Toolpath insert arrow making me crazy!

[Rodney @ Roush Yates Engines]

The toolpath insert arrow drives me nuts!!

 

I spend more time chasing that d*** thing around than making toolpath.

 

Anybody else?

[Thad]

I don't like it either. Maybe because I'm still not used to it.

 

It jumps around when posting toolpaths.

 

Thad

[Yogesh K. Raman]

yes, i don'tknow what controls its behavior. i have to keep pulling it down....

[DavidB]

In V9 if you made a toopath at least you new where it went ,to the bottom of the active tool group.Now if the red arrow is not where you want the toolpath to be placed it's frustrating in Lathe beacause you have to regen everything after where its inserted.

[Saultspics]

+1 on all of the above.

[tooljockey]

I agree, I dont need this little red arrow to know where I want my next operation.

ME NOT LIKE!

[Ray Culver]

I'm The Arrow Guy, so you can yell at me.

 

In V9, the operation was always appended to the end of the list (which is probably what you want 80% of the time). In X, we have these machine groups which controls a lot more than what's just visible on the screen, and the arrow's postion determines which is the "active machine" at the time. Its position also determines where the next operation will be inserted.

 

When posting, the arrow jumps between machine groups because the post needs to access the machine info to do its thing. The arrow is supposed to return to the original position it started after posting though.

[Rodney @ Roush Yates Engines]

One thing that drives me crazy is when you edit an operation then regenerate it the screen jumps to the insert arrow no matter where it is.

 

Sometimes I lose my place / train of thought when I have a long program that I’m editing.

[tooljockey]

I like old "set active group" option much, much better.

[Ray Culver]

Working on these problems now...

[jctjct]

Also, it isn't in the same place it was when you saved the file. I have gotten in the habit of saving before every toolpath (due to intermittent unpredictable crashes) and when I reopen the file the arrow is in a different spot.

[gcode]

The red arrow is a good idea and I find it very useful. It does jump around too much and can cause some serious trouble if you're not paying attention. Like place a finishing OP ahead of the roughing OP

 

I was going to suggest making it draggable, but I just tried that and it already is draggable.

Making it always default to the end of the active

Toolpath Group would fix all the complaints I have with it.

[Slepydremr]

quote:

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Making it always default to the end of the active

Toolpath Group would fix all the complaints I have with it.

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I like that Idea. Then if we need to add some ops up above just drag it up there.

[Rodney @ Roush Yates Engines]

I'll second that!

[Thad]

Third!

 

Thad

[Ray Culver]

quote:

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Making it always default to the end of the active

Toolpath Group would fix all the complaints I have with it.

---

You mean just when doing a "file / get", load the file and position the arrow at the end of the group? It kinda does that now, except it's all the way at the bottom.

 

I fixed it so the window doesn't scroll to the arrow when regenerating an operation, and it only moves between machine groups now when posting (it used to move into each group regardless of machine).

[Rodney @ Roush Yates Engines]

I don’t really care where the arrow is when I open a file, I just want it to stay put until I move it and not jump around so much.

 

And why does it have to move when I select the properties tab within the current machine group?

[Ray Culver]

quote:

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And why does it have to move when I select the properties tab within the current machine group?

---

Got it. All better.

 

Now it will only move into the machine group if the arrow is in a totally different machine.

[Rodney @ Roush Yates Engines]

Ray,

 

Thanks for the help.

[DavidB]

Once you get used to it,or more the point remeber its there.Its handy for creating new toolpaths in the group where you want it.Rather than creating a toolpath cutting it and then pasting it where you want it.

Its also handy for jobs that have both Lathe and milling machines in the one mc file.

[Thad]

quote:

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when you edit an operation then regenerate it the screen jumps to the insert arrow no matter where it is.

---

I hope this is one of the issues that gets fixed. If the insert arrow is at the bottom and you have enough ops that they run off the bottom of the screen, every time you regenerate a toolpath, it jumps down to the bottom where the arrow is. Scrolling back up every time is a real pain.

 

I also don't like the way the arrow breaks up the "visual flow" of operations. It's like there's a divider there where it doesn't belong.

 

Thad

[Rodney @ Roush Yates Engines]

Ditto!

[Ray Culver]

It's been fixed.

[Thad]

Cool! Thanks, Ray.

 

Thad

[Simtech]

With the arrow positioned at the bottom of all operations in tha machine group, if you go and copy and operation somewhere up in the list, the insert arrow will no longer be at the end but positioned 1 up, since you've added another operation.

 

I agree that if would could activate an option that would allow the insert arrow to ALWAYS remain at the end of ALL operations, this would help retain a bit opf the V9 way of doing things.