Messages

111

General Mach Discussion / Re: touch probe file converting to g gode??

« on: December 01, 2009, 01:34:23 AM »

See if this works..
al

112

General Mach Discussion / Re: M98 subroutine L-word doesn't call subroutine correct number of times

« on: November 25, 2009, 04:46:47 PM »

This will all become somewhat moot shortly, when Mach3 V4 comes out - It will use a completely new and different G-code parser, and will accept *only* () for comments.

Regards,
Ray L.

Hi Ray,
True, but until Rev 4 is released, we must live with what we have now and need to understand its idiosyncrasies.
Al

113

General Mach Discussion / Re: M98 subroutine L-word doesn't call subroutine correct number of times

« on: November 25, 2009, 12:32:49 PM »

Hi,Chip

For some reason it seems to depend on whether there is a space between the comment designator and the O30.

Here’s what I get, (referencing your sample code):

CO30 CUTS
C O30 NO CUT

%O30 CUTS
% O30 NO CUT

;O30 CUTS
; O30 NO CUT

And even:

NO30 CUTS
N O30 NO CUT

But there are exceptions as:

//O30 NO CUT
// O30 NO CUT

\\O30 NO CUT
\\ O30 NO CUT

I would think that leading zeros are OK and should be allowed as in the O0030.
For what it’s worth.
Al

114

General Mach Discussion / Re: adding stop to all z movement

« on: November 16, 2009, 06:54:58 AM »

"Adding a stop to all Z movement" sounds good Al. 

Tweakie.

Ha Ha, yeah I should have said "Another good use". I doubt if anyone other than Krymis will ever use it for that. But, who knows, I might need to find and flag a particular piece of code sometime myself.
And like I said it was a fun piece and I needed to refresh my (failing) memory of VB6.
al

115

General Mach Discussion / Re: adding stop to all z movement

« on: November 16, 2009, 04:45:46 AM »

Guys, thanks for the feedback. It was a fun little project. Now I just wish I could think of a good use for it  .
Al

116

General Mach Discussion / Re: adding stop to all z movement

« on: November 13, 2009, 06:31:39 PM »

Here is a little program that will add an M01 (or whatever you like) just before each Z.
HTH Al
PS  Note iit isn't quite finished but will do what you asked.


OK it's now finished.
al

117

General Mach Discussion / Re: entering info in gcode

« on: November 12, 2009, 05:57:00 AM »

Dont you have to be careful where you put the parenthesis? Like it has to be alone or it is a subprogram? Mine throws an error if already inside a set of parenthesis.

Yes mach doesn’t allow nested parenthesis in a comment, why I don’t know.
But you can use parentheses inside a comment if you start the comment with a semicolon such as:
N10 ;A macro containing xx(xx) is required for this file
Will work just fine.
Al

118

General Mach Discussion / Re: Axis Drive Design Helper Spreadsheet

« on: October 29, 2009, 12:19:53 AM »

Ray, a couple questions, I'm not very familiar with excel, is it possible to make the "white" cells read only?

Steiner, unlock the green cells and then protect the sheet as follows:

Select a green cell(s), right click, select Format Cells.. > Protection and remove the check from the “Locked” box.
Repeat for all green cells.

Go to Tools > Protection > Protect Sheet..
Check the “Protect worksheet and contents of locked cells”.
It’s OK to leave the password entry blank.
In the bottom window uncheck everything except “Select unlocked cells”.

Now excel will only let you select the green cells.

Al

119

General Mach Discussion / Re: Where did I go wrong?

« on: October 24, 2009, 02:41:09 AM »

Sorry for the slow response.
Suggest you review/study Ray L’s original example that you are using as a guide. It is very well documented so I will only try to elaborate on your changes.
Just put the #100 = 0.000 at the very beginning. Remember #100 is the name of a variable which contains a number and it can be used in your code the same as a number. But as a variable, that number can be changed. For example #100 = [#100 – 0.010] means ‘Let the new value of #100 be equal to it’s current value minus 0.010’. Thus you can see why it must have a current (starting) value and must be initialized before it can have a valid meaning and be used as a number.
You are correct to add a G0 Z1 in the sub to raise the tool to the safe height because you are returning to the start position directly (not retracing the cut path). The only problem is that the G0 Z1 is at the front of the loop so at the end of the last loop the depth is still at the final cut depth, (G1 Z#100 F16). The flow then returns to the line following the M98 P0001 L41 line which called the sub. This line (G1 X9 Y-3 F16) moves the tool directly back to the starting position at full depth which is what you were trying to avoid. So either move or add the G0 Z1 to the end of the loop (just before the M99) or insert it between the M98 line and the G1 X9 Y-3 F16 line.  Or better yet, put it in all three places, doesn’t hurt anything and is probably the safest.
Hope this helps
Al

120

General Mach Discussion / Re: Where did I go wrong?

« on: October 22, 2009, 01:15:09 AM »

I see a couple of things.
One you need to specify an initial value for the variable #100 before calling the sub for example:
 #100 = 0.000
Or else it MAY default to zero or it MAY use a random value leftover from a previous run.

Another is in your second example, the first line of the sub (G0 Z1) will lift the Z  btween loops but it will go crosscountry at the current Z#100 depth after the last loop. You need to put another 'G0 Z1' either at the end of the sub (just before line M99) or in the next line after the M98 calling block.
al