We are building a modified CNC machine that will drip a stream of paint instead of turning a spindle. The way the machine is built the table moves and the paint heads are stationary. The paint heads will be laid out in several rows together and there will be 50 of them. (See attached picture for an illustration)

My Question: When we switch from one paint head to the next, how would you recommend doing this "tool change" in the G-code?

A normal tool change would account for a Z axis tool offset. In this case all of our paint heads are the same Z position (stationary), but the X and Y positions are different for each. Should I handle this as a tool change? Or write a custom macro? Or should I just write Gcode to move at relative coordinates to the new tool position?

Would love to hear from some voices of experience before starting down one of these roads!

You could assign each head an offset number using G59P1 thru G59P50 (number the heads accordingly for ease of recognition).
Enter the offset info for each and just include the G59P* in the code as necessary.
Probably a better way coming soon.

Regards,
Russ

 

Russ, thank you so much. That looks amazing! I didn't realize that I could use G59 to do that many offsets.

I can't wait to get this tested out. Many, many thanks!

-Sam

(Like your quotes, by the way!)