Polytechnic University of Aguascalientes. Jauregui, Carlos. CAM & CNC Systems.

Practice report 11. Learning to use turning in CNCSimulator

Jauregui, Carlos G. Polytechnic University of Aguascalientes

Abstract This is eleventh report of the course of CAM & CNC Systems shows how to use turning into the CNCSimulator. Within this practice you will see firstly a general concept of milling and how to configure the simulator for developing the practice. Also you will see a practice and its respective program. At the final you will see some observations of the practice and a general conclusion about it. I. INTRODUCTION CNC turning centers are very popular in manufacturing companies. Just about every company that performs metal-cutting operations has at least one. Since they are so popular, people beginning their CNC careers are often exposed to turning centers early on. Because of that in this practice you will see some theoretical basis about CNC machines-turning and how is the design related to the axes. Also you will see the way for configuring the CNCSimulator for working with the function of turning. After that you will see the piece to develop and its respective dimensions in Z and X. II. EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS For making this ninth practice was necessary to have: Computer with CNCSimulator installed. Table of G codes. Table of M codes. Draw of the model

III. THEORETICAL BASIS For making this practice is necessary to know some concepts. CNC machines-turning A conventional engine lathe or a turret lathe is a common machine in just about every machine shop. A lathe is used for machining cylindrical or conical work, such as shafts, rings, wheels, bores, threads, etc. The most common lathe operation is removal of material from a round stock, using a turning tool for external cutting. A lathe can also be used for internal operations such as boring, as well as for grooving, threading, etc., if a proper cutting tool is used. Turret lathes are usually weaker in machining power than engine lathes, but they do have a special carousel that holds several mounted cutting tools. An engine lathe has often only one or two cutting tools mounted at a time, but has more machining power. Typical lathe work controlled by a CNC system uses machines known in industry as the CNC Turning Centers - or more commonly the CNC lathes. The term turning center is rather unpopular, but an accurate overall description of a computerized lathe (a CNC lathe) that can be used for a great number of machining operations during a single setup. For example, in addition to the standard lathe operations such as turning and boring, a CNC lathe can be used for drilling, grooving, threading, knurling and even burnishing. Many other combinations also exist. CNC lathes are designed to hold several tools in special turrets; they can have a milling attachment, indexable chuck, a sub spindle,

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a tailstock, a steadyrest and many other features not always associated with a conventional lathe design. Number of Axes The most common distinction of different CNC lathes is by the number of programmable axes. Vertical CNC lathes have two axes in almost all designs available. The much more common CNC horizontal lathes, commonly designed with two programmable axes, thus adding extra flexibility to manufacturing of more complex parts. A horizontal CNC lathe can further be described by the type of engineering design: Front lathe Rear lathe.

Specifications of a CNC lathe When you get a CNC lathe you can see all the technical data about it. You can see at the Fig. 1.2 a general idea about the information of a CNC lathe:

Slant bed is very popular for general work, because its design allows cutting chips to fall away from the CNC operator and, in case of an accident, forces the part to fall down into a safe area, towards the chip conveyer. Axes designation A typical CNC lathe is designed with two standard axes one axis is the X axis, the other axis is the Z axis. Both axes are perpendicular to each other and represent the typical two-axis lathe motions. The X axis also represent the cross travel of the cutting tool, the Z axis represents its longitudinal motion. All varieties of cutting tools are mounted in a turret (special tool magazine) and can be external or internal. Because of this design, the turret loaded with all cutting tools moves along the X and Z axes, which means all tools are in the work area. At the Fig. 1.1 you can see how the axes are distributed:

Fig. 1. 2 General specifications of a CNC lathe

Fig. 1. 1 Axes distributed in a CNC lathe.

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IV. DEVELOPMENT For this practice you are going to develop a slave of a chess seen at the Fig. 1.3. As you will note for first it contains the dimensions in X and Z:

Fig. 1. 5 Selecting Detail settings.

