedyou can set a work offset exactly like trol comes into play. It and tilted workto have to tell the post-processoryou would for a three-axis job and plane commands use kinematic datathe gauge length for each tool solet the machine take care of the ki-on a machines controller to ensurethe post-processor could accountnematics for you. This is great news that work offsets and tool lengthsfor the difference in effective toolbecause it allows simpler program-are effective at any angle. In otherlength as the spindle tilted. ming in CAM and much quicker words, these commands account forIn both cases, it was the respon- setup times at the machine, espe-the kinematic configuration of a ma- sibility of the programmer and/orcially if yours is equipped with a chine so users dont have to. post-processor to perform the com- probe and tool setter. You can use For trunnion-style machines, youpensation, and the posted programthe probe to pick up your work off-used to have to program from thecould run only on the machine thatset and use the tool setter to set intersection of the tilt and rotaryit was posted for. Additionally, if theyour tool lengths before letting the axes to maintain a stationary workgauge length of a tool changed ormachine and controller handle the offset as a part rotated. Alterna- the work offset was in a slightly dif- rest. If you add probing routines tively, if a post-processor supportedferent position from the informa- and tool measurement directly into 28AUGUST 2020 GetwithProgram.indd 28 7/20/20 9:22 AM'