Post output question...

[tmachine]

I am trying to change the tooltable to output something other than T1, T2 etc. I would like to change it to :Tool1, Tool2 etc. The reason for this is when I search for a tool at the machine it always stops at the comments at the top of the program instead of finding the start of that tool.

 

Anyway, I have played around with the tooltable area in mpmaster.pst, but the *t statement seems to be a numeric value and I don't see where it picks up the "T" from.

 

If someone could explain how to make this change I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Here is the code area that I refer to:

 

if t >= zero,

[

if tcr>0, "(", *t, ptspace, "|", plistcomm, "|", *tlngno, phspace, "|", *tloffno, pdspace, " | ", *tldia, punit, pdiamspc, " | ", *tcr, " | ", popnote, ")"

if tcr=0, "(", *t, ptspace, "|", plistcomm, "|", *tlngno, phspace, "|", *tloffno, pdspace, " | ", *tldia, punit, pdiamspc, " | ", " | ", popnote, ")"

]

[Brendan P]

When you are searching for a tool at the machine,why not punch in the control T1 curser down,or T1 fwd. search.

This should find the tool and not the comments.

[tmachine]

Thank you for your reponse. I have Mitsubishi Meldas controls and when I do a search it stops at the first find even if I repeat the search. Pressing cursor right or down before input did'nt seem to change anything.

[Jack Mitchell]

If the control is indeed a Mitsubishi Meldas 5000C (dated around 1980) then I don't believe the search will remain open. IE: (any incident becomes the only incident). Computing and controls are vastly improved today.

 

I might suggest only using line numbering at the actual tool change commands; this way you can search an "N" number easily and edit or resume from a desireable point within your program.

 

Sorry if I'm off on a tangent regarding to your question.

 

 

Regards, Jack

[tmachine]

Thanks Jack, mine are 1997 and 1998 models. When doing a search in the editor, it will go to the next occurance just by pressing search again. But not when I am trying to start somewhere in the middle of the program. What I do now is go into the editor and find the block number and then enter it. Works, but I would prefer to modify the post output. I could also delete the comments before sending to the machine, but I like the output from mpmaster.pst

[crazy^millman]

Well this is what I could do and here is what I came up with.

code:

---

(TOOL1  |  1/8 CENTERDRILL          | H0  | D0  | D0.1250"  |         | DRILL/CBORE)

(TOOL2 | 1/4 CENTERDRILL | H2 | D2 | D0.2500" | | DRILL/CBORE)

(TOOL3 | 1/2 CENTERDRILL | H3 | D3 | D0.5000" | | DRILL/CBORE)

(OVERALL MAX | Z2.)

(OVERALL MIN | Z0.)

N10 G00 G17 G20 G40 G49 G80 G90

N20 (DRILL)

N30 TOOL1 M06 ( 1/8 CENTERDRILL)

N40 (MAX | Z2.)

N50 (MIN | Z.5)

N60 G00 G90 G54 X-.928 Y-.8079 A60. S2139 M03

N70 G43 H0 Z2. M08

N80 G98 G81 Z.5 R.7 F1.03

N90 G80 M09

N100 M05

N110 G91 G28 Z0.

N120 M01

N130 TOOL2 M06 ( 1/4 CENTERDRILL)

N140 (MAX | Z2.)

N150 (MIN | Z0.)

---

And here is how I did it.

code:

---

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Toolchange / NC output Variable Formats

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

fmt TOOL 4 t #Tool No

fmt TOOL 4 first_tool #First Tool Used

fmt TOOL 4 next_tool #Next Tool Used

---

All of the TOOL were T just change that. I am not sure if your machine will run that way but will output every toolchange like that.

 

Also for a forum tip if you look at how this came out. If you use the code button in the UBB code it will keep it just like you see it in the post processor.

 

I hope that helps CRazy Millman

[Paul Decelles]

There are many things you can do to get the post to output what you want, the tool table post block actually contains several different versions of output which can be activated or deactivated by adding or removing the # symbol at the begining of the line(s) (The # symbol tells MP to ignore everything to the right of it). In your case, I would most likely simply modify the lines that are actually being output. First, find the variable formatting section (the area with the lines that start with fmt) and add the following to the bottom of that area :

code:

---

fmt  TOOL 4 tool    #Tool number output for tool table

---

then go to the ptooltable post block and add a line which says tool = t at the top of the postblock area (right above the tnote = t line). Now modify the line being output (the one without the #) by changing the *t to *tool.

 

I just want to note that the lines commented out already allow for a couple of different styles of output for the tooltable. In the case of the tnote = t, this variable is also used in the ptoolcomment postblock. You could simply comment out the lines currently being used and uncomment the lines outputting this value (which would give you the TOOL - # as opposed to the TOOL# which is what you asked for. You could also use this and change the format statement for tnote :

 

code:

---

fmt "TOOL - "       4   tnote       # Note format

---

to

code:

---

fmt TOOL       4   tnote       # Note format

---

(the quotes are needed to include the spaces in the original declaration - you wouldn't need them now). The problem here is that the ptoolcomment line would also output the same thing instead of the TOOL - # which is output now. This is why I went with the declaration of another variable instead. There are other methods to achieve what you want including using the result = nwadrs(,) function, but there really isn't any need to overcomplicate things here.

 

hope this helps...

[tmachine]

Thanks alot guys. I will bive this a try later today.

 

A seperate variable would have to be used since I only want to change the table at the top of the program not the tool changes.

 

Thanks again.

[crazy^millman]

Glad someone that knows better than me was able to point you in the right direction. Thanks alot Paul for pointing him and me in the right direction.

 

Crazy Millmna

[Paul Decelles]

You're welcome, modifications like this are pretty easy to accomplish and one of the things that make Mastercam such a nice piece of software to use. The addition of this end-user forum also adds a lot to the software package in that it gives the average joe the chance to learn a bit and do things that he would not be able to do without paying someone. Ok, now back to my paying customers....

 

[gms1]

I modified my post to output N codes only at the tool description line before each tool change. Now this could be done very easily after the tool change. Its just a personal preference.

Reading what ya got here thats the way I would it.

 

 

Greg