Can someone give me a hand with Intercon Lathe Chamfers?
Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2023 8:47 pm
by slodat
I've spent hours trying to figure out the intercon lathe chamfer function. I've read the manual. I just don't get how it works.
Can someone please explain or give me a hand with this? I'm sure it's easy once I understand it. I'm wanting to break the edge at Z-.9 in the attached intercon file.
Thank you in advance!
Re: Can someone give me a hand with Intercon Lathe Chamfers?
Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2023 12:54 pm
by slodat
Hoping to get some guidance on how to program a chamfer with Intercon. I’m using intercon for this operation and I do not understand the chamfer screen. I’ve read the manual. It doesn’t have much to say, nor does the help screen. I was told it’s not really a conversational screen which confuses me more. My hope is to not have to use CAD/CAM. I’m currently using a file after the cycle is complete.
Re: Can someone give me a hand with Intercon Lathe Chamfers?
Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2023 1:03 pm
by tblough
The Intercon chamfer cycle is fairly limited. It only does 45° chamfers. The starting point is like any other Intercon cycle; the current position. In the Chamfer cycle, you can either choose the angle and length, or the end point. Whichever you choose, the other will be calculated for you. I find it just as easy to program using a line move. It has all the same options and works exactly the same way without forcing you into 45° angles.
The only benefit I can think of for the chamfer and radius features is that the description in the "feature tree" might declare the intent more clearly than line and arc.
In answer to your other thread, Chamfer and Radius do not include any roughing. If you want roughing automatically calculated you will need to use the Profile cycle and create the chamfer/radius with line/arc moves.
Re: Can someone give me a hand with Intercon Lathe Chamfers?
Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2023 1:07 pm
by slodat
I appreciate the response. The lack of documentation for intercon limits its usability for those of us that haven’t used it for years on end. I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve spent tens of hours trying to reverse engineer how it works. I’ll see if I can get it solved with paid support, or I’ll switch to CAD/CAM. I have done this on other conversational controls and it’s dirt simple.
Re: Can someone give me a hand with Intercon Lathe Chamfers?
Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2023 1:11 pm
by cnckeith
most program chamfer as a profile.
dana posted his method here on the forum a long time ago, i'll see if i can find it.
Re: Can someone give me a hand with Intercon Lathe Chamfers?
dana's user name is cnc_smith so you can search on his posts for other topics etc.
Re: Can someone give me a hand with Intercon Lathe Chamfers?
Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2023 1:16 pm
by cncsnw
tblough wrote:The starting point is like any other Intercon cycle; the current position.
Part of the problem is that it looks like a "cycle", but is actually just a single move.
Most Intercon operations that I would call "cycles" -- things like turning, facing, threading, grooving, cutoff, and profile -- do include any necessary moves to get the tool to its starting point.
Intercon's simple moves -- rapid, line, and arc -- begin wherever the previous operation left off.
The short and simple answer is this:
Do not bother trying to use "Chamfer" and "Radius" operations in your Intercon program.
They do not do anything you cannot do, in a more straightforward manner, with Line and Arc moves.
The Chamfer and Radius operations were really just intended as one-shots, to be mapped to Aux keys for semi-manual turning operations. They were never intended to be put in programs.
Re: Can someone give me a hand with Intercon Lathe Chamfers?
Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2023 1:23 pm
by slodat
Surely I’m not the only person running into all this tribal knowledge costing them a lot of time and frustration. While I appreciate the conversation, the profile screen leaves me lost in how to accomplish a chamfer. There’s a lot being assumed and not being enumerated in the documentation. Is there a resource that explains the profile screen to a new to intercon user? I don’t see how I would know it’s not intended to be use a certain way..
Also, is this something paid support will help with?
Re: Can someone give me a hand with Intercon Lathe Chamfers?
Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2023 9:20 am
by cnckeith
The Intercon lathe manual covers how to use the profile cycle.
i also give some intro advice in the intercon lathe primer video. the provided pawn program uses a profile cycle, open that program and see how it works.
Re: Can someone give me a hand with Intercon Lathe Chamfers?
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 8:40 am
by midy
slodat wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2023 1:23 pm
Surely I’m not the only person running into all this tribal knowledge costing them a lot of time and frustration. While I appreciate the conversation, the profile screen leaves me lost in how to accomplish a chamfer. There’s a lot being assumed and not being enumerated in the documentation. Is there a resource that explains the profile screen to a new to intercon user? I don’t see how I would know it’s not intended to be use a certain way..
Also, is this something paid support will help with?
[Your not the only one, I too have spent hours of my life trying to figure out Intercon! I DO KNOW that there is good conversational in there but it is VERY difficult to learn. Like slodat I've spent hours pondering the chamfer and radius screens, finally figured out the chamfer screen but the radius still eludes me. I don't find the manual very useful (sometimes it's incorrect) So literally learning by making mistakes. I'm miles away from being able to program a complete part in intercon so just revert back to fusion360 most of the time.
Slodat, the key to the chamfer is the current position. The chamfer will start from where the tip of the tool is, so I choose 0-135 which comes out from the job and towards the chuck, so placing the tool tip nearly touching the face of the job and say 2mm in from the outside diameter, then input 2mm in the chamfer length box. This seems to work for me, though not saying it's how its supposed to be done. The distance it does this depends on what you input into either the chamfer length (distance) or chose the end point. ]