Pinch turning

The Pinch Turning Plug-in has a dialog that will provide all the necessary data to create custom pinch turning operations. Pinch Turning assists in the rough turnings of a part on a twin turret lathe by using two tools simultaneously. Both tools begin with each stroke together with a user determined lag distance between turrets. The ID or OD cut may finish sooner depending on the length of cuts and feedrates. Pinch Turning can reduce cycle times and can provide support for a long part away from the chuck. This Plug-in is only for ops where each cut depth is a single cut. Additionally, the shape can not decrease in X (it must be monotonically increasing in X). That is to say, the shape cannot have grooves of any size.

Op Number (Upper Turret)

The number of operations on the Upper Turret.For informational purpose only.

Op Number (Lower Turret)

The number of operations on the Lower Turret.For informational purpose only.

Tool Number (Upper Turret)

The tool list tile number on the Upper Turret.For informational purpose only.

Tool Number (Lower Turret)

The tool list tile number on the Lower Turret. For informational purpose only.

Lag Between Turrets

The Plug-in needs to know how much the lower turret will lag behind the upper turret. This is given in unit measures of Distance. Note: If the lag distance is given as zero, this will result in a 1/2 revolution lag, since the lower turret is cutting 180 degrees around the bar from the upper turret.