Who is the post king?

[JAMMAN]

I have the "post processor" manual (sept. 97) and have read through it and I'll have to admit I don't understand it completely. My post is custom derived from AB8601.pst and I have done 75% of the mods my self. There are a few things I would like it to do and would like to understand how and why instead of just sending it out, getting it back, posting and looking at 64000 lines of code. Anyone here a self-proclaimed post guru? Someone beyond PSOF and PEOF.

Jim

Jim

[Bob]

I have version 7.2c and have fooled around with my post a little but I actually don't know what I am doing. I guess it would be real nice to learn I think if a guy got real good at it you could make a good buck at it

[Bill]

I believe Andy is pretty sharp with post. He has done some pretty trick stuff with the set-up sheets.

[ 08-02-2001: Message edited by: Bill ]

[Simtech]

Best way is to ask a direct question: variables, tables, formats, buffers, ... so much stuff, what do you want to know?

Luc

[Reece L Gibson]

I agree with Simtech, I run a three day post class and we start out with simple things and then move into more complex stuff. Most of the time students have a special thing they want to do and the whole class follows along.It also takes time and practice.

[JAMMAN]

Looks like a glorified text file on the outside. I have received a personal e-mail from one of you (you know who you are) and will see if he can help. If not I will post (no punn intended) my specific problem and see if anyone has come across it before. Thank you all for your replies.

Jim

[Charles Davis]

Posts are still a bit of a "black art". A real shame really.

Since controls have become much more standard, and so have machining practices, it seems post writing should have gotten easier, but it hasn't. Lots of reasons for this, but I don't want to write a book.

Speaking of books... CNC is coming out with a new post manual. It is almost 1,000 pages in PDF format (which may be the only way it's available).

If you want to learn posts, get the book. Take a class or meet with someone who can get you started on the right path, then just dive in. A lot of this you only learn by doing (like playing the piano!).

[gcode]

I spent about 5 years working with Tek Soft.

One feature it had that I really liked

was its post generation program. It was simple to use and very effective for basic stuff. I don't think it would work for complex 5 axis stuff, but for lathe and 4X mill it worked very well.

It would be nice to see something like that for Mastercam.

[PROG_MAN_DO]

I know a post king. He made the best post I have seen to date..

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

I'll start off by saying I am no post king. Of course I am comparing myself to people I have no business comparing myself to.

I do have an opinion about the whole situation though and I'm going to spew it. so here goes.

Some were from "scratch" (meaning from a fresh mpfan or mpmaster post) other were modified from other modified posts.

While I worked for the local Mastercam reseller I probably did about 250-300 posts in the 2 years I worked there. In that time, I did some necessary modifications and a lot of strictly "cosmetic" stuff. I'd say about 75% were of the "cosmetic" sort. By "Cosmetic", I mean it was not essential to the correct operation of the machine tool. This ranged from rearranginng canned cycle output (because "we've always seen it that way") to "I want the Cutter Compensation to come on before the line it is coming on now", or wait, this one is better, "I need an M(something - can't seem to remember) at the start of every toolchange. I don't know what it does but I need it." LOL. I think that users need to stop looking for the same code they saw when they were manually programming, and use what works. I can change a program faster in Mastercam that even the best control editors can and I can pretty much guarantee that I won't mis-place a decimal point either. In addition to that, if your company is into the ISO (whatever their favorite number is this week), they pretty much demand absolute traceability. Not that many shops can deliver than but it is more possible than people think. Post and go. That's the way it should be. If a feed rate needs to be changed in a certain corner because it it too heavy of a cut, that's one thing but to program a part, then have an operator/setup guy spend an hour at the control "making it rught", that's just unacceptable.

JMHO. Let the firestorm begin.

[ 08-03-2001: Message edited by: James Meyette ]

[JAMMAN]

UHH... OK.

Mine is more of a grinding ap than milling; multiple outside contours with form tools on granite slabs.

What I would like to do is use the "adjust feed on arc moves" feature to keep from having to do dozens of "change at's". Some of my tools are really close to the size of the inside radius they have to cut. All my form tools are right side of line, comp in computer only. I have no need to alter the feed on entry and exit radii and would like it to ignore ccw arcs on the contour and only adjust the cw arcs. I sent the post to my dealer(who I really really like BTW) and the output was right as long as there was a line between a cw and ccw arc. If the arcs were filleted together, it would adjust before the cw then keep the slower feed rate throughout the rest of the profile unless it saw an other cw arc with a line after it. Took me a week to catch it doing it and I didn't know what they changed so I reverted to the last backup of my post and continued to "change at". ALWAYS MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR POST AND STORE IT ON MULTIPLE COMPUTERS.

Can this be done? It would save me a couple hours a month.

Jim

[Kenneth Potter]

Theres a post Gui builder program out here. I belive its on Jays(cadcam) P/P web page. IF its any good I will buy it. Post Haste or something like that. Fill us in on it Jay

 

Kenneth Potter