Rotated Work Offsets (RWO) Introduced in Software V4.8.0
Today Pocket NC announces the release of software version 4.8.0 which introduces Rotated Work Offsets (RWO). This software version adds a new M code, M254 which allows customers to use G5X work coordinate systems during 3+2 machining, moving the coordinate system to a more convenient location such as the corner or side of stock instead of the fixed point above the B table at the intersection of the A and B axes.
Information on how to update to this software version can be found here and more details on RWO are here. To go along with this update we have updated the Pocket NC Simulator to incorporate RWO and documentation in our User Resources also reflects the new change to the software user interface. As of the publishing of this blog post the Fusion 360 post processor has implemented M254. Other CAM software posts have not yet been updated to implement this change. If you are experienced in modifying posts you can reference this page to implement M254.
This update cannot be applied to 4+1 or 5-axis simultaneous tool paths as tool center point control is required. Typically rotated work offsets are used in conjunction with tool center point control to cover all multi-axis milling and we are working towards this functionality in our software, planning to have the tool center point control available in Fall 2021. The release of tool center point control will be part of a larger update to the user interface that we will be making available for use on the V2 machines as well as future products down the road.
We hope that this intermediate step of RWO helps make CAM programming more efficient and seamless for our existing users and we’re excited for future software updates that will make multi-axis machining even more accessible.
