Getting the toolpath group name into the NC program

[Richard Thomas - Mastercam UK]

There used to be a function called strtpgroupname which would get the name of the Toolpath Group out into the NC program. (actually... now that I think of it I'm not sure what would have happened if you had multiple toolpath groups!)

This function does not appear to work anymore - I updated an old X3 post and the customised toolpath group name (e.g. "Counter top") just comes out as "Toolpath Group-1".

Is there still a way of doing this?

[nickbe10]

Check for parameter number changes, especially with a "source" post that old. Grab an mpmaster of the version you want to update to and check the pparameter$ block, or get the latest documentation for post editing. It is still there in X9, haven't explored 2017 / 2018 yet.

[dmaier]

I am looking for the parameter for the toolpath group as well as the machine group parameter. I am going through the reference guide right now and haven't found anything doing a electronic search. I will be going through the 296 pages in the "Operations Parameter Referance" to find them.  I will post an update on what I find.

[Colin Gilchrist]

There are settings in the Control Definition (checkboxes) that control comment output to the NCI file. Make sure that the output is enabled. The group comments (Machine, Tool path group, group comment) are NCI numbers 1051-1054.

These are output as Comment Strings. So you should be able to capture the value in 'pcomment2'. Not sure if that is where your String variable is being set. I don't thing there is a pre-defined string for that one, so 'scomm$' would be the generic pre-defined variable that holds the comment string, when the NCI number is 1051-1054.

[dmaier]

NCI 1051-1054 did not have any info for Tool Group Name. I was able to find a parameter number (19248) for Machine Group Name in the parameters guide to match NCI 1053. Still looking to get the Tool Group Name. Worse case senerio I will just put the Info I desire from the tool group name into the machine group comment section. Its an extra click or two but I do have a parameter number for that as well (19111). I did play with checking the box in control definition  to enable machine group name comments but that was posting in my gcode more than I wanted. For the format I am looking to have, I want this info posted once in the comment section of the pheader$. Will give an update if I do find the parameter number. Still looking.

[Guest]

How old is the post?

  Most newer ones have this coded right into pcomment2

if gcode$ = 1008, pbld, n$,  sopen_prn, scomm$, sclose_prn, e$  #Operation comment
      if gcode$ = 1051, pbld, n$,  sopen_prn, scomm$, sclose_prn, e$  #Machine name
      if gcode$ = 1052, pbld, n$,  sopen_prn, scomm$, sclose_prn, e$  #Group comment
      if gcode$ = 1053, pbld, n$,  sopen_prn, scomm$, sclose_prn, e$  #Group name
      if gcode$ = 1054, pbld, n$,  sopen_prn, scomm$, sclose_prn, e$  #File Descriptor

 

[dmaier]

I have the lasted MPFAN post v20.00. Unless I am miss understanding the NCI 1051-1054 values, the red box with the question marks is the information I am trying to add as a comment. I just finished looking through the parameters pdf with no luck.

 

[crazy^millman]

Go to MPMASTER off this website. MPFAN is not a good one to even try this with IMHO. MPMASTER has a lot of the things Mill.set or Mill2.set along with the ability to post code.