Adding Y axis to lathe setup

Ok so I have a 3 axis vertical mill - its a study old beast and if I mount some jobs on the spindle actaully makes a nice little lathe.

So i want to create a separate configuration to use it in this mode.

Using axis GUI I want a 2 axis lathe graphic - with tool tip shape
I want the read out in diameter mode on x axis
I will mount the lathe tool from fixed positions on the bed, so i really only need the y axis mod to centre (jog) the tool to the job.
It would be nice to rotate the graphics to match the vertical spindle real world oreientation

I am using mesa kit so plan on starting with pnpconf for an XYZ set up, and then set lathe to 1 in the .ini

I understand I this disables a few things so I then need to modify axis.py (where is this found??)

I found some pointers in a thread below, including enable the y axis radio button when in lathe mode.

Any suggestions for the other objectives would be greatly appreciated

Andy

Ok so I am a step closer. Set up as xyz and set axis display in lathe mode

Figured it was just far easier to configure my HB04 wireless mpg and use that to position y axis. No need to enable y axis radio button after all....

If I can find axis.py i will modify the key bindings so at least up/down is z axis and left/right is x axis to match the vertical spindle

Be good to rotate the Graphics window 90 deg

Again any pointers appreciated.

Andy

Ok, A bit further forward
Axis.py is found in usr/bin/axis

I have corrected the keyboard mappings:

if lathe:
bind_axis("Left", "Right", 0)
bind_axis("Up", "Down", 2)

This means up down are driving my vertical z axis.

In an attempt to rotate the graphics window I edited these sections commenting out the lines shown with#

def tkRotate(self, event):
#if lathe: return
Opengl.tkRotate(self, event)
self.perspective = True
widgets.view_z.configure(relief="link")
widgets.view_z2.configure(relief="link")
widgets.view_x.configure(relief="link")
widgets.view_y.configure(relief="link")
widgets.view_p.configure(relie
above The first comment marker allows me to rotate the graphics view using the mouse wheel press

root_window.after_idle(commands.set_view_y)
root_window.bind("v", commands.set_view_y)
root_window.bind("d", "")
widgets.view_z.pack_forget()
widgets.view_z2.pack_forget()
widgets.view_x.pack_forget()
#widgets.view_y.pack_forget()
widgets.view_p.pack_forget()
widgets.rotate.pack_forget()
widgets.axis_y.grid_forget()
widgets.menu_view.delete(0, 5)

The second # allows me snap back to the original Y axis view using a button on the toolbar

Its not ideal but it is a work around for now......

To get this rotated by 90 degrees as default start up I really need someone who understands this axis.py stuff, my experimenting (luck) has got as far as its going to...



Cheers
Andy

Hi Andy Thanks for the input.

I have managed to use the rotation with mouse wheel to some effect. However I now see bigger issues in my way.

The graphic rotate 360 degrees about z axis but limited 180 about X, Y axis cannot be rotated. So this means I cannot rotate the about X axis on the screen to get Z to match my vertical machine.

I was playing with tool table last night, the tool tip graphic also disappears if you rotate the graphic past certain thresholds, again this is a PITA as even if I could orientate the graphic as I want to I would loose the Tip graphic and that was one of my main objectives.

I feel this is becoming a much bigger mountain than I first anticipated.....

I think your right....

However maybe there is one more option, my monitor is actually mounted on a gas sprung arm, I guess as a workaround I could spin the monitor 90....