Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy A.
Gearotic is awesome software for gear design. It can also generate g-code, but I believe will do so only for 2d or 2.5d type work. That limits it's built in CAM usefulness to fairly large gears (unless you're willing to run a very small cutter).
Running the fourth axis and gear cutting tool profile should be possible using mastercam, however a generic post file may or may not handle it well. Check to see if Tormach has any guidance on this. As for the specific steps involved in getting the right operations set up in mastercam take a look at youtube. If you happened to have bought Sprutcam along with the mill check that out too; it's actually pretty capable for 4th axis work.
As to the performance of the Tormach: it doesn't cut like a larger mill because it's not a larger mill. Mass helps smooth a mill out a lot (though smoothness is not necessarily an indication that the cut parameters are good!). You may need to better match your expectations for cut speed with the size of the machine. Rigidity in machine tools is a complicated thing. In my experience with a series 3 1100 machine rigidity is rarely ever a factor. Things like spindle power and tooling are almost always the limiting factors.
How are you calculating your feeds and speeds?
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We discovered last night that the poor performance we had been experiencing with the tormach only happens when we travel in the y axis. It also appears that the shaft off of the motor that drives the the y axis is not concentric with the shaft coupler that drives the ball screw. Our old limit going through aluminum with a 3 flute, 3/8 roughing bit, at a depth of .080, was about 2 ipm, which is really slow. Just making cuts in the x axis tonight, we were able to up the speed to about 8 before it started pulling the bit straight out of the (very cheap) tool holder. Once we get the y axis issue fixed, we should be all set to cut gears.
I've checked around in MasterCAM, and I haven't found a way to do what I want. We do have MasterCAM x3, which is really old.