G2, G3 (Arc at Linear Feed)

a circular or helical arc is specified using either g2 (clockwise arc) or g3 (counterclockwise arc) the axis of the circle or helix must be parallel to the x, y, or z axis of the machine coordinate system the axis (or, equivalently, the plane perpendicular to the axis) is selected with g17, g18, g19 (plane selection) docid\ uo pghd6gwtj4p9xj2nzp (z axis, xy plane), g17, g18, g19 (plane selection) docid\ uo pghd6gwtj4p9xj2nzp (y axis, xz plane), or g17, g18, g19 (plane selection) docid\ uo pghd6gwtj4p9xj2nzp (x axis, yz plane) if the arc is circular, it lies in a plane parallel to the selected plane if a line of rs274/ngc code makes an arc and includes rotational axis motion, the rotational axes turn at a constant rate so that the rotational motion starts and finishes when the xyz motion starts and finishes lines of this sort are hardly ever programmed if cutter radius compensation is active, the motion will differ from what is described here see appendix a two formats are allowed to specify an arc we will call these the center format and the radius format in both formats, the g2 or g3 is optional if it is the current motion mode radius format arc in the radius format, the coordinates of the endpoint of the arc in the selected plane are specified, along with the radius of the arc program g2 x y z a r (or use g3 instead of g2) where r is the radius the axis words are all optional except that at least one of the two words for the axes in the selected plane must be used the r number is the radius a positive radius indicates that the arc turns through 180 degrees or less, while a negative radius indicates a turn of 180 degrees to 359 999 degrees if the arc is helical, the value of the endpoint of the arc on the coordinate axis parallel to the axis of the helix is also specified it is not good practice to program radius format arcs that are nearly full circles or are semicircles (or nearly semicircles) because a small change in the location of the endpoint will produce a much larger change in the location of the center of the circle (and, hence, the middle of the arc) the magnification effect is large enough that rounding errors in a number can produce out of tolerance cuts nearly full circles are outrageously bad, semicircles (and nearly so) are only very bad other size arcs (in the range of tiny to 165 degrees or 195 to 345 degrees) are ok here is an example of a radius format command to mill an arc g17 g2 x10 y15 r20 z5 that means to make a clockwise (as viewed from the positive z axis) circular or helical arc whose axis is parallel to the z axis, ending where x=10, y=15, and z=5, with a radius of 20 if the starting value of z is 5, this is an arc of a circle parallel to the xy plane; otherwise, it is a helical arc center format arc in the center format, the coordinates of the endpoint of the arc in the selected plane are specified along with the offsets of the center of the arc from the current location in this format, it is ok if the end point of the arc is the same as the current point it is an error if when the arc is projected on the selected plane, the distance from the current point to the center differs from the distance from the endpoint to the center by more than 0 0002 inches (if inches are being used) or 0 002 millimeters (if millimeters are being used) when the xy plane is selected, program g2 x y z a i j (or use g3 instead of g2) the axis words are all optional except that at least one of x and y must be used i and j are the offsets from the current location (in the x and y directions, respectively) of the center of the circle i and j are optional except that at least one of the two must be used it is an error if i and j are both omitted when the xz plane is selected, program g2 x y z a i k (or use g3 instead of g2) the axis words are all optional except that at least one of x and z must be used i and k are the offsets from the current location (in the x and z directions, respectively) of the center of the circle i and k are optional except that at least one of the two must be used it is an error if i and k are both omitted when the yz plane is selected, program g2 x y z a b c j k (or use g3 instead of g2) the axis words are all optional except that at least one of y and z must be used j and k are the offsets from the current location (in the y and z directions, respectively) of the center of the circle j and k are optional except that at least one of the two must be used it is an error if j and k are both omitted here is an example of a center format command to mill an arc g17 g2 x10 y16 i3 j4 z9 that means to make a clockwise (as viewed from the positive z axis) circular or helical arc whose axis is parallel to the z axis, ending where x=10, y=16, and z=9, with its center offset in the x direction by 3 units from the current x location and offset in the y direction by 4 units from the current y location if the current location has x=7, y=7 at the outset, the center will be at x=10, y=11 if the starting value of z is 9, this is a circular arc; otherwise, it is a helical arc the radius of this arc would be 5 in the center format, the radius of the arc is not specified, but it may be found easily as the distance from the center of the circle to either the current point or the endpoint of the arc