serial numbering

[cherokeechief79]

can this be done in mc?i need to do about 500 parts.

I searched but couldn't find anything definite.

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

You need to run a serial numbering macro on your machine.  A search here should turn up several examples.  If you don't find what you want let me know and I'll send you mine, though you'll probably have to adjust it for your purposes.

[civiceg]

You could write out the Macro call and associated commands as a manual entry, so it posts out correctly. 

[Frank Caudillo]

On 7/28/2017 at 2:36 PM, civicegg said:

You could write out the Macro call and associated commands as a manual entry, so it posts out correctly. 

This is what we do. Create a point toolpath where you want to macro to start, since it's probably all incremental, and then a manual entry with the macro call and any parameters needed to pass through into the macro. 

[jeff]

We used to use macros for serial lettering, but then we bought an etcher.

Now the only lettering we do at the mill anymore is on a diameter or special stuff that the etcher cannot do.

[huskermcdoogle]

2 hours ago, jeff said:

We used to use macros for serial lettering, but then we bought an etcher.

Now the only lettering we do at the mill anymore is on a diameter or special stuff that the etcher cannot do.

There is a bit of merit to this, except for when you have limitations where you need to keep track of cut order and you have multiple fixture nests and whatnot.  Carrying them to the etcher can be a problem when you need to have trace-ability in the order that you cut them.  You could use trays and whatnot in these cases, but I have found that to be about as reliable as the person carrying them...

Otherwise, the etchers are slick as heck.  Much easier to setup and quick as can be.

[balnh]

You didn't say what machine you need to do this on? We serialize parts daily on Haas' like in that video with G47. We also do it in our fadals with L9201 cycle. This literally only reason we still have fadals. Our fanucs use a cheap little macro that I whipped up after some research on the web.  Real simple just runs off subs. 

[huskermcdoogle]

5 minutes ago, balnh said:

 Real simple just runs off subs. 

These work, but are pretty dirty, and not very flexible.  If you dig some more on the web, I have posted one up on Practical Machininst, and possibly here, dont remember.  It's pretty functional in comparison to the sub based ones, it has rotation, scaling, and whatnot.  I wrote it back in the day for a job with 30 parts on the nest that needed julian date + serial number in the bore cut order.  Anyway, if you are on a Fanuc and would like some help, more than happy to do so.

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

I did one with rotation, scaling, map on an arc, and project on a cylinder.  I posted it here some time ago.

[huskermcdoogle]

Map on arc and project on cylinder, those are good features for sure.  What control options did you use to accomplish this with relative ease code wise?

 

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

I just used Fanuc Macro B and lots of trig.  I even added support for a machine that didn't have an arctangent function; it would calculate the arctangent the hard way.  It ran really slow in that mode but it still ran.

[huskermcdoogle]

Sometimes you have to run before you can walk.

[huskermcdoogle]

Bass awkwards, brain I have.

[Guess_who]

We use macro B for all engraving, serial #, date code, etc. We use the comment of the Mastercam operation. For date code and serial # we use special codes like @, and >

For example if we wanted to engrave part # (space) rev (doub space) serial #,   the OP comment would read  " 1234-5678 REV A  >  "

Our post is setup to spit out something like this  -  G65P9970 A0 B.25 I1. J2. K3. I4. J129. K5. I6. J7. K8. I127. J118. J105. K122. I127. J127. K99.

[huskermcdoogle]

1 minute ago, Ray D Modern Industries said:

We use macro B for all engraving, serial #, date code, etc. We use the comment of the Mastercam operation. For date code and serial # we use special codes like @, and >

For example if we wanted to engrave part # (space) rev (doub space) serial #,   the OP comment would read  " 1234-5678 REV A  >  "

Our post is setup to spit out something like this  -  G65P9970 A0 B.25 I1. J2. K3. I4. J129. K5. I6. J7. K8. I127. J118. J105. K122. I127. J127. K99.

How do you keep track of the serial numbers then?

[Guess_who]

7 minutes ago, huskermcdoogle said:

How do you keep track of the serial numbers then?

Sorry I forgot to mention that part. The serial number pulls from offset 99, and auto increments 1 every run, but the operator can put whatever number in there they want. 

[huskermcdoogle]

makes sense

 

[balnh]

4 hours ago, huskermcdoogle said:

These work, but are pretty dirty, and not very flexible.  If you dig some more on the web, I have posted one up on Practical Machininst, and possibly here, dont remember.  It's pretty functional in comparison to the sub based ones, it has rotation, scaling, and whatnot.  I wrote it back in the day for a job with 30 parts on the nest that needed julian date + serial number in the bore cut order.  Anyway, if you are on a Fanuc and would like some help, more than happy to do so.

Thanks for the tip. I'll check on that site for the one you are talking about. Mine doesn't scale or rotate, definataley cheap and dirty. 

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

Here's mine:

Serial.NC

 

Run it in NCPlot to play with the settings and see what you'll get.

[balnh]

Awesome many thanks.!