FANUC G68.
2 - 5-Axis Tilted Work Planes
While true 5-Axis simultaneous machining has definitely become
more popular, the truth is that 5-Axis simultaneous is a very small
part of machining when viewed in the context of all machining
operations.
The overwhelming majority of 5-Axis machining operations are
actually what can be more correctly classified as 3 + 2 operations.
Meaning, the 5-Axis machine will position to a specific orientation
with its two rotary axes then perform standard 2-1/2 Axis & 3-Axis
operations.
With smaller work-pieces, 5-Axis machines with Table/Table or
Dual-Rotary Table configurations accomplish this by simply
rotating to align the Work Plane to be parallel to the XY-Plane
(G17) and perpendicular to the Spindle/Z-Axis. With the larger
work-pieces that are typical of Aerospace, Energy and Automotive
industries, this type of machine is impractical.
Large work-pieces that require machining from
various orientations are typically done with
Head/Head or Articulating Head 5-Axis machines. A
Head/Head machine achieves the required
orientations by rotating and aligning the Spindle/Tool
Axis to be perpendicular to the Work Plane that will
contain the features to be machined.
In the past, this presented additional challenges as
the CNC Control Systems were not powerful enough
to help manage the various Work Plane orientations.
Because of this limitation, many CNC Programming
functions, that are taken for granted for 3-axis, could
not be used. Circular Interpolation, Cutter Radius
Compensation and Drilling Cycles are all standard
programming tools that couldn't be used. This would
be reflected in the NC code by large NC program files
that were largely point-to-point movements.
As CNC Control Systems have become much more
powerful, this problem is largely a thing of
past. Almost every CNC control used on 5-Axis
machines today has some version of a function for
handling Tilted Work Planes. Among these are
FANUC and SIEMENS, two of the most popular CNC
Control Systems today.
While Tilted Work Plane functionality has
pronounced benefits with Head/Head type 5-Axis
Machines, It may also be used with Table/Table and
Head/Table Hybrid 5-Axis machines. The reason for
using it with such machines is decidedly different.
We'll address those reasons in a future article.
Let's first take a look at how FANUC handles Tilted
Work Planes for a Head/Head type 5-Axis Machine.
