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Author Topic: Beginner Questions: switching between Metric and Imperial  (Read 2544 times)

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Beginner Questions: switching between Metric and Imperial
« on: February 07, 2017, 05:29:48 PM »
My new Legacy Maverick came pre-installed with a specialized version of Mach 3. Coming from an US manufacturer of cause it was setup in Imperial. I have run some code using the proper imperial post and everything works fine.

I prefer to design in Metric (usually within Aspire or Fusion 360) and would generate the code and use the metric post. Unfortunately it doesn't seem as simple as Load the code using the proper post and Mach3 would auto-adjust. I tried. didn't work/
I contacted the machine manufacturer and was told the following:

While Mach is loaded, go to the tab Operator > VB Script editor > M999 > and locate...SetVar (1002,0)   '0 = English 1 = Metric
Switch the from (1002, 0) to (1002, 1) for metric. Close and save the script, and the close and reopen Mach to enable the change.


That means I have to close and reopen Mach 3 (inconvenient, time consuming) and I am not sure whether I have to reset my machine as well after I closed and reopened Mach 3. One would think I would have to start from scratch, home the machine, set the heights etc.

As we have about 190 countries on this planet running metric and just 3 running imperial I am sure I am not alone with the desire to switch back and forth. Has someone experience with it and can give me a hint which would be the easiest way of achieving what I want to do?

Thanks for reading and even more thanks for responding!

Volkhard

Offline ger21

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Re: Beginner Questions: switching between Metric and Imperial
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2017, 06:23:17 PM »
Normally, it's recommended to set up separate profiles for metric and imperial.
So, what you would do is create a new profile, copy the macros from one profile to the other, and make the change in the M99 macro for the imperial setup.
Then, just start Mach3 from the appropriate shortcut, depending on which units you want to use.
Gerry

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Re: Beginner Questions: switching between Metric and Imperial
« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2017, 08:26:26 PM »
The other option is to Set up the machine in Metric and then use G20 when running imperial Gcode. This way for the bulk of your work, it is all ready to go and when you have to run imperial, just put a G20 at the top of your code and the Mach3 will run it as Imperial.


HTH
Mike
We never have the time or money to do it right the first time, but we somehow manage to do it twice and then spend the money to get it right.