2009/6/13 <cmg...@sover.net>: > > I have an older Graphtec Flat bed pen plotter that has it's own "language" > to accomplish many graphics tasks. Is it possible to use EMC and it's > port connection to send simple text commands to this unit?
I am sure it could be made to be possible, but I don't see what it would achieve. The "expected" workflow with g-code is that a CAM package produces a set of simple positioning commands in G-code. EMC or another interpreter then acts on those commands. In effect, then, EMC occupies a position equivalent to the onboard logic of the pen plotter. In practice the EMC interpreter offers a great deal more "software-like" abilities than an as-conceived G-code interpreter, but I still feel that inserting into the data flow between the high-level data-creation software (even if that is running in your head) and the output device makes much sense. I have a flat-bed plotter myself, and I use it for making PCBs (using OHP pens to directly write the etch-mask) and also for a rapid prototyping system using a vinyl-cutting knife to slice out many layers of label paper which can be assembled on a jig to create models of components for casting patterns etc. I use Gnu Octave ( http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/ )to drive the plotter. This is free software that copies the functions of the Matlab language. Like Matlab it auto-indexes though lists and matrices making it very suitable for handling lists of data. It also has built-in functions for sorting, indexing, determinants etc, etc, etc, As a picture is worth 1000 words, here is a picture of the sort of thing the system produces. http://www.bodgesoc.org/brackets.jpg And, assuming 1000 words is worth a picture, here is the Octave code that creates slices from a .stl file and cuts them out on a plotter (it also outputs each sheet as postscript, but I never found a use for those files). This might give you some other ideas on how to control your plotter. ---------------CODE-------------------- filename = '/Users/andy2/Documents/work/Front Right v10t.stl' z = input('Start position (-Inf for beginning)') iter = 3; % set up plotter a = system ('stty -f /dev/cu.usbserial0 evenp cstopb 9600 ... -crtscts -mdmbuf clocal cread') f = 0; p = 0; pagenumber = 1; eps_scale = 72/25.4 % conversion from mm to points plot_scale = 40 % conversion from mm to RD-GL thickness = 0.59/7 % thickness of layers pagewidth = 260; % paper size pageheight = 190; [F V C] = stl_read(filename); X = [V(F(:,1),1) V(F(:,2),1) V(F(:,3),1)]; % X coords for each face Y = [V(F(:,1),2) V(F(:,2),2) V(F(:,3),2)]; %Y Z = [V(F(:,1),3) V(F(:,2),3) V(F(:,3),3)]; %Z T = Z; %quick and dirty rotation Z = X; X = T; clear T % find extents zmin= min(Z(:)) zmax = max(Z(:)) page_x = pagewidth; page_y = pageheight+10; % force file initialisation old_ymin = 0; %for z = zmin:thickness:zmax for z = max(z, zmin):thickness:zmax disp(z) I1 = find(sum((Z>z),2) == 1); % Index of faces with 1 vertex greater than z I2 = find(sum((Z>z),2) == 2); % index of faces with 2 > z C = []; for a = 1:length(I1) [zs i] = sort(Z(I1(a),:)) ;% put biggest Z last, and store order xs = X(I1(a),i); ys = Y(I1(a),i); x1 = xs(1)+(xs(3)-xs(1))*(z-zs(1))/(zs(3)-zs(1)); x2 = xs(2)+(xs(3)-xs(2))*(z-zs(2))/(zs(3)-zs(2)); y1 = ys(1)+(ys(3)-ys(1))*(z-zs(1))/(zs(3)-zs(1)); y2 = ys(2)+(ys(3)-ys(2))*(z-zs(2))/(zs(3)-zs(2)); C = [C; x1 y1 x2 y2]; end for a = 1:length(I2) [zs i] = sort(Z(I2(a),:)) ;% put biggest Z last, and store order xs = X(I2(a),i); ys = Y(I2(a),i); x1 = xs(2)+(xs(1)-xs(2))*(z-zs(2))/(zs(1)-zs(2)); x2 = xs(3)+(xs(1)-xs(3))*(z-zs(3))/(zs(1)-zs(3)); y1 = ys(2)+(ys(1)-ys(2))*(z-zs(2))/(zs(1)-zs(2)); y2 = ys(3)+(ys(1)-ys(3))*(z-zs(3))/(zs(1)-zs(3)); C = [C; x1 y1 x2 y2]; end xmax = max(max(C(:,[1 3]))); xmin = min(min(C(:,[1 3]))); ymax = max(max(C(:,[2 4]))); ymin = min(min(C(:,[2 4]))); pstr = ''; if (xmax-xmin > pagewidth | ymax-ymin > pageheight) clc(); disp("Page not large enough for object") stop endif if (page_x + xmax - xmin) > pagewidth % not enough room on page page_x = 0; page_y = page_y + old_ymin; old_ymin = 0; endif if (page_y + ymax - ymin > pageheight) % top of page reached if (f ~= 0) % file already open fprintf(f, 'stroke\n'); fprintf(f, '%%%%EOF\n'); fclose(f); % fprintf(p, "SP 0;"); clc(); disp("change paper and press any key") fflush(stdout); k = kbhit(); % fprintf(p, "SP 1;") endif if (p ~= 0) % have a plotfile fclose(p) endif page_y = 0 ; page_x = 0; stroke = ''; f = fopen(['/Users/andy2/Documents/gash' num2str(z) '.eps'], 'wt'); fprintf(f, '%%!PS-Adobe-3.0 EPSF-3.0\n') fprintf(f, '%%%%BoundingBox: %0.2f %0.2f %0.2f %0.2f\n', ... 