Turret selection handled in post?

[gms1]

Hey folks, we have an LU-400 lathe with an upper and lower turret. I would like to setup the post to output a G13 (upper turret) or G14 (lower turret) on each tool change depending on which turret I put the tool in.

My machine definition is already setup with the turrets defined, I just need a way to output the command. I see there is a misc. parameter 1016 with the lturret$ (0=lower turret, 1=upper turret) command. I'm sure I can use this parameter in some way but I'm not sure how to set it up. Any ideas?

[Jim Evans from CNC Software]

Hey folks, we have an LU-400 lathe with an upper and lower turret. I would like to setup the post to output a G13 (upper turret) or G14 (lower turret) on each tool change depending on which turret I put the tool in.

My machine definition is already setup with the turrets defined, I just need a way to output the command. I see there is a misc. parameter 1016 with the lturret$ (0=lower turret, 1=upper turret) command. I'm sure I can use this parameter in some way but I'm not sure how to set it up. Any ideas?

 

Try using a string selector and use lturret$ as the selector variable or just add the logic with an if statement. Don't know what post you are using but search it for lturret$ and see if and how it is used in other situations for some ideas. If need be you can always use the axis combination in the machine definition as well.

 

If you are using a Mastercam lathe post then most likely you already have a user defined variable lathtype that you can use to determine the turret/spindle combination. lathtype is calculated from lturret$ and spindle_no$

 

lathtype     : 0     #Lathe turret and spindle selection
                    #0 = Bottom turret/Left spindle
                    #1 = Top turret/Left spindle
                    #2 = Bottom turret/Right spindle
                    #3 = Top turret/Right spindle

[gms1]

This change was easier than I thought

 

      if lturret$ = 1,				#added 5/24/2011 gms
     	[
     	pbld, n$, "G13", "(UPPER TURRET)", e$
     	]
     if lturret$ = 0,
     	[
     	pbld, n$, "G14", "(LOWER TURRET)", e$
     	]

 

I added this to my ltlchg$ section of the post and it works like a champ!