Changing over to X style coolant on existing operations library

[Thad]

I have a pretty extensive operations library and I'm having trouble incorporating X style coolant into it. I'm just now switching to X style coolant because I can't get "air coolant" to output G83/84 without it...but that's another topic in the Post forum. My problem is that after enabling X style coolant, when I go in to edit my ops library (through Machine group properties-Files), the new coolant options don't show up. I only see the old style coolant options. If I import operations, THEN I see all of the coolant options on the coolant page, but everything is set to coolant off. That means that I have to set my coolant options for every op that I import. That kinda ruins the purpose of an ops library.

 

Has anyone seen this?

 

Thad

[CJep]

It is set in the default mill machine def loaded into the operations defaults,...

[Colin Gilchrist]

Hi Thad,

 

The Operations file has a Machine Definition embedded inside it, and that is where the defaults are pulled from. You can get around this easy enough.

 

First, backup your .Operations-x file. Then rename the ".Operations-x" file to the MCX file extension for your version. For X6, you would rename the ".Operations-6" file to ".MCX-6".

 

Now you can open the .Operations file in Mastercam. Do this, the replace the Machine Definition in the file with your newly modified Machine Definition.

 

After that is done, you can make all your Operation specific edits.

 

Save the file, then clear out the Mastercam database with Machine Type > Design, File > New.

 

Now go into Windows and rename your .MCX-6 file to .Operations-6, and you should be good to go...

 

Thanks,

 

Colin

[Thad]

You guys are the best.

 

I renamed to .MCX-6 and opened to make changes but they didn't stick. I never thought to reload the new machine def. Doh!

 

Thad

[Hacsta]

I tried this too but now after renaming the mcx file to operations it just changed the name and not extension it still has the mcx extension. Am I missing something ?

[CJep]

Here is the exact sequence of events,...

 

 

1 - go to C:\Users\Public\Documents\Shared McamX7\mill\ops\ rename mill_inch.defaults-7 to mill_inch.mcx-7

2 - open mill_inch.mcx-7 in Mastercam as a part file

3 - open the Machine definition through the settings drop down

4 - use general machine parameters and set the coolant to the VX style

5 - save the file & exit Mcam

6 - go back to C:\Users\Public\Documents\Shared McamX7\mill\ops\, rename mill_inch.mcx-7 back to mill_inch.defaults-7

[Colin Gilchrist]

Make sure you aren't doing the renaming in Mastercam. You need to use Windows Explorer, and make your edits there. All you need to change is the file extension, the file name should remain the same.

[Thad]

OK, I made all the coolant changes last night but didn't get to test it. Now I tested it and it doesn't work.

 

If I go to Machine group properties - Files and click the ! to edit my ops library, all of my new coolant settings are correct. The problem is, when I import ops, all coolant is set to off (ignore).

 

I re-did the whole re-naming thing and opened my ops library as a MCX-6 file and the coolant settings are correct. I renamed back to .OPERATIONS-6. I open MC and before doing anything, I click on Machine group properties - Files and I see all of the coolant settings are correct. There...I double checked it. I close that window out. Then I import some ops and all coolant is set to off (ignore). Something is going haywire in the import process.

 

Thad

[Thad]

Hang on, weird things are happening.

[CJep]

Then I import some ops and all coolant is set to off (ignore). Something is going haywire in the import process.

 

If you are importing previously programmed operations then the settings from those tpaths are going to be retained, you could select all the toolpaths right click in the ops manager, edit selected operations, edit common parameters and reset the coolant there.

[Thad]

CJep,

 

They're not previously programmed operations. I'm importing from my ops library, not from another MC file.

 

The coolant settings are correct in two different instances. Only when I import the operations are they messed up.

 

Thad

[CJep]

CJep,

 

They're not previously programmed operations. I'm importing from my ops library, not from another MC file.

 

The coolant settings are correct in two different instances. Only when I import the operations are they messed up.

 

Thad

 

Why not just write the toolpath fresh and don't import out of the ops library,...

Once you have the coolant set to use the X style you can go into the operations default and set the coolant for all the tpaths you're using,..

Then when ever you write a new tpath the coolant should already be on,...

[Thad]

Why not just write the toolpath fresh and don't import out of the ops library,...

 

Because I have a big ops library with depth cuts, lead in/outs, clearances, step overs, entry types, stock to leave, tap/ream/c'bore sizes, etc all set up to the correct numbers. In the grand scheme of things, coolant is the smallest of issues...but I still want it to work like it should.

