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General Mach Discussion / Selecting number of "instances" of a program (hard to describe in a subject)!
« on: June 30, 2012, 09:22:24 AM »
Hi all, first post on the site. I've been using Mach 3 for a bit over a year now and have basically been learning G-code as I need it and don't really know what to search on for this topic.
I've got a part I'm making using a vacuum fixture to hold down and it uses 4 tools total. I'm starting to get orders and re-orders for multiples and what I'd like to do is make a vacuum fixture with three or four vacuum hold down locations and use offsets to machine each part with the tool that's loaded. i.e., I'd like it to do the 1/4" square operation on all the boards, then the 1/2" round operation on all the boards etc. in order to save time on tool changes. I'd also like to set up the program so that it's written for four copies but I can select how many copies I actually want make at run time. I'm using VisualMill for my CAM and when using multiple offsets, what it does is e.g. output G59P1, then the stream of G-code, then G59P2 and the same stream of G-code etc. for as many instances as you select.
Is there some relatively simple way I could modify the G-code so I could enter a variable at the start of the G-code (say a number between 1 and 4) and use some sort of loop to actually cut the parts?
The brute force method would be to simply output 4 files each time I post code but that seems rather inelegant to me. The other thought I just had would be to output a file for each tool operation and wrap it in a loop. This adds loading the code at each tool change though. Any ideas on how to start searching for a solution?
I've got a part I'm making using a vacuum fixture to hold down and it uses 4 tools total. I'm starting to get orders and re-orders for multiples and what I'd like to do is make a vacuum fixture with three or four vacuum hold down locations and use offsets to machine each part with the tool that's loaded. i.e., I'd like it to do the 1/4" square operation on all the boards, then the 1/2" round operation on all the boards etc. in order to save time on tool changes. I'd also like to set up the program so that it's written for four copies but I can select how many copies I actually want make at run time. I'm using VisualMill for my CAM and when using multiple offsets, what it does is e.g. output G59P1, then the stream of G-code, then G59P2 and the same stream of G-code etc. for as many instances as you select.
Is there some relatively simple way I could modify the G-code so I could enter a variable at the start of the G-code (say a number between 1 and 4) and use some sort of loop to actually cut the parts?
The brute force method would be to simply output 4 files each time I post code but that seems rather inelegant to me. The other thought I just had would be to output a file for each tool operation and wrap it in a loop. This adds loading the code at each tool change though. Any ideas on how to start searching for a solution?