Hi hood

great minds think alike

Graham.

Or in MY case it should be
Fools seldom differ

Hood

Is there any way we can call another G-code file from within a program by using M98?  I have tried  a bunch of ways but with no success.  I have a few applications where the benefits of batching files would be huge.

In other systems you can simply call a file by entering M98 "C:/My Documents....".  That would be very useful IMHO.

This is what the Mach3 documentation says about sub programs :-

Graham.

Kree8tiv,

  The file reference you are looking for has only been available in my experience on controls that have quite respectable look-ahead capabilities, wherein they can look ahead up to 100's and sometimes 1000's of lines. In order for a control to look ahead at a subroutine is one thing, but to look ahead at another seperate file and read its contents is another step. I haven't ran across that info regarding Mach3, but I'm thinking that it's not in that realm.

  One of the tech's from DMG explained to me at one time that the lookahead line count is "consumed" by the main program first, which when using embedded sub-routines these are supposedly counted in the main program count, when using sub-routine files that are loaded into the same directory (for instance in main buffer on a Fanuc machine) these lines are looked at ahead after the complete main program, and then those remote files also secondarily. Not ever tested by me, but this is what I was told by a person I know to be a consumate pro.

  I've only seen that type of super-functionality on Heidenhain controls and Okuma machines, which are pretty darned pricey. I'd say that asking Art to add this sort of processing control may be more than we really want - as the more power the more $.

My 2cents.

Rgds,
John