Messages

5981

General Mach Discussion / Re: how to view front,side,back on toolpath display with function key ?

« on: April 10, 2011, 10:10:30 PM »

I only know of the top veiw and panaramic view toggle then use the mouse to rotate in 3d.

(;-) TP

5982

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Macro for turret tool change on Z axis

« on: April 10, 2011, 10:06:49 PM »

Then you would have to do it manually. Rotate the tool changer to  tool 1  then tell mach what tool is the current tool.

Most tool changers use a tool table that lets mach know what tool is in what location in the tool changer. The tool changer then uses a tool slot number to identify the acutal tool.

These routines are programmed as a VB macro OR programed into a PLC.

(;-) TP

5983

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Macro for turret tool change on Z axis

« on: April 10, 2011, 04:16:01 PM »

Just a side note, anytime your machine faluts or crashes or whatever you need to rehome the toolchanger .that way mach knows for sure what the tool really is.  Most use an auto home routine that homes to a known tool AND reset the current tool as that tool#.

(;-) TP

5984

General Mach Discussion / Re: Return Called with no sub in effect...Looping

« on: April 10, 2011, 04:11:43 PM »

Can you post your gcode file?? That way we can test it for you.

(;-) TP

5985

VB and the development of wizards / Re: G68 Rotation point?

« on: April 09, 2011, 01:42:20 PM »

(;-)

"Warning, there be dragons here...."

Love it Dave I will make a poster for the shop.

One of the problems for the plasma crowd is you cannot HOME the Z in a rotated state . A lot of users use the G28.1 Z to find the top of material and set the Z work height.  Needless to say they can't use a G68 to rotate a part to fit a space.  I understand the need to not be able to home X/Y but Z cannot effect the G68 (;-)

Maybe Brian will correct some of this .

(;-) TP

5986

VB and the development of wizards / Re: G68 Rotation point?

« on: April 09, 2011, 01:05:32 PM »

Dave IF youare buiilding more probing routines I still have a bunch we developed years ago that might be usefull.   The probing arrays were the cats meow and simple to use.

(;-) TP

5987

VB and the development of wizards / Re: G68 Rotation point?

« on: April 09, 2011, 11:37:08 AM »

The reason Art disallowed the G31 in a rotated state was everyone at the time only used it for 3d probing a surface. And to 3d probing it is simply points in 3d space it had no relation to a known setpoint or point of origin.

In 2.5D and CMM probing a known setpoint is vital to the process. It took a while to convince Art to allow the A axis (rotary) to be probed with G31(;-)

I think a lot more people would be using it now IF it were a bit more stable. It can be a blessing to plasma and router work where it is NOT easy to rotate the full size sheet on the work table(;-).  BUT it is what it is.

As a reference in 35 yrears I have never had to probe a part in rotated space (;-) .  I have probed parts and then corrected rotation alignment in CAD. But that was just a convenence not a neccesity.

Just a thought, (;-) TP  

5988

General Mach Discussion / Re: plasma probing routine

« on: April 09, 2011, 11:23:16 AM »

I guess you have never hung the torch on a riser edge and ripped the torch head off on a rapid?

I have seen stable plate and plate that would warp like a pretzl.

The idea of the fast probe  from a high safety height is to speed up the process.

BUT if you don't have the warpage problem then you don't need the advice(;-)

Just a thought, (;-) TP

5989

General Mach Discussion / Re: Return Called with no sub in effect...Looping

« on: April 08, 2011, 05:04:32 PM »

M99 means end of sub return back to the line (M98 P#L#) it was called from and continue the main program.

IF it is not seeing the offsets then something is wrong with your code.

For succesive lower cuts use the sub loop function  M98 P100 L10   the L10 loops the sub 10 times.

(;-) TP

5990

VB and the development of wizards / Re: G68 Rotation point?

« on: April 08, 2011, 04:28:00 PM »

HIYA DAVE I looked back throught all the notes and did not see a solution for you sorry. Also checked the EMC2 code as well, no luck.

I can tell you from past experiences IF you are trying to incorporate the G68 into a macro you are in for a treat. The G68 does not play well in MACH a lot of things do not work when in G68 mode and from inside a macro you may not get ANY error codes from mach telling why it quits.

Best to test IF it is active and simply turn it off OR IF you insist (;-) just reset it to a known CR base coor on the fly.

Let me know if I can help test for you (;-) TP