At 04:00 PM 7/17/2007, you wrote: >On Tue, Jul 17, 2007 at 03:41:26PM -0500, Andre' Blanchard wrote: > > > > Is there a reload for the parameter table, the work offsets in particular? > >The interpreter reads and writes that file "when it needs to" and >there's no need for the user to worry about it. Just set the offsets >with MDI commands (G10 L2 P) or the Touch Off operation in AXIS.
If you have ever setup and run a machine in a production setting using all the work offsets you would know that having to use MDI and G10 to do something as simple as bump a work offset a few 0.0001,s is not reasonable. I have run machines where you have to adjust the work offsets up to 0.005 over the course of the first 3 hours every morning as the machine heats up, a 0.0001 or 2 every other part. Better machines do not have as much thermal drift but on those machines you tend to be making closer tolerance parts so you still end up bumping the offsets thru the day. Also near as I can tell there is not any way that a setup person can view local or global variables as the program runs making it difficult to debug macro programs or to even find out how many passes are left in a cut. A page like this would make doing the more complex setups a lot easier. And would get EMC a lot closer to the standard controls used in the machining industry, the graphics in Axis are way better then any control I have used but there are some areas that are very basic to using the control that have been left to work arounds. Probably because they are not as fun to work on as the graphics areas. I also get the feeling that the main programmers working on EMC have not spent a lot of time changing inserts and pushing the green button. Mono spaced font and at least 80 columns before word-wrap ******************************************************************************* _____________________________________________________________________________ |Work Offset Page 1 of 1 Spindle Control | | S 1000 FWD REV STOP | | | | G92 5211-5219 G54 5221-5229 G55 5241-5249 G56 5261-5269 | | X +000.0000 1 X +000.0000 2 X +000.0000 3 X +000.0000 | | Y +000.0000 Y +000.0000 Y +000.0000 Y +000.0000 | | Z +000.0000 Z +000.0000 Z +000.0000 Z +000.0000 | | A +000.0000 A +000.0000 A +000.0000 A +000.0000 | | B +000.0000 B +000.0000 B +000.0000 B +000.0000 | | C +000.0000 C +000.0000 C +000.0000 C +000.0000 | | U +000.0000 U +000.0000 U +000.0000 U +000.0000 | | V +000.0000 V +000.0000 V +000.0000 V +000.0000 | | W +000.0000 W +000.0000 W +000.0000 W +000.0000 | |__________________ | | Current Machine | G57 5281-5289 G58 5301-5309 G59 5321-5329 | | X +000.0000 | 4 X +000.0000 5 X +000.0000 6 X +000.0000 | | Y +000.0000 | Y +000.0000 Y +000.0000 Y +000.0000 | | Z +000.0000 | Z +000.0000 Z +000.0000 Z +000.0000 | | A +000.0000 | A +000.0000 A +000.0000 A +000.0000 | | B +000.0000 | B +000.0000 B +000.0000 B +000.0000 | | C +000.0000 | C +000.0000 C +000.0000 C +000.0000 | | U +000.0000 | U +000.0000 U +000.0000 U +000.0000 | | V +000.0000 | V +000.0000 V +000.0000 V +000.0000 | | W +000.0000 | W +000.0000 W +000.0000 W +000.0000 | |__________________| | |Setup Tool Offsets| G59.1 5341-5349 G59.2 5361-5369 G59.3 5381-5389 | | X +000.0000 | 7 X +000.0000 8 X +000.0000 9 X +000.0000 | | Y +000.0000 | Y +000.0000 Y +000.0000 Y +000.0000 | | Z +000.0000 | Z +000.0000 Z +000.0000 Z +000.0000 | | A +000.0000 | A +000.0000 A +000.0000 A +000.0000 | | B +000.0000 | B +000.0000 B +000.0000 B +000.0000 | | C +000.0000 | C +000.0000 C +000.0000 C +000.0000 | | U +000.0000 | U +000.0000 U +000.0000 U +000.0000 | | V +000.0000 | V +000.0000 V +000.0000 V +000.0000 | | W +000.0000 | W +000.0000 W +000.0000 W +000.0000 | |__________________|__________________________________________________________| A page like this would be useful for setting up a job in the machine. There are nine work offsets which can be used within a G code program. Also shown is the G92 offset, which is added to all of the nine main work stations. The first line of each work offset is the G code followed by the parameter numbers in which the data is stored. Under the G code is the coordinate system number which is used with the G10 command for changing the work offset from a G code program. The numbers shown under "Current Machine" are just that, the current position of the spindle gage point relative to the machine zero position. These numbers are read only and are used to setup the work offsets. The numbers shown under "Setup Tool Offsets" are like tool offsets but they are not saved in or read from the tool table. They are only set from and used on this page. In the top right corner under "Spindle Control" you can set the speed of and start and stop the spindle. Keyboard input. When you first open this page hit TAB, SHIFT TAB or a cursor key and the first or last editable position will be highlighted. Use the TAB, SHIFT TAB or the cursor keys to move to the position you want to edit. To change the value type a number and hit ENTER, the highlight will move to the next axis in the offset. If you just want to adjust an offset type the character "I" followed by a value that value will be added to the current offset. (I for incremental) If you type the character "M" the current machine position for that axis will be used as the new value. If you type the characters "*M" the current machine positions for all axes will be used as the new values for all the axes of the work offset. If you type the character "T" the Setup Tool value for that axis will be added to the current value. If you type the characters "*T" the Setup Tool values for all axes will be used as the new values for all the axes of the work offset. You can combine these last two commands like "MT" or "*MT" in which case the current machine position/s will be added to the Setup Tool value/s and the result will become the new offset value/s. Also if the "M" character is replaced with "G92", "G54", "G55", etc. the values will come from that work offset rather then the machine position. Mouse input. You can highlight any editable value rather then use TAB, SHIFT TAB. Or you can highlight values and drag and drop on the offset you want to change. Similar pages could be made for viewing and changing values for other parameters/variables. A page showing the current values of the local variables would also be handy. This page would need some way of backing up thru the values for each higher level sub program. Note that these pages need to be live, so that the machine operator can see the values changing as the G code program is running. Changing values of variables, including work offsets, while a program is running can lead to a very bad day, it can be very useful to a machine operator who knows what they are doing. __________ Andre' B. Clear Lake, Wi. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now. http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
