Siemens 840D Corner Rads and Circles
Siemens 840D. When I was at school they taught us, among a few other things, the rule: I before E except after C.
Click here for Siemens training.
Well I never took it in because I can never remember how it works with Siemens. Anyway let’s forget spelling bollocks and get on to the exciting stuff of CNC Programming.
Siemens 840D is an amazing control it’s so versatile. I honestly think that if you could find the right G code it could make you a one shot skinny latte with a shot of caramel syrup. No I’m joking it obviously can’t add syrup.
This article is about circular moves on the Sinumerik Siemens 840D.
Now we all know on a Fanuc it’s end point and rad (piss easy you say) and Heidenhain, well they have a lot of ways too actually.
The Germans have got this circular milling business fuckin nailed.
Gadgets
When you’re a real geek like me you just keep looking for more and more things that a control will do.
On the Sinumeric Siemens 840D it’s never ending.
Sometimes I think “shit that’s amazing” and even though I can’t think of a use for whatever it is I found. I can’t help but think maybe one day I will. You know like that bread making machine you bought that’s at the back of the cupboard.
But it’s like they cover every option and permutation you will ever want.
For example this video shows how you can simply add a radius to a corner. You just program it point to point. It’s a 50mm square so you program it to X50. Y50.. Then when you want rads on the corners you just stick them on the end.
The smart arses are now saying “so what, I can do that on my Fanuc”. (I say “good luck with that one”)
Heidenhain is easy you just add RND
Ok so here is a video showing you how.
Type 1 Corner Rounding Siemens 840D
Now I know what you’re thinking (“so what”). But what if you wanted a different feed-rate on the corner radius?
Easy just add FRC=50.would give you a feed of 50mm per minute just on the corner radius and it wouldn’t affect your other feed.
Stay Tuned It Gets Better
So your program looks like this
G41 X0 Y50.
X50. RND=20.
Y-50. RND=20.
X-50. RND=20.
Y50. RND=20.
X0
G40 X0 Y65.
Simply add FRC
G41 X0 Y50. F200.
X50. RND=20. FRC=50.
Y-50. RND=20.
X-50. RND=20.
Y50. RND=20.
X0
G40 X0 Y65.
Oh and if you want it to apply to every corner you don’t need to write one on every line just add M. Cool what.
G41 X0 Y50. F200.
X50. RND=20. FRCM=50.
Y-50. RND=20.
X-50. RND=20.
Y50. RND=20.
X0
G40 X0 Y65
Oh and you can do the same with the RND just add M
G41 X0 Y50. F200.
X50. RNDM=20.
Y-50.
X-50.
Y50.
X0 RNDM=0
G40 X0 Y65
Then RNDM=0 will cancel it.
Type 2 Endpoint and Radius Siemens 840D
This is how you do it just like Fanuc n Haas
I mean really it’s not much different to fanuc and Haas except instead of just putting R20. you have to put CR=20. these Siemens guys love those equals signs they seem to want them everywhere.
Type 3 Tangential Rads Siemens 840D
I love this one (Heidenhain do it too) all you do is give it two points and it just sticks in a tangential rad.
Oh by the way if you think there is more than one size tangential radius between two lines then you should be absolutely ashamed of yourself.
It’s all done with a simple CT don’t you just love it this is soo damned exciting.
Type 4 Angle Siemens 840D
This one is amazing you just program a radius and the angle.
Type 5 Using I and J Siemens 840D
Proceed At Your Own Risk
As much as I don’t like to swear in my articles I’ve got to say I fuckin hate I and J as a way of circular interpolation.
There I’ve said it.
It’s pointless, it’s outdated and it’s utter bullshit.
The only time I would ever use I J and K would be to machine a full circle. Other than that I would rather extract my own wisdom teeth with a hammer and chisel.
There it is. The I and J are an incremental distance to the centre of the circle from where you are. Oh and because Siemens is so versatile you can even program I and J as absolute values from your datum.
If you find the above statement confusing then good. It serves you right for using a completely useless outdated way of programming a simple corner rad.
So now you know what I mean. Joking aside, these methods are all tools in your programming toolbox. One day you’ll see a use for one of them and you’ll think “I remember that grumpy old bastard wrote an article on that”.
Then I hope you’ll return to this article.
Thanks for watching and reading
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