PowerMILL Robot | Fanuc

Revision No: 2.0

PowerMILL Robot
- Fanuc Robot Setup -
This document describes the default parameters of a 6 axis Fanuc robot and lists the information
needed to run it.
Warning: All of these points need to be checked carefully as the robot may be set up in a different
way by the robot integrator.

1. Axes names and directions

J4
+
J3

+ + +
- J6
-
-
J5 -

J2
-
- +

+
J1

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Revision No: 2.0

2. Fanuc robot “world workplane” position

The Fanuc robot world workplane is positioned at the intersection of axis one (J1) and axis two (J2).

3. Fanuc robot “Zero position”

When all axes are at their 0° position, the robot looks like the pictures below.

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4. Fanuc Robot “6th axis workplane orientation”

The 6th axis default orientation is like the pictures below.

X

Y
X

Z
Y

5. “Tool workplane” definition

A tool workplane is called “Tool Frame”. Fanuc uses “XYZ static” Euler angle convention to define the
tool workplane orientation, from the 6th axis workplane. “Static” means that the rotations are always
done around the original workplane.

These rotations around X, Y and Z give W, P, R rotations in Fanuc’s naming convention.

This tool workplane is defined by moving and then rotating:

- First, move along X, Y and Z axes (from the 6th axis workplane).
- Then rotate X (W), then Y (P), and Z (R) around the original 6th axis workplane, to get the
desired orientation.

The next example describes a Fanuc Tool Frame (User Tool number 1), the definition of which is:

UT1= X-229.62, Y0, Z100, W180, P-90, R0

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5.1 Move…

Move along each axis of the 6th axis robot workplane.

X = - 229.62 mm
Y = 0 mm
Z = + 100 mm

229.62mm

100mm
5.2 …Then Rotate

Rotate around X axis of 180°, then around the original Y axis of -90° to get the result below.

W (Rx) = 180°
P (Ry) = - 90°
R (Rz) = 0°

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6. “Part workplane” definition

A part origin workplane is called “User Frame”. Fanuc uses “XYZ static” Euler angle convention to
define the part origin workplane orientation, from the robot world workplane.

The method of defining a part origin workplane is similar to that when defining a tool workplane.
However, the reference of the coordinates is the robot world workplane instead the robot 6th axis
workplane.

Z
X
Y

7. Part on the robot, spindle on the table.

In case of a Fanuc robot having a part on the robot and the spindle on the table, the “User Tool” and
“User Frame” are reversed.

The User Frame is always the static workplane, the Tool Frame the dynamic one.

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8. Miscellaneous

In Fanuc language (LS files), the robot default speed unit is millimeter per second: mm/s

9:L P[2] 17mm/sec CNT50 ; means robot TCP speed = 17 mm/s (≈1000 mm/min)

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