You might be familiar with the following situation: You want to machine a tight area with a ball-end mill in Siemens NX using a three-axis operation, but you find that not all areas are machined because the tool is clamped too short, which would otherwise cause a collision. What now? The solution is to swivel the tool axis to ensure sufficient clearance. In this NX Tutorial, we will show you how to easily achieve this using the so-called View Direction.
Quick tool axis alignment
NX CAM QuickTip | Aligning the Tool Axis Using the View Direction
Heinrich Flaum | 
In this QuickTip, Heinrich Flaum shows you how to align the tool axis using the View Direction.
Avoid collision
In our example, we have already prepared the "Fixed Axis Guiding Curves" operation along with the settings. The plan is to machine the selected area by morphing around the center path with a spiral cutting pattern. We have set the ZM-axis for this. However, when we generate the tool path, we receive a message indicating that there would be a collision between the tool holder and the workpiece.
View Direction
This problem can be solved by changing the axis under "Axis & Avoidance" from "ZM Axis" to "Specify Vector." Among the options under "Specify Vector," we choose "View Direction" and generate the tool path. If we now display the tool, we notice that the View Direction sets the angle exactly as we are currently looking at the tool.
We confirm with "OK" and can see in the final machine simulation that the tool machines our workpiece in three axes – and does so without any collisions
This method is not limited to tool axes. With the View Direction, you can easily align any coordinate system.
You´re interested in becoming a Siemens NX Expert yourself? Feel free to check out our training programs:
Heinrich FlaumCAx Senior Pre-Sales Consultant
E-Mail: Heinrich.Flaum@janus-engineering.com
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