TP

I only have a small tabletop mill, (no plasma) but I read and study your posts for the informative content.  An observation or two re. your Tube Coping program and a question if you don’t mind?

On the first run it went into an endless loop on loading. Fix, check ‘Ignore M calls while loading’ in Gen Config. Not   sure exactly why but it was relataed to the Regen Toolpath, OEMButton 160 statement.

Next the A-axes Radius DRO didn’t update. Fix, add ‘SetOEMDRO(825, GetVar(100)/2)’ to Macro M1222. I probably just missed an update to your code postings.

Lastly, how do you get the program to pause after the macro call? It seems it has to do again with the Regen Toolpath statement. This would be a nice feature if I understood how it worked?

Thanks for posting your code,
I'm still trying to learn,
al

Thanks TP. I see a few bugs in my “saddle” program. I’ll get back.  Tony

"The TAP files have a funny set of hidden charectors at the start of the file, I can't delelte them so mach errors out on load."
The text files I had to enclose the comment then mach loaded ok.
I may have edited them in Word instead of Note Pad

"When you add comments you need to enclose them like  ( branch pipe 3.00 )"
Thanks, I forgot about that. I think % also works

The 37deg saddle looks GOOD

"the 90deg does not complete the shape it runs as a single arced line"
It looks like it runs on a single arc and then back on itself. Watch the A and Y DROs. They seem to be doing the job right.

Can you do a 4" main and 2" branch at 45 deg an O offset. That way I can calculate the sizes to make sure it cuts to size.

TP, I think I got the bugs out. These files have a 0 well thickness to make it easier for you to check the math. I appreciate you help.
Thanks, Tony

Don't bother, I still have math problems.

Oops! not really.

Tony they look ok from here(;-)  One thought though, can you start the cut from the other end of the saddle on the branch cut? That way it is easier to set up on the edge of the tube AND when you cut at the finish the scrap will fall straight down.

WES It looks good from here (;-)  Are you having trouble veiwing it it the toolpath??

Geez TP, easy on me. My brain is still somkin. I guess the easiest way to do that would be to zero at the end and have the first Y move come back (the max Y travel)+ kerf. I'll work on it.

Thanks again. Istill have a lot of tunin up to do.

Tony

Tony not a biggy on the start point just an observation from cutting (;-)  You may want to make an option for a left hand or righthand setup code wise. With Some machines the A mounts forward some mount aft.

Just a thought, (;-) TP

Another good point TP, thanks. I believe I've set the code up for rotary axis direction as follows:

Looking at the "drop" end of the tube, the end that you aren't going to use, a positive rotation is clockwise, negative is counterclockwise. So in Mach you'd have to set up your rotary axis rotation accordingly.

Hmm,,, I'll have to check my saddle code though. I'm still trying to get rid of that "bad character" in my output files. It's a hidden character that Windows programs use to identify which type of text file it is---- Plain text, Rich text, HTML etc. NotePad and others see and understand what that character means and loads without displaying it. Today I've got to put my head in Visual Basic 2008 to see what I can do about it.

Tony