NX Tilting tab contents grayed out in Tilt Tool Axis dialog

When trying to apply Tilt Tool Axis to a cavity mill operation, the dialog opens fine, but the contents of the Tilting tab is grayed out:

Solution

This behavior is due to the tool in use in the selected operation.  Flat end mills are only partially supported in Tilt Tool Axis, as per the documentation:


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Support for tools other than ball mills
NX checks for gouges, collisions, and motion outside of the swinging axis limits of the machine tool. If NX finds one of these conditions, it trims the tool path and retracts the tool.

Support for ball-end tools
For ball-end tools, you can do the following:

• Manually tilt the entire tool path to any 3+2 axis orientation by specifying spherical angles.
• Manually tilt the entire tool path towards or away from a point or 3D curve before NX performs the collision check and creates avoidance moves.
• Specify what NX should do when the initial tool position could cause a tool gouge, or a collision with the shank or holder. You can automatically do the following:
  
  
  • Tilt the tool to a safe orientation.
  • Retract the tool and trim the paths.
• Limit motion to match the machine tool swinging axis limit.
• Avoid pole transition by defining a minimum angle for the swing/tilt axis.

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In an operation using a flat end mill, the dialog reflects the reduced functionality.  When applying Tilt Tool Axis to an operation using a ball mill, this dialog option becomes available and presents all the expected parameters:

Hardware/Software Configuration

Platform: na
OS: all
OS Version: n/a
Product: NX
Application: CAM
Version: V1915
Function: TOOL_PATH

Ref: 002-8520349