[Emc-users] CAM Post-processors: how much of the specification(s) do they span?
Gentle persons: Eric said of my recent bout of pneumonia, [A]nd the antibiotics leave you like a wrung-out dishrag too, ISTR. Truer words were never spoken. While lazing about, I visited www.camzone.org for the first time. As I understand it, the site was created by and most of the blog entries are written by a person named Daniel who would seem to be German and living in Brazil (but maybe I was just too wrung out when I visited the site). I like the way Daniel thinks, the way he writes, and the topics he chooses to write about. His blog entry Why PLM is killing the innovation in CAD/CAM made me wish I'd known him while I was still working. The entry on Component Technology should be required background reading for all of us. I was induced to compose this email by his blog entry Post-processors --- What you should know about them. I commend it to you. My question is, how much of the total (choose your favorite spec here---RS274D, RS274X, RS274/NGC, LinuxCNC) capability do these commercial post-processors span? A first step in answering this question would be to tabulate all the codes that can possibly be emitted by specific post-processors. I tried searching the web but couldn't find any tabulation more specific than http://www.enotes.com/topic/G-code which speaks of Fanuc and similarly designed controls and is pretty schematic. I looked at the websites of several CAM programs and see they typically claim to support a number CNC controller dialects in their post-processors, but that is the color of a different horse. And, yes, I own a copy of the Machinery's Handbook and a copy of Smid's CNC Programming Handbook should be in my hands soon. In my experience with neutral-format data exchange standards in the CAD world, the variations in the capabilities of various CAD systems led to standards with large scopes. Despite the resulting smorgasbord of capabilities, the post-processor writers tended to stick to a relatively small number of entities within those scopes. We achieved very good interoperability over a relatively limited span of the total capability supported by the standards. Of course, in the world of CAD, many of the data exchanges occur between CAD systems, so the pre- and post-processor writers face a different problem that in our world where we are most concerned about moving data between some CAM system and some CNC controller. Still, I suspect the CAM post-processor writers also work with a relatively small number of entities (e.g., G-Codes). At the outset, it seems likely that our O-codes are completely outside the ken of post-processor writers, but that's just one aspect. Any thoughts? Regards, Kent -- Virtualization Cloud Management Using Capacity Planning Cloud computing makes use of virtualization - but cloud computing also focuses on allowing computing to be delivered as a service. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfnl/114/51521223/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] CAM Post-processors: how much of the specification(s) do they span?
Gentlemen, Postprocessors are written for specific controls. The post generator is the key. The post generator can be a person or a combination of an application and a person. In CAM (any CAM) there are separate processes. The NC programmer uses the CAM application to generate a cutter location file. The Cutter Location (CL) file is then processed by an application to generate machine specific code to tell the machine exactly what to do. The CL file is at times run against a pre post application to massage the cutter locations prior to the generation of the machine specific code. A text editor is used to after post a G code file. The generation of the post processor handles the responsibility of machine specific output. Many CAM applications make money by generating post applications for their CAM customers. This is not usually prohibitively expensive but is more than a token expense. It is possible to purchase generic post generators. If you have a number of machines this may be the least expensive plan. This allows the CL file to be processed to accommodate virtually any control (nc) code necessary. Machine control code is 'language' control. Any language you use to convey the intent is effective if the intent is understood. Most every one speaks shotgun. :) thanks Stuart -- dos centavos -- Virtualization Cloud Management Using Capacity Planning Cloud computing makes use of virtualization - but cloud computing also focuses on allowing computing to be delivered as a service. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfnl/114/51521223/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] CAM Post-processors: how much of the specification(s) do they span?
On 2/19/2012 5:31 PM, Kent A. Reed wrote: Gentle persons: Eric said of my recent bout of pneumonia, [A]nd the antibiotics leave you like a wrung-out dishrag too, ISTR. Truer words were never spoken. While lazing about, I visited www.camzone.org for the first time. As I understand it, the site was created by and most of the blog entries are written by a person named Daniel who would seem to be German and living in Brazil (but maybe I was just too wrung out when I visited the site). I like the way Daniel thinks, the way he writes, and the topics he chooses to write about. His blog entry Why PLM is killing the innovation in CAD/CAM made me wish I'd known him while I was still working. The entry on Component Technology should be required background reading for all of us. I was induced to compose this email by his blog entry Post-processors --- What you should know about them. I commend it to you. My question is, how much of the total (choose your favorite spec here---RS274D, RS274X, RS274/NGC, LinuxCNC) capability do these commercial post-processors span? A first step in answering this question would be to tabulate all the codes that can possibly be emitted by specific post-processors. I tried searching the web but couldn't find any tabulation more specific than http://www.enotes.com/topic/G-code which speaks of Fanuc and similarly designed controls and is pretty schematic. I looked at the websites of several CAM programs and see they typically claim to support a number CNC controller dialects in their post-processors, but that is the color of a different horse. And, yes, I own a copy of the Machinery's Handbook and a copy of Smid's CNC Programming Handbook should be in my hands soon. In my experience with neutral-format data exchange standards in the CAD world, the variations in the capabilities of various CAD systems led to standards with large scopes. Despite the resulting smorgasbord of capabilities, the post-processor writers tended to stick to a relatively small number of entities within those scopes. We achieved very good interoperability over a relatively limited span of the total capability supported by the standards. Of course, in the world of CAD, many of the data exchanges occur between CAD systems, so the pre- and post-processor writers face a different problem that in our world where we are most concerned about moving data between some CAM system and some CNC controller. Still, I suspect the CAM post-processor writers also work with a relatively small number of entities (e.g., G-Codes). At the outset, it seems likely that our O-codes are completely outside the ken of post-processor writers, but that's just one aspect. Thank you for the pun -- although I'm not a post-processor writer. Ken Any thoughts? Regards, Kent -- Virtualization Cloud Management Using Capacity Planning Cloud computing makes use of virtualization - but cloud computing also focuses on allowing computing to be delivered as a service. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfnl/114/51521223/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users -- Virtualization Cloud Management Using Capacity Planning Cloud computing makes use of virtualization - but cloud computing also focuses on allowing computing to be delivered as a service. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfnl/114/51521223/ ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
