Reference system on milling machines, 1 f undamentals – HEIDENHAIN iTNC 530 (60642x-03) ISO programming User Manual
Page 95

HEIDENHAIN iTNC 530
95
3.1 F
undamentals
Reference system on milling machines
When using a milling machine, you orient tool movements to the 
Cartesian coordinate system. The illustration at right shows how the 
Cartesian coordinate system describes the machine axes. The figure 
illustrates the right-hand rule for remembering the three axis 
directions: the middle finger points in the positive direction of the tool 
axis from the workpiece toward the tool (the Z axis), the thumb points 
in the positive X direction, and the index finger in the positive Y 
direction.
The iTNC 530 can control up to 18 axes. The axes U, V and W are 
secondary linear axes parallel to the main axes X, Y and Z, respectively. 
Rotary axes are designated as A, B and C. The illustration at lower right 
shows the assignment of secondary axes and rotary axes to the main 
axes.
In addition, the machine tool builder can define any number of auxiliary 
axes identified by lowercase letters
+X
+Y
+Z
+X
+Z
+Y
W+
C+
B+
V+
A+
U+
Y
X
Z
