Newbie question :)

[-=ViBeZ=-]

I'm just starting out with mastercam & learning to programme using cam software. I'm running through the tutorials provided with the software & have come unstuck on the post side of things.

 

I'm 99% sure that we use a Heidenhain tnc 355 control for our milling machine, but when I choose the MPHEID.PST file, the code it produces is nothing at all like what the codes we use to manually programme the machine

 

Do I need a specific post for this control or I am doing something drastically wrong?

 

Thanx in advance

[Oppiz]

Are you using ISO (G-code) or conversational(m-code)? I'm going through the same thing for a 370 control. I'm using ISO. You'll need to change the post to work for your machine. Contact you MC reseller they may have a better post. If your try to change your post yourself the people on this forum are very helpful. I've modified the post for my wire EDM and an old tnc150 with the help of this forum.

[-=ViBeZ=-]

Thanks for reply OPPIZ. I'm not 100% if it uses (G-code) or conversational(m-code) I'm guessing it would be classed as ISO as it uses G-codes for the axis movement & M-codes for spindle/coolant control ect....

 

I loaded the heid_I.pst & it looks a little more like the manaul code I use to programme the machine.

 

SO my question now is, whats the best way to go about finding & converting the post so that they both match?

 

TIA

[Oppiz]

Go to what ever editor you are using and look for the post. Its has a .pst extension It should be in mill/post folder.

[Zero]

If you go to the posts folder inside mcam, all the posts are there. You can open up the .pst files with notepad and usually at the top of the page it'll tell you what machine the post was originaly created for.

 

[ 04-17-2002, 04:23 PM: Message edited by: Zero ]

[Christian Raebild]

For a Heidenhain control, you should use a post that produces Heidenhain conversational code, as that works better than using ISO code. I recently had to make a post processor for Heidenhain ISO code (for a large company, there was a board level decision to use ISO code on all controls). I found, that there were a number of errors in the Mpheid_i.pst post processor, at least with respect to the machine I had to make a post processor for.

 

If you contact us at [email protected] we might be able to sell you a post processor which works correctly, if you tell us what type of control and machine it is.

[-=ViBeZ=-]

Thanx for the feedback I think i'm getting nearer to my goal

 

My employers are keen that the control stays in ISO for reasons I wont go into at the moment.

 

After a bit of playing around with the codes & trying a few test examples created using Mcam, I've found that the code it produces isn't actually that different from what we use when manually programming the machine. Below is a liat of the differences that I wish to change if possible???

 

A) Simple one to start with I want the last M-code of the program to be M30, not M02 - this will rewind the program once it's finished running & makes it a little quicker for repeat jobs.

 

We work on the machine using absolute programming ONLY[G90), but the last few lines of the code that Mcad produces look like this

 

code:

---

 N484M5

N486G91Z0.

N488X0.Y0.A0.

N490M02

---

Why does it switch to incremental programming(G91) on the last Z move? & is it possible to force it not to do this?

 

and finally....

 

C) This is regarding tool Z lengths & offsets. The Mcad code includes lines such as this

 

code:

---

 N100G99T4L0.R12.5

N102G99T3L0.R5.

N104G99T5L0.R5.

---

But these are useless for our machine, as the tool lengths, rads etc... are inputted manually by the operator after touching on the job datum with the specified tool. The reference offsets are entered into a tooling chart on a seperate screen on the control.

 

So I would like to remove the G99 codes & instead, include a G17 on the same line as tool change. The G17 calls the offset of the tool from the reference chart & should look like this

 

N001 T3 M6 G17

 

I dont even know if any of these changes can be made or even if I've explained it very well.

 

Look forward to hearing your suggestions

 

Thanks

 

[ 04-18-2002, 12:06 PM: Message edited by: -=ViBeZ=- ]

[Roger Martin from CNC Software]

quote:

---

I found, that there were a number of errors in the Mpheid_i.pst post processor, at least with respect to the machine I had to make a post processor for

---

"respect to the machine" is key here.

Many machine builders use the Heidenhain controllers. Which means the SAME control may need slighly different code formats dependant on the machine and/or machine builder.

 

-=ViBeZ=-

Email me your post and a list of changes needed.

If you have a sample MC8/MC9 and an edited NC file of those toolpath - even better.

 

I will also need to know your company name

and Mastercam HASP #

 

PostGuy

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

quote:

---

My employers are keen that the control stays in ISO for reasons I wont go into at the moment.

---

I'm going to go out on a limb here and state that ISO code is better and management is making the right decision. Why you ask? Because it makes more sense usually. When you have a bunch of conversational junk that really means nothing, you can're even take a look at it to make sure it's correct. You jusy dent it to the machine and hope everything is ok.

 

JM2C

[Oppiz]

To get rid of tooltable:

N100G99T4L0.R12.5

N102G99T3L0.R5.

N104G99T5L0.R5.

change line #147 to 0. Its should look like this:

tooltable : 0 #Call 'pwrtt' for pre-processing of tooltable.

Hope this helps.

[-=ViBeZ=-]

RE: ISO vs conversational code

 

Most of the machines in our workshop are programmed using ISO. We decided to keep the control running ISO codes because it means that once the operators has learned the codes for one machine, he has a good grounding for programming the other machine. It makes it easier regarding cnc training if all the machines talk the same language.

 

Anyway, I've mananged to edit the post to produce the output I wanted. Thanks for the help guys. If anyone needs help making similar changes just post a message & i'll try my best