After that you are going to introduce the values of the diameter in X and the length through Z, having a value of 25 and 40 respectively as you can see within the blue rectangle at the Fig. 1.6. Also in the same Figure you have to choose the option of radius which is at the red rectangle. You can note that the origin is at left of the piece:

Fig. 1. 3 Piece to develop

For starting to configure the CNC lathe we are going to start choosing the Menu called Screen and we are going to select Turning as you can see at the Fig. 1.4:

Fig. 1. 4 Selecting turning

After that at the Fig. 1.5 you are going to go to the menu called Simulate and you are going to choose Detail settings:

Fig. 1. 6 Lathe options

Polytechnic University of Aguascalientes. Jauregui, Carlos. CAM & CNC Systems.

Then for knowing the tools we are going to select Edit tools from the menu of Simulate as you can see at the Fig. 1.7:

Fig. 1. 7 Selecting Edit tools.

After that there is going to be a new windows which shows the tools. At the red rectangle of the Fig. 1.8 you can see the number of the tool that you can use into the program and within the blue rectangle you can change the tool for watching each tool, in this case we select the number nine for cutting the piece from the CNC lathe.

Fig. 1. 8 Menu of tools

X13 Z33 X11 Z5 X12 Z33 X11.2 Z5 Z33 X0 X-5 Z36 Z33 X0 X15 Z33 X00 G03 Z23 X7.07106781 R7.5 G01 Z20.50 X5 Z13 Z8 X10 Z6 Z4 X9 Z2 X10 X11.25 G03 Z1.25 X12 R0.75 G01 Z0.5 Z0.5 X11.5 X15 M06 T09 Z-2.5 X0 X15 % As you noted this is a short program and it doesnt required to give compensation and also you have take in count the point of the origin for starting the program. Also it used G03 as was used for milling knowing the radius and the final point for making the cut. At the Fig. 1.9 you can see an advance of the final program, specifically at the block 110. You can note made an arc.

V. RESULTS In this section you will see the slave of the chess finished. The following lines show the code used for getting the desired piece that was given into the section of development: % ;0008 G20 G90 M06 T10 M03 S1200 G01

Polytechnic University of Aguascalientes. Jauregui, Carlos. CAM & CNC Systems.

Then you can see another advance until the block 150 as you can see at the Fig. 1.12:

Fig. 1. 9 Program until the block 110

Then you can see another advance until the block 125 at the Fig. 1.10:

Fig. 1. 12 Advance until the block 150

At the Fig. 1.13 you can see how the tool 9 cuts the piece of the CNC lathe:

Fig. 1. 10 Program until the block 125

You can note at the Fig. 1.11 the plot view of the model until the block mentioned before:

Fig. 1. 13 Cutting the piece of the CNC lathe

Finally you can see at the Fig. 1.14 the model finished in the block view:

Fig. 1. 11 Plot view at the block 125

Fig. 1. 14 Piece finished on the block view

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You are going to see the model finished but now on the plane XY view as you can see at the Fig. 1.15:

VII. CONCLUSION I can conclude that the development of this practice helped me to know how to configure the program into the turning mode, where you specify the origin of the axes and the length and radius of our material. Also I learned that into the CNC lathe programming you dont need to specify the plane and the compensation of the tool something that was very important in the milling process. VIII. REFERENCE [1] Smid, P. (2009). CNC Programming handbook: Comprehensive guide to practical programming. United Stated of America. Industrial Press Inc. ISBN 0-8311-3158-6

Fig. 1. 15 View of the plane XY

At the Fig. 1.16 you can see all the movements done by the tool at the plot view:

Fig. 1. 16 Movements done in the plow view.

VI. OBSERVATIONS I could observe in this practice that the use of absolute coordinates is easy, however I think that the use of incremental coordinates could be easier because you dont have to be locating each point since the origin, you just have to take in count the last point; It has to be mentioned that sometimes the piece doesnt specified all the dimensions, and is required to get some calculus for getting all the incremental coordinates, that is the reason that maybe is more common to use absolute coordinates.