Post for Macro Feeds

[mr801]

I have been messing around with my post on making it post out macro variables for feeds. Little success, close, but no cigar. Has anyone used a post in this manner. Sample code:

 

 

O1000 (HORIZONTAL MACRO)

G00 G17 G20 G40 G80 G94 G90

G91 G30 Z0.

M01

(COMPENSATION TYPE - COMPUTER)

N53 T53 M06 ( 1/2 FLAT ENDMILL 3 FLT FINISH)

(MAX - Z2.)

(MIN - Z-.5)

#100=25.(PLUNGE FEED)

#101=80.(FEED)

#102=1969.(BACK FEEDRATE)

#103=1000.(RETRACT)

M11 (UNLOCK)

G00 G17 G90 G54 X-1.51 Y-.125 B0. S14000 M03

M10 (LOCK)

G43 H53 Z2. M08

G94

G332 R3.

G05 P10000

Z.2

G01 Z-.5 F#100

X-1.385 F#101

G03 X-1.26 Y0. I0. J.125

G01 Y1.

G02 X-1. Y1.26 I.26 J0.

G01 X1.

G02 X1.26 Y1. I0. J-.26

G01 Y-1.

G02 X1. Y-1.26 I-.26 J0.

G01 X-1.

G02 X-1.26 Y-1. I0. J.26

G01 Y0.

G03 X-1.385 Y.125 I-.125 J0.

G01 X-1.51

Z-.3 F#103

G00 Z2.

X-1.5 Y-.125

Z.2

G01 Z-.5 F#100

X-1.375 F#101

G03 X-1.25 Y0. I0. J.125

G01 Y1.

G02 X-1. Y1.25 I.25 J0.

G01 X1.

G02 X1.25 Y1. I0. J-.25

G01 Y-1.

G02 X1. Y-1.25 I-.25 J0.

G01 X-1.

G02 X-1.25 Y-1. I0. J.25

G01 Y0.

G03 X-1.375 Y.125 I-.125 J0.

G01 X-1.5

Z-.3 F#103

G00 Z2. M09

G05 P0

M05 G91 G30 Z0.

M01

M11 (UNLOCK)

G91 G28 X0. Y0. B0.

M10 (LOCK)

M30

 

This is just a simple program of what I would like it to do. I would like to replace the plunge,feed, backfeedrate, and retract with macro variables. This way I could change one number and that affects the whole toolpath for that tool. A lot of the high speed toolpaths are pretty large files. I have a fanuc 31iA control that is fairly fast at finding and replacing but for those that have older controllers this would help out. If anyone has done this before I would be interested in how they implemented it into their post.

[mkd]

great idea!

why wouldn't everyone (with macros) want it this way??

seems like it will require a bit of development to post the table after each tool change and to supplant actual feeds with variables.

certainly doable

[Zoffen]

I have toyed around with this idea before....

 

the real deal breaker i see is telling when the toolpath move is in a back feed rate vs. the cut feed rate....

 

while now thinking about it though you could capture the parameter values from the TP boxes and then add some logic to determine if its in feed or backfeed mode and post the correct variable#

 

I guess i'll have to try that out this weekend lol!

 

I'll let you know how it works out.

[mr801]

I'm going to play around with it some more to see if I can get it working correctly. I will get back with any results that I come up with. I failed to mention that you would really only want to do this with milling operations and omit the variables in drill cycles. One other reason that I would find this useful would be for R&D testing on new cutters with feeds and speeds. Thanks for the replies. I am going to go shove my nose back in the post for more editing.

[mkd]

one caveat i thought of on the drive home night job would be that of complexity.

 

say one tool runs with 4 MC operations all with differing feeds. each time the program switches to the next op, you would have to be switching to new feed variables (or at least redefine the same ones at this point).

the main thing would be how to deal with this in a clever and simple manner. hmmmmmm?

[mkd]

post serial numbers for each operation two places:

first, just after the tool change, a master table for this tool run

(op1)

#101=10.

""

""

(op2)

#110=15.

""

""

*****************************************************************

then at each operation change (just to visually be able to see where ops change):

(op1)

zxy123

 

(op2)

zxy123..

[Henk]

great idea!

why wouldn't everyone (with macros) want it this way??

 

I don't want it this way.

This only works if all operations for one tool have the same feedrate, no aditional feedrate for finish passes and so on.

I agree that it's easy to change the feed by the operator.

IMO if feedrates in the programmes should be correct no changes by the operator are needed.