How would I make this happen:

On the machine there are two spindles one with a endmill and another one with a drill, the drill has it's own Z travel by this I mean, the drill moves up and down with the endmill spindle but it also has a air cylinder the moves it up enough so when the endmill is down the drill is above the material.  How would I make a post file to first drill a hole and then have the endmill start from that location?  How do I get Mach to actives the air cylinder to drop the drill and use the Z axis to make the hole then lift the drill then put the endmill in the hole with the same Z axis and cut away?

Thanks

Dennis

Hey Dennis,

     I would make a custom Macro code to do it, if it is a lot of identical repetitive holes. I would make a "Wizard" for it. I would put this code in the place you want The Drill to start.

i.e. M300

After your drill G83 or what ever is done in the code, and the Z retracts up to your rapid plane, I would place my macro to follow it.
If using a "Wizard" above, you could auto insert the M300 after any drill cycle type.

'Drill-Counter bore macro M300

' ActivateSignal(OUTPUTx)   '(use some output to flip the air logic to move the drill up, and mill down or whatever)
Code "G91 G 00 X -6.0"       ' lets say the the Mill head is 6 inches to the left of the drill head OR, use G55 for fixture offset, or G10
' ActivateSignal(OUTPUTy)   '(or use here if at this point you need to flip up or down one or the other heads)
'IsSignal(INPUTx)                '(optional you could use some inputs for error checking to make sure the flip occured, perhaps a If-then
                                         'statement that sends a message.

Scott