Introduction to Automated Axes (0:00-1:19)
0:00-1:21: “Hello. Hello. Welcome back to another legacy training video. In this video we’re gonna cover all of the automated axes that come with your legacy CNC system, and we’re gonna cover the details of the directions that they travel and which direction is positive and negative for each one. We’re also gonna be going over the individual workstations just to show how parts are oriented, um, with those workstations. And by combining the access motions with the part, um, being oriented in certain ways, we can now produce almost unlimited, uh, part creations, um, for any type of project that we wanna produce with the legacy CNC system. So let’s start with the four AEs that, uh, come with your system, the automated axes that are built into your C NNC system. That is the x axis, the Y axis, the Z axis, and the a axis. Let’s go start with the x axis and see what that does. Now to help solidify the orientation of these axis to the machine, I have turned the platform on and I’m going to move the machine manually with the controls. And we haven’t gone over this on how to do that, and we’ll get into that in future videos specifically, but at least this will, again, we’ll assist in visualizing those movements for the individual AEs to again, solidify your orientation”
Understanding the X and Y Axes (1:19-2:36)
1:16-1:31: “for the individual AEs to again, solidify your orientation to the front of the machine, which is here. So first is the x axis, and the X moves along the length of the machine, and this is a negative X axis movement.”
1:36-2:33: “So to the left is negative, that means to the right is positive, controlling our cutter along the length of the machine. Next we have is the Y axis, and that goes along the width of the machine. So let’s bring it closer to you guys so you can see it. Okay, so the Y axis goes along the width. A negative Y axis is towards the front of the machine Y And a positive Y ais is towards the back of the machine Y. So now with those two axes of X and Y, the cutter can actually move anywhere in the work envelope of the platform, at least positioning itself. Now the third axis controls the cutter going in an up and down motion. This is known as the Z axis. So a negative Z axis is gonna go down that looks like this,”
Introducing the Z Axis and Fourth Axis (2:36-4:03)
2:36-2:38: “and a positive Z axis is gonna lift up.”
2:42-4:07: “So that controls, again our z axis up and down motion. So by combining all three axis, the x, the y, and the Z axis, we can now control the cutter to go anywhere in three dimensional space within the work envelope of the machine. Now we do have a fourth automated axis that is tied to one of the workstations. It does not move the cutter. Um, it’s gonna be moving the material instead and let’s show you where that’s located and what it does. Now the fourth axis is tied to our turning workstation, which is a modular system that can be added to the Maverick E-Series at any time. Um, but this allows us to actually rotate our stock in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. So here is our head stock towards the operator side, the left side of the machine, and this is all stationary. If we remove some tables, which we’ll actually cover in other training videos, it exposes our turning center. And we can use this to now, uh, turn and indexed index spindles. Um, but this has, again, two directions, just like any other axis, let’s show you which direction is positive and negative. Now, from our orientation of standing at the controller, looking down the length of the turning center, the turning center should rotate in a clockwise direction. When we are performing a positive axis rotation. What Therefore counterclockwise will be”
Overview of Workstations (4:03-5:40)
4:02-4:08: “What Therefore counterclockwise will be a negative axis rotation.”
4:13-5:41: “So now that we have a basic understanding of the axes, what they’re called and the direction they travel and which po which direction is positive and negative, um, we can now cover what are called the workstations. Um, and instead of the cutter moving, which most of the axes are gonna be controlling a workstation allows us to orient the material that we want to mount into the machine in different ways. So there are three main workstations that we have on the machine, a horizontal, vertical and turning workstation. Let’s show you how each of them approach the orientation of a part being used on the machine. The first and most popular workstation is the large surface area of the me of the machine known as the horizontal work table. This allows us to take a blank and get access to the large flat surfaces of our material. So if we were to create a fixture that could hold this down onto that work surface, the horizontal work surface, the cutter can now use all three axes to machine along this face. Whether if that’s drilling, profiling, carving, cutting out parts, it doesn’t matter. We have access to that, um, as long as we can hold it down against that surface. So this is, again, the most common, um, workstation on the machine and it takes full advantage of all three axes of the cutter. Now, it is a possibility to customize this fixture to make it so that we can stand the part vertically like”
Final Notes on Workstations and Adjustments (5:40-8:06)
5:38-8:06: “to make it so that we can stand the part vertically like this, um, and work on this face, um, that can be customized to do so, but we have dedicated workstations specifically to do this that make it really easy to accomplish this feat. Let’s show you the vertical workstations. So if we were taking this the same piece of material and instead of working on the flat surface, what if we did wanna work on the edges or perhaps the ends, um, in order to add certain details for our projects? Well, here on the operator side, this is the left side of the machine. We have a particular vertical vice workstation that allows us to do that. So we can actually customize fixtures to mount stock vertically right in place. Um, and then we can machine along those edges or ends, uh, to accomplish. A lot of people are using this for joinery applications, but you can, you can approach it with any type of cutting technique you, you really need for your project. But now between these two workstations, between the horizontal and the vertical workstation, we can get access to all six sides of an actual component that we put into the machine. And that’s a quick overview on workstations and all three types. If you learn how to optimize and use all three workstations and projects, you can actually unlock unlimited design possibilities for your projects. Now one final note on the workstations. There are actually prebuilt manual adjustments, two of the workstations in the vertical workstation, um, going along the width or y axis of the machine. And on the turning center on the vertical workstation, we’re able to actually angle the entire vertical mounting plate, uh, so that we can create Mitre angled joints. On the turning center, we’re also able to angle the entire turning bed so that we can take advantage of using cutter shape profiles for taper designs. We’ll cover how to use these in future videos when you are getting to those types of workstations. Uh, but for now this is just an overview again, to lock in orientation and to help you understand the terminology and where things are located and how they function. You should now be able to list off the different axes, the directions they travel positive and negative, as well as the workstations and how they allow you to orient the part in the machine.”
