Thanks Daniel, hopefully will be useful for some.

Thank you, we were asked by a customer how to do this so thought others might benefit.

@@richardstubley9651 Excellent idea

Non Tcpc Machine

Hi @hyper formance, let's guess that your 4th axis is along the X so an A axis. Your X is easy, just probe the face of the platter. Your Z and Y will be at the middle. This now depends on the tooling you have available. If it were me and I only had a probe, this would be what I would try. I'm also guessing you have a 3 jaw chuck and you have made it run concentric. Ideally we want to touch off the widest 2 points of the platter, but I doubt your probe would reach. So put a piece of very round stock in the 4th axis. The back shank of the biggest carbide end mill you have will probably be best here. Now move the probe down to as close to the centre of the cylinder you have as possible by eye. Do a Y Web probing cycle. This will now set the Y to the centre of the platter in Y. Move the probe now so its at Y 0.0, as we know this is the centre, and highest point of the cylinder. Now probe a z surface, minus the value of 1/2 the diameter of the cylinder you are measuring. And now you should correctly have the XYZ set in the centre of rotation for your 4th axis. In truth your X can be anywhere as there is only 1 rotary axis so nothing to intersect it with, however putting it on the face of your platter or face of your workholding will let you always come off that 1 position so you don't need to set up for every job all the time.

@@richardstubley9651 fantastic write up. how would I do this if I was wanting to set it on a vice mounted on the 4th axis? a point off centerline?

@@hyperformancellc yeah, you are going to need to have something thats running concentric to the rotation. Try and clamp something precision round in your vice. Maybe even a tool holder. Now set up a dti in the table and rotate the A axis with the handwheel to check concentricity. Then just tap with a hammer whatever you are using to get it running concentric. It doesn't matter whatever you are using or however you are holding it. As long as its round and is not running out to the 4th axis.

@@richardstubley9651 I have been using centerline since your comment. I am still just frustrated that I cant use the dwo that I paid for with the machine. am I missing a set up step on the rotary settings page?

On a Fanuc, if I am not mistaken you would be using 68.2 as DWO. This is the Stock Fanuc post supports this. I'll confirm why the robodrill one doesn't

I use DWO on MAZAK Variaxis J600/5X. This works the same as with FANUC. First place the workpiece zero point as you normally do in G54. Then use G68.2 X...Y...Z.... to move the zero point to the inclined plane in which you want to work. Then add IJK to turn the two rotational axes as this: G68.2 X50 Y0 Z0 I-45 J45 K0 This is one of the possibilities to use G68.2 and is called "Euler Angles". I= rotation around the Z axis ; J= rotation around the X axis ; K= also rotation around the Z axis. Let the arrow of the axis point in your direction to choose a positive or negative rotational angle. Positive is CCW and negative is CW.

I realise that you asked this a while ago, but in case it is useful to others! That figure is the position of the plater in Z. The distance added on the moves that position to the centre of rotation.

I can’t afford a DMG, and I am pretty happy with my Haas with a TRT160. Would I like a DMG, you bet, just like I would like a Ferrari. Would I buy a DMG? Probably not. I think I would get a much better return on my investment buying three or four Haas machines for the same price. Now if I was spending someone else’s money I might choose differently.

I doubt that it is quite that useless.