 

Thad

[CJep]

Because I have a big ops library with depth cuts, lead in/outs, clearances, step overs, entry types, stock to leave, tap/ream/c'bore sizes, etc all set up to the correct numbers. In the grand scheme of things, coolant is the smallest of issues...but I still want it to work like it should.

 

Thad

 

Use the same sequence only instead of the defaults do the same thing with the operations file,....

Only this time since you changed the default coolant setting for the global copy of the mill default machine all you need to do is reload the machine def,...

 

1 - go to C:\Users\Public\Documents\Shared McamX7\mill\ops\ rename mill_inch.operations-7 to mill_inch.mcx-7

2 - open mill_inch.mcx-7 in Mastercam as a part file

3 - open the Machine definition through the settings drop down

4 - use general machine parameters and set the coolant to the VX style

5 - save the file & exit Mcam

6 - go back to C:\Users\Public\Documents\Shared McamX7\mill\ops\, rename mill_inch.mcx-7 back to mill_inch.operations-7

[Colin Gilchrist]

Chris/Thad,

 

I've confirmed there is a bug when importing Operations from a .Operations-x file. The coolant settings do not get imported if you are using X-style coolant. I believe they do get set properly with V9 style coolant, but I still need to test that further. I'll get it logged as a bug.

 

Thanks,

 

Colin

[Thad]

Yup, went through all of that yesterday. No workie.

 

From talking to Colin offline, it sounds like it's a bug. A former co-worker had similar problems with coolant when importing ops from a library in X5 and X6, which was documented through our reseller. For now, I've gone back to the old style coolant and hard coded a M84 into pretract. It's unnecessary code when using flood coolant, but at least it works.

 

Thad

[Thad]

Colin,

 

V9 coolant brings in the coolant settings like they're supposed to.

 

Thad

[Colin Gilchrist]

Ok, I'll take a look at your post and figure out how to swap out "M09" for "M84" when you shut off the air blast...

[Glenn Bouman]

It has been common knowledge since the X style coolant was released that it does not support default settings. I never could understand why there would be an option to turn on the coolant before the toolchange

[Colin Gilchrist]

If you mean the "Before" option, all that does is process the coolant commands through 'pcan'. It gives the post writer the ability to move the call to 'pcan', 'pcan1', and 'pcan2' to change the location of coolant output. We do need to address the settings not being carried over when you import an operation...

[Colin Gilchrist]

The current fix for Thad's issue is to use V9 style coolant, and swap out the "Off" string before output so he can have different "Off" codes, based on which coolant was active for that operation.

 

First, I modified the string select table for V9 coolant:

 

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Coolant M code selection for V9 style coolant
# Note: To enable V9 style coolant, click on the General Machine Parameters icon
#   in the Machine Definition Manager, Coolant tab, enable first check box
#   Output of V9 style coolant commands in this post is controlled by scoolant
sm09    : "M09"  #CNC 8/2/13
sm84    : "M84"  #CNC 8/2/13
sm89    : "M89"  #CNC 8/2/13
scoolindx   : ""	    #CNC 8/2/13 - Index string for slin function
scooloff    : "M9"	  #CNC 8/2/13 - Coolant Off
sm08	    : "M08"	 #CNC 8/2/13 - Coolant Flood
sm08_1	  : "M83"	 #CNC 8/2/13 - Coolant Mist
sm08_2	  : "M88"	 #CNC 8/2/13 - Coolant Tool
scoolant    : ""	    #Target string
fstrsel scooloff coolant$ scoolant 4 -1 #CNC 8/2/13 - changed string select index

 

Then, I added some code in 'pretract' for controlling the coolant off code:

 

  #cc_pos is reset in the toolchange here
  cc_pos$ = zero
  gcode$ = zero
  if prv_coolant$ = 1, sm09 = slin(1, scoolindx)  #CNC 8/2/13
  if prv_coolant$ = 2, sm84 = slin(1, scoolindx)  #CNC 8/2/13
  if prv_coolant$ = 3, sm89 = slin(1, scoolindx)  #CNC 8/2/13 
  pbld, n$, sccomp, *sm05, psub_end_mny, e$
  pbld, n$, scoolant, e$
  pbld, n$, sgabsinc, sgcode, *sg28ref, "Z0.", scoolant, e$						    #removed scoolant and put on previous line
  #if nextop$ = 1003 | tlchg_home, pbld, n$, *sg28ref, "X0.", "Y0.", protretinc, e$    #commented out  tws 5-10-13
  if nextop$ = 1003 | tlchg_home, pbld, n$, "X0.", "Y0.", e$
  #else, pbld, n$, protretinc, e$