0, 0, (pagewidth)*eps_scale, (pageheight)*eps_scale) fprintf(f, '0.75 setlinewidth\n') pfilename = sprintf('/Users/andy2/Documents/work/plotfile%02.0f.hpgl', pagenumber); pagenumber = pagenumber + 1; p = fopen('/dev/cu.usbserial0', 'w+'); msg = fcntl (f, F_SETFL, O_NONBLOCK) fprintf(p,'%c.R', 27); % Turn on hardware handshaking fprintf(p,'%c.M 100;13;;13;10;0:', 27); fprintf(p, "IN;"); % fprintf(p, 'SP 1;'); fprintf(p, 'VS 6;'); fflush(p); clg hold on plot([0 ;pagewidth; pagewidth; 0; 0], [0; 0; pageheight; pageheight; 0;], 'r'); legend("off") endif plot([page_x; page_x+xmax-xmin; page_x+xmax-xmin; page_x; page_x], [page_y; page_y; page_y+ymax-ymin; page_y+ymax-ymin; page_y], 'b'); %Try to string line segments together into loops. g = 1:length(C); % use this vector to store indices to the currently unassigned segments lastx = 0 ; lasty = 0; pstr = ''; while (any(g)) % find closest point in either start or end sets if length(g) > 1 [dist gi] = min(abs(C(g,[1 3])-lastx)+abs(C(g,[2 4])-lasty)); else gi = 1; end %find which column of the located row the min dist was in and call it ti [dist ti] = min(dist); gi = gi(ti); if dist > 0.05 % not at or very close to the last point if pstr ~= '' %Plot the previous loop iter times pstri = [find(pstr == ';') length(pstr)]; fprintf(p,(pstr(1:pstri(1)))); % move to start of loop for i = 1:iter for a = 1:10:length(pstri) fprintf(p,(pstr(pstri(a):(pstri(min(a+10,length(pstri))))))); do fprintf(p, "%c.B\n", 27); usleep(30000); buff = fgets(p,4); fclear(p) until str2num(buff) > 1000 end end end pstr = '' % start a new loop fprintf(f, '%s', stroke) fprintf(f, '%0.2f %0.2f moveto\n', ... (C(g(gi), [1 3](ti)) - xmin + page_x)*eps_scale, ... (C(g(gi), [2 4](ti)) - ymin + page_y)*eps_scale); fprintf(f, '%0.2f %0.2f lineto\n', ... (C(g(gi), [3 1](ti)) - xmin + page_x)*eps_scale, ... (C(g(gi), [4 2](ti)) - ymin + page_y)*eps_scale); pstr = sprintf('PU %0.2f, %0.2f;PD %0.2f, %0.2f;', ... ((C(g(gi), [1 3](ti)) - xmin + page_x)*plot_scale), ... ((C(g(gi), [2 4](ti)) - ymin + page_y)*plot_scale), ... ((C(g(gi),[3 1](ti)) - xmin + page_x)*plot_scale), ... ((C(g(gi),[4 2](ti)) - ymin + page_y)*plot_scale)); % plot([C(g(gi), [1 3](ti)) C(g(gi), [3 1](ti))] - xmin + page_x , ... % [C(g(gi), [2 4](ti)) C(g(gi), [4 2](ti))] - ymin + page_y, 'b'); lastx = C(g(gi),[3 1](ti)) ; lasty = C(g(gi), [4 2](ti)); stroke = 'stroke\n'; % done this way to suppress spurious one else % Actually at previous point fprintf(f, '%0.2f %0.2f lineto\n', ... (C(g(gi), [3 1](ti)) - xmin + page_x)*eps_scale, (C(g(gi), ... [4 2](ti)) - ymin + page_y)*eps_scale); pstr = strcat( pstr, sprintf( 'PD %0.2f, %0.2f;', ... (C(g(gi), [3 1](ti)) - xmin + page_x)*plot_scale, (C(g(gi), ... [4 2](ti)) - ymin + page_y)*plot_scale)); % plot([lastx C(g(gi), [3 1](ti))] - xmin + page_x, ... % [lasty C(g(gi), [4 2](ti))] - ymin + page_y, 'b') lastx = C(g(gi),[3 1](ti)) ; lasty = C(g(gi), [4 2](ti)); endif g = [g(1:gi-1) g(gi+1:end)]; % remove used index from list endwhile if pstr ~= '' %Plot the lasr loop of the slice iter times pstri = [find(pstr == ';') length(pstr)]; fprintf(p,(pstr(1:pstri(1)))); % move to start of loop for i = 1:iter for a = 1:10:length(pstri) fprintf(p,(pstr(pstri(a):(pstri(min(a+10,length(pstri))))))); do fprintf(p, "%c.B\n", 27); usleep(30000); buff = fgets(p,4); fclear(p) until str2num(buff) > 1000 end end end fprintf(p, 'PU;'); fflush(p) pstr = '' page_x = page_x + (xmax - xmin)*1.04; old_ymin = max(old_ymin , (ymax - ymin) * 1.04); end fprintf(f, '%s', stroke) fprintf(f, '%%%%EOF\n') fclose(f) fclose(p) -- atp ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Crystal Reports - New Free Runtime and 30 Day Trial Check out the new simplified licensing option that enables unlimited royalty-free distribution of the report engine for externally facing server and web deployment. http://p.sf.net/sfu/businessobjects _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
