'Med_Apt'

Eddie (81.131.51.193) -

Has any tryed the new 3 Axis programming system

by Med_Apt FOR MILL & LATHE

Comment #1 Merle from Seattle-Tacom, Washington State, USA (Contact Member) -

Am I the only CNC programmer who feels that the current capabilities of PC-based CAD/CAM lacks the power and control of a 5-axis APT system in the hands of a experienced and spatial programmer, such as myself? In APT, one could develop ANY kind of tool path, refine it as a MACRO, and put men on the moon!

Comment #2 Bryan Felsher (68.4.181.105) -

In some ways, I'd have to agree with you.

I am a full-time contract programmer using Catia V5, but I also own two APT compilers, and use them.

One of my APT compilers is 100% Catia compatible, and I use it to insert CALL's to Macro's in my graphical system which outputs an aptsource file. Then, I just "pre-compile" the aptsource before post-processing to G-code. Mostly, I use APT macro's for failsafe motion, spherical safety motion for dual-rotary 5-axis machines, as well as special tool-change requirements.

There are also a few parts that I program 100% in APT, because it's faster and easier sometimes. APT works especially well for part families, where I just have to change a few scalar's and the program updates in a snap. I had an order to program 1200 parts in a family. With Catia, I would have required 5000 files (part, product, process, aptsource, NC.) With APT, I did it all, saving just ONE master APT file, because my APT system allows for dynamic scalar editing while compiling like this (for instance):

$$--

$$ SET LENGTH IN X

LENX= 96 $$ USE 96 AS DEFAULT

INPUT/'LENGTH IN X AXIS (96 INCHES DEFAULT) = ', ANS $$ ANSWER 0 FOR DEFAULT

IF/ANS .GT. 0

LENX = ANS

ENDOF/IF

$$--

Pretty cool...By updating the scalars, the program header even updates for set-up instructions...like this snippet shows:

TX1 = TEXT/' ', CONVI, PRONUM, 5

TX2 = TEXT/' ', CONVI, PARNAM, 15

TX3 = TEXT/' ', CONVI, DASNUM, 5

TX4 = TEXT/' ', CONVI, LENX, 3

TX5 = TEXT/' ', CONVI, LENY, 3

TX6 = TEXT/' ', CONVI, LENZ, 3

PPRINT -- SETUPINSTRUCTIONS --

PPRINTLOAD PART ON VACUUM FIXTURE AGAINST STOPS

PPRINTTURN ON VACUUM

PPRINT/TX4, ' INCH LENGTH ALONG X AXIS'

PPRINT/TX5, ' INCH LENGTH ALONG Y AXIS'

PPRINT/'SIDE ONE USES G', ORNG1

PPRINT/'SIDE TWO USES G', ORNG2

PPRINT/'SET G', ORNG2, ' X TO LOCATING EDGE OF X- STOP'

PPRINT/'SET G', ORNG2, ' Y TO LOCATING EDGE OF Y+ STOP'

PPRINT/'SET G', ORNG2, ' Z TO TOP OF DOOR'

PPRINT/'SET G', ORNG1, ' TO SAME POSITION AS G', ORNG2, 'AND'

PPRINT/'SHIFT G', ORNG1, ' X+ AND Y- TO CLEAN UP'

PPRINT -- TOOLLIST --

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