Use the Part Handling Movement dialog to program steady rests and tailstocks.
To display the Part Handling Movement dialog, ensure the Machine Design tab > Options panel > Settings > Enable Turn/Mill UI option is selected, and select Machine Design tab > Motion panel > Specify Part Handling Movement.
solid — Select the solid for which you want to specify movement.
Use this section to mark a solid as a jaw.
A jaw can be a jaw of a chuck (on a lathe spindle) or a jaw of a steady rest. The jaw on a chuck translates to open and close, the outer jaws of a steady rest rotate.
For a translating jaw, select Moves in LCS X or Moves in LCS Y to specify in which axis of the jaw's Local Coordinate System the jaws translate.
A translating jaw with Moves in LCS X selected opens in a positive X and closes in a negative X of its Local Coordinate System. Marking a solid as a translating jaw of the chuck in the .md file means that you do not have to write BASIC code in the .md file to close it. If you mark it as a translating jaw, you should not move it around with the BASIC callback hooks. If you want to move it around in a custom method, leave it unmarked.
A rotating jaw with Rotates +C selected closes by rotating in a positive direction around the Z-axis of its LCS, and opens by rotating in the opposite direction. A rotating jaw with Rotates -C selected closes by rotating in a negative direction around the Z of its LCS.
Use this section to mark a solid as a steady rest.
Select Moves in LCS Z for the parent steady rest solid (the solid that connects the steady rest to the machine) to make it slide along a track in Z in response to a Part Support On or Off feature. The jaws of a steady rest should be children of the steady rest solid.
Select Moves in LCS X or Moves in LCS Y if you have an off-center steady rest that needs to move in X or Y to be in line with the part.
Steady rests are simulated with pressure sensitive jaws that close in small increments until they touch another solid or themselves. Ensure you design your steady rest jaws and housing so they do not touch when the jaws are moving.
Model the steady rest in the open position. A Part Support On feature causes the jaws to open (the first open move does nothing), positions the LCS of the steady rest to the appropriate grab distance, and then closes the steady rest until the jaws touch the stock.The next Part Support On feature is used to reposition the steady rest, which opens the jaws to the position they were modeled in, positions the steady rest, and closes the jaws. For example, if the first Part Support On feature causes the jaws to close by 37 degrees, the next Part Support On feature causes them to open by 37 degrees.
Select Moves as Turn Subspindle to specify this solid as the subspindle.
Select Moves as Turn Tailstock for the parent solid to specify it as a tailstock. A tailstock solid and its children move in Z in response to a Part Support On or Off feature, from its LCS origin to the grab distance in the Setup coordinate system.
There are two types of tailstock, dead-center and live-center. In a live-center tailstock the tailstock piece rotates as it supports the stock. In a dead-center tailstock the tailstock piece does not rotate. A live-center tailstock piece is made from softer material so it can be remachined, a dead-center tailstock piece is made from harder material. A tailstock piece typically has a 60 degree nose. Live-center tools are not necessarily held by a turret, some tailstocks have a spindle that can rotate the tool (the tailstock piece).
Some tailstocks have a hydraulic pressure-sensing cylinder that also moves in Z. The tailstock in process is then a two-step process, you position the large tailstock housing to some position out in front of the stock, and then the hydraulic cylinder/cone comes out (in Z) until it hits the stock.
For a dead-center tail stock, you can have the LCS of the tailstock be at the tip of the cone, and move the tip of the tailstock to Z=0 by using a Part Support On feature with a grab distance of 0.
Alternatively, you can move the large tailstock housing out in front of the stock by using a Part Support On feature with a negative grab distance. Then, you can implement a BASIC callback hook to move in the hydraulic pressure sensing cylinder in the callback hook: MachineSim_PartHandle. The MachineSim_PartHandle callback hook is called whenever a steady rest or a tailstock is opened or closed, and is called twice for positioning moves: once before the move, and once after the move. To implement the move in the hydraulic pressure sensing cylinder, you would implement MachineSim_PartHandle and test if Action is eSimAction_TS_PostPosition (that stands for tailstock, post (after) positioning). You can move the hydraulic pressure sensing cylinder in small Z increments until it collides with the stock if the tailstock is moving in, or move the cylinder back if the tailstock is moving out.