Swivel Axes; "Tilt Working Plane" Function - HEIDENHAIN TNC 415 Technical Manual

1.9 Swivel axes

This function is not available in TNC 407.
Swivelling heads and/or swivelling tables are used for multi-faced machining on milling machines.
The NC programs are either generated by a CAD system or are created direct on the TNC using the

"Tilt working plane" function.

1.9.1 "Tilt working plane" function
The swivel axes are moved either manually or NC controlled.
The position of the swivel axis is defined in Cycle 19 "Tilt working plane" (e.g. A-45, B-45). When
Cycle 19 is activated the TNC performs a coordinate transformation. The Z axis stays parallel to the
tool axis while the X/Y plane is perpendicular to the direction vector of the tool axis. The swivel axes
must first be positioned manually or with an appropriate NC block.
The status window displays the swivelled coordinate system. The machining plane can be
transformed spatially at random with this procedure. However the NC program is still programmed
in the normal way in the X/Y plane. The NC automatically interpolates the affected axes as it runs
the program. All path functions and cycles such as "Set datum" and "Probe" can also be used in the
transformed machining plane. The combination of coordinate transformation cycles must match the
activate and deactivate sequence.
Tool radius compensation in the machining plane and tool length compensation parallel to the tool
axis is active. The "3D ROT" soft key can be used to activate the swivelled machining plane for
"Manual" and "Program Run" separately. The position of the swivel axes can be edited for manual
operation.
The mechanical offset between the swivel axes is entered in machine parameters. The machine
parameters that describe the machine geometry are divided into nine blocks, each block describing
either a paraxial shift or a rotation.
With swivel heads the starting point is the tool datum of the machine (usually the spindle head). The
shift or rotation to the next nearest swivel axis is then entered one at a time. This operation is
repeated until a point is reached that is not separated from the machine by a free axis of rotation.
The swivel head must be in its datum position when the shifts are being calculated (e.g. A = 0, B =
0).
For tilting tables, the machine geometry is described starting from the centre of rotation of the first
swivel axis (as seen from the workpiece) and not from tool datum. First the centre of rotation is
defined in absolute coordinates — in relation to the machine datum — then the shifts and rotations
are entered one at a time until a point is reached that is not separated from the machine by a free
axis of rotation.
When machining with tilting tables, the coordinate system stays parallel to the machine coordinate
system. The "Tilt working plane" function is enabled with MP7500. The descriptions in MP7510 to
MP7592 are also used for other functions (e.g. "Cylinder interpolation").
01.98 TNC 407/TNC 415/TNC 425 1 Machine axes 4-41