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Author Topic: MachTurn tool table  (Read 8316 times)

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Offline N4NV

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MachTurn tool table
« on: February 14, 2009, 10:47:37 PM »
Where is the data for the tool table located?  I have spent about 6 hours in the last week re-doing the tool offsets for my 8 position tool turret.  For some reason as I change from the G-code screen to the mdi screen, Mach scrambles my tool table (version 3.0042.008 the only version that seems to work, the lock down version will not run my VB scripts).  I need to copy the file as soon as I finish setting up my table which takes me about an hour for the 8 tools.

Vince

Offline Hood

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Re: MachTurn tool table
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2009, 03:38:44 AM »
It is in the macro folder for the profile you are using, will be called Tool3.dat
Are you using Front and Rear in the tool table? if so then that will screw things up big time, either make all tools front or all rear. Hopefully Brian will get this sorted when he moves his attention to Turn.
Hood

Offline N4NV

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Re: MachTurn tool table
« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2009, 10:03:03 AM »
Front tools only.  Now that I am using MachTurn more and finding all kinds of problems, I surprised you guys had not screamed more.

A related questions:  If I am in the middle of a part and hit feed hold, then measure the part, can I update the tool table to adjust for part dimensions, exit the tool table, and go back hit cycle start and have the new tool setting take effect?

Thanks

Vince
Re: MachTurn tool table
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2009, 10:59:16 AM »
Front tools only.  Now that I am using MachTurn more and finding all kinds of problems, I surprised you guys had not screamed more.

A related questions:  If I am in the middle of a part and hit feed hold, then measure the part, can I update the tool table to adjust for part dimensions, exit the tool table, and go back hit cycle start and have the new tool setting take effect?

Thanks

Vince

Having just messed with toolchange macros, I'd be willing to bet you'd HAVE to issue an M6 before any changes would take place.  But you can do that through MDI.

Regards,
Ray L.
Regards,
Ray L.

Offline N4NV

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Re: MachTurn tool table
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2009, 01:29:46 PM »

Having just messed with toolchange macros, I'd be willing to bet you'd HAVE to issue an M6 before any changes would take place.  But you can do that through MDI.

Regards,
Ray L.

I'll have to play with it.  My M6 macro sends the carriage to the tool change position.  I'm curious what would happen when I then hit cycle start.

Vince
Re: MachTurn tool table
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2009, 02:03:52 PM »

Having just messed with toolchange macros, I'd be willing to bet you'd HAVE to issue an M6 before any changes would take place.  But you can do that through MDI.

Regards,
Ray L.

I'll have to play with it.  My M6 macro sends the carriage to the tool change position.  I'm curious what would happen when I then hit cycle start.

Vince

Vince,

I can see how you could probably Mickey Mouse it - Modify your M6 macros to distinguish between tools in different number ranges.  So, for example, your normal tools are numbered 0-99.  If you see a tool number from 100-199, then you subtract 100 from the tool number, and set a flag reminding you to skip the move.

The M6Start macro does something like this:

tool = GetSelectedTool()
SetUSerDRO(*********, 1)  REM This tells you to do the move
if (tool > 99) then
   tool = tool - 100
   SetUSerDRO(*********, 0)  REM This tells you to skip the move
end if
SetCurrentTool( tool )

The M6End macro does something like this:

Flag = GetUserDRO(*********)
if (Flag == 1) then
   Do the move to toolchange position here, only if a "normal" toolchange
end if

When you change tools mid-stream, issue an MDI toolchange, but give a tool number of the actual number plus 100.  It's Mickey Mouse, but I think it would work.  I expect there's a "cleaner" way to do it, but I don't know enough about how toolchanges work to know what that might be.

Regards,
Ray L.
Regards,
Ray L.
Re: MachTurn tool table
« Reply #6 on: February 15, 2009, 02:05:55 PM »
Interesting - the forum censored my post!  I had three Xs for the DRO number in the sample code, and it got censored to "*********"!  Good thing I didn't post this months Playboy centerfold!  :-)

Regards,
RayL.
Regards,
Ray L.

Offline Hood

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Re: MachTurn tool table
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2009, 02:54:54 PM »
Ray, dont think you could call a tool above 99, turns tools are called in the format TXXYY where XX is the tool number and YY is the offset.
Hood
Re: MachTurn tool table
« Reply #8 on: February 15, 2009, 02:59:14 PM »
Ray, dont think you could call a tool above 99, turns tools are called in the format TXXYY where XX is the tool number and YY is the offset.
Hood

Hood,

Well, you could still do the same thing, just using 0-49, and 50-99.  I doubt most people have more than 50 tools....

Regards,
Ray L.
Regards,
Ray L.

Offline Hood

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Re: MachTurn tool table
« Reply #9 on: February 15, 2009, 04:30:30 PM »
You probably dont even need that Ray.
 The numbers in the Lathes tool table are not the tool numbers but rather the offset numbers, this stands to reason as on a lathe you usually have a turret or a toolpost that can only hold a finite amount of tools. For example my Turret holds six and my Toolpost holds 4. The rotation of a turret or toolpost would get rather confusing if you started using tool numbers more than the positions available. If you were to do that then you would need your macro to have all the possibilities, however as I have only got 10 total tool positions I only need 10 calls to rotate the turret/toolpost to the correct position. This however doesnt mean you are restricted to 10 tools as you can call any offset for that tool position :0
 On my lathe I have designated slots for tools, so say for example I had 99 tools, Tool 1 would be called asT01 and the offset for that could be 01, that means for my 10 tool positions I have the following.
T0101, T0202, T0303, T0404, T0505, T0606, T0707, T0808, T0909 and T1010

So now I replace the tools in all slots, I have already got them all set so all I do is
T0111, T0212, T0313, T0414, T0515, T0616, T0717, T0818, T0919 and T1020

replace again and its
T0121, T0222, T0323, T0424, T0525, T0626, T0727, T0828, T0929 and T1030

etc etc etc

So as you can see I could call Tool 11 as your special tool :)

Hood