I've been working on my machine and machIII to get things running the way I have always wanted, my brain hurts from all the reading but I have tool changes working and added some commands so that the Gantry would clear the work area so I can flip pieces over (some of the pieces are two sided and use index holes to locate on the vaccum clamp). I'm also working on putting all my tools into the tool table so I can use offsets automatically, my brains starting fuzz out
One of the things I make on the CNC are Guitar Bridges, here's how it works today:
1. I have a jig where I drill two small index holes to locate the piece into a vaccum clamp.
2. I run a program that shapes the bottom to a 25ft or 30ft radius (or whatever they want), creates an edge for sitting over a guitars finish and then adds two more small holes so I can flip the piece and do the top.
3. I flip the piece over and load and run the next program which cuts the profile, shapes the bridge, adds the string holes.
4. I get a tool change pause, the code then runs and cuts string slots into the bridge and ends with a special bit.
Once this is done I put the bridge onto a second jig that is angled to cut the saddle at a 2deg tilt...
The whole process takes 30 minutes on average, but upon reflection one thing I keep running into is that clients want different string spacings, which effects the hole routine and the string slot routine. Today I use Rhino and change everything to the new spacings, then generate a whole new program using Rhino-Cam. It's tedious but it works. But the big issue for me is that I end up with a bunch of .CAD files and if they want changes to the base design or if I want to make a change to improve the process then I have to regen code from ALL those .CAD files using Rhino-Cam... It's a pain...
So I have an idea I wan to float....
How about a directory with all the common G-Code operations already validated and ready to run, a library if you will of options...
Then the core program would simply call operations from the library as needed, I could write a vbscript program to simply pull all the pieces together for me and output one piece of GCode, but I think it would be cleaner to do it from within Mach, I'm not sure if this has been done before like this or if there are hidden problems with doing this. I see the LoadRun command and assume that I could use that but does that mean I have to create a wizard to do this? It's not something I've played with but it does have possibilities
I was also wondering if it could be done with M-Commands, but would not one program overwrite the current one?
Anyway just looking for some direction, my goal is to remove some of the redundancy on doing these parts, today they simply take too much effort to be profitable and that's why I'm looking at ways to streamline the process, plus I'll be teaching my son how to do all this so I have to make it well... Um... Young Adult Proof