Machsupport Forum

Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: mjb on January 28, 2012, 02:32:15 PM

Title: New to Mach3, would like someone to point me in the right direction
Post by: mjb on January 28, 2012, 02:32:15 PM

A friend has asked me to help him with extending Mach3 and I told him I'd give it a shot. I'm a professional programmer but I know very little about Mach3 other than what I've learned poking around. The first thing he would like me to do is write something that will allow him to select a set of G-code programs to load and run one after the other (or to run the same program x times), rather than having to load and run each one manually after the previous one finishes. Based on my research this seems doable, but I'd like some advice on how people would approach this - some VBScript attached to a button? A wizard? A plug-in? An external program using COM Automation?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

Title: Re: New to Mach3, would like someone to point me in the right direction
Post by: BR549 on January 28, 2012, 05:59:57 PM

HOW about a simple Gcode SUB routine. Call it as many times as needed OR as many different subs as needed. Runs in Gcode and very easy to do.

Just a thought, (;-)TP

Title: Re: New to Mach3, would like someone to point me in the right direction
Post by: mjb on January 28, 2012, 07:02:19 PM

Ah, time to learn GCode I guess. So are you saying to create a wizard which allows him to choose the programs to run, which then generates a program that calls the chosen programs?

Title: Re: New to Mach3, would like someone to point me in the right direction
Post by: Picengraver on January 28, 2012, 07:44:33 PM

Well, you could look at the Nesting Wizard supplied with Mach3.  Might do what you need.  I use it.  Works great.

Regards,
John Champlain
www.picengrave.com

Title: Re: New to Mach3, would like someone to point me in the right direction
Post by: BR549 on January 28, 2012, 08:14:21 PM

With the sub approch it is ALL simple Gcode coding to call any or all the subs you want in any order you choose. YEs you could use a wizard to select the programs you want to run and assemble a stand alone Gcode program based on the SUB routine.

M98 FirstSUB.tap L1            Calls the program Firstsub.tap and runs it 1 time

M98 SecSUB.tap L3             Calls the program secSUB.tap and runs it 3 times

(;-) TP