Use this post at your own risk! Always check the produced code before running it on a real machine!
Inspired by bogan.
Special thanks to Bruno Silva - test part modelling and code testing.
CNCZone discussion link.
Setup: standard 3 axis mill. A axis rotary, along X or Y.
Here's a video of a part being cut with code generated by this post :
- 3 axis - working
- 4 axis - working / for both repositioning moves and 4x toolpaths
- 5 axis - working
- Drill cycles - G81 (drill), G82 (drill+dwell), G83 (peck drilling), Canned cycles: G85 (boring), G86 (bore and stop), G89 (in, dwell, out)
- Tapping seems to work
- 4x indexial use may need some more work to avoid unnecessary retracts to clearance. As of now it's safe but can be made faster w/o retracts.
- Tool offsets and compensation
- Put the .gpp and .vmid files in
C:\Users\Public\Documents\SolidCAM\SolidCAMXXXX\Gpptool. You need to restart SolidWorks for it to pick up the new files. - Usage in SolidCam - Select
Mach3_4X_Yfor CNC-Machine - Mach3 setup:
- Config > General Config - tick
A-axis is angular, setIJ modeto incremental, uncheck all inRotational, possibly also checkG04 dwell in ms - Config > Toolpath - Check
Y-axisfor axis of rotation and enableA-rotations.3d compassalso helps. I recall having issues with360 wrap aroundso check by cutting air before destroying an important part.
Usage : Do set your CoordSyses so that the CS origin is on the pivot point (axis of rotation) and X/Y is the axis around which the part revolves
Is a completely new implementation of the post, that uses SolidCam's new kinematics (pos_to_machine=Y).
This is now the one to use. Files in the /old directory are kept just for reference. The only version currently available is for machine that has the 4th axis along Y. Should there be interest I will make a version that has the 4th axis parallel to machine X.
Testers needed - any feedback appreciated.