Is the operation intended to be automatic, or does it need further directing by the designer?Īs I said at the beginning, I barely know what it is that I don't know.Ī few comments - for complex geometry, you really need CAM software to help generate the G-code. I think 4 axes would be sufficient (although possibly not with the 4th axis as the 'usual' (?) rotation about the machine spindle axis), but in any case I need to understand how the CAD design becomes suitable G-code for a given machine. The blade would have a cambered airfoil section, with twist from root to tip, tapered thickness, and various planforms - hence all the compound curve questions. The end result of this thought exercise is to determine what hardware (CNC mill) and software would be required to design and fabricate a single blade of an axial compressor. Although it would probably be best if the design coordinates and the envisaged workholding method were designed to map directly to the target machine (true or not?).ģ. Provided the CNC machine itself has sufficient axes, it should be possible to transform the image coordinate system to suit the machine (true or not?).
Are there standard assignments that associate drawing rotational axes with machine rotational axes? Hmmm, thinking about that further, it probably shouldn't matter what axes the image is drawn around. But when the object contains surfaces consisting of compound curves then the machine will (obviously?) require additional axes (rotation about X, Y, and Z). This doesn't seem conceptually difficult for a 3D object containing only orthogonal flat surfaces i.e. The disconnect in my knowledge is the path from a 3D CAD image to (presumably) an input file for the CNC controller (MACH3 ?).
#Cutviewer mill error messages code
But the control was by native code in embedded micros, so while I'm aware of G-code, I've never given it more than a very cursory glance.Ģ. I'm an EE (retired), I've designed, built, and written the code for lots of scientific equipment that required servo/stepper controls and so forth, so the general mechanics of CNC machines hold no fundamental mysteries for me. But here goes with just a couple of simple (ha-ha) questions, hoping any answers will either point me to somewhere/somebook/something where I can start to learn in a cohesive way, or will nudge me in the right direction for asking further questions.ġ. This is all pie-in-the-sky stuff, it'll be a fair way down the track before anything happens - if ever. This is one of those times when I don't know enough about a subject to even ask coherent questions.