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Manual - Ability Systems Corporation

1. 16 Input Query Saee Jeter baute d eges 16 Feed Hold Input 255 c4 erui re ERES 17 The Stages of Motion 17 Chapter 4 MENU USAGE earns aie SE BORSE ERSEN 19 Table of Contents i General px ceteris e Pete tent HERO EDS aes 19 Context Sensitive s 2 a4 da ie oe Rao seen Se SANE 19 Keyboard Navigation 004 20 The System Setup Menu 20 The Job Setup Menu 21 Tool Motion 4 e246 be eda b ed eed eh eee 22 Chapter 5 LIST DIALOGS 1st iran are ie eet foie Sh 25 Command Lists 2s ie Se cath ale ele oe RENS 25 Indexer LPT Commands 26 List Directives x pis read beng Ses 26 Chapter 6 SYSTEM SET UPS 22234 5B E RASERESERCOLEE RS del 31 Stage Configuration 2 52 lg SR eR E 32 Limit Switch Seek Configuration 36 Cycle Start Configuration 40 Feed Hold Configuration 41 Feed Rate Override 5 22 ioco ra RR 43 Joystick 2 3624 obese pies beh EX DPA GU 44 Startup Commands seelelsess 46 Ae gd eR ee E ai E ts 47 NECOUBS 2a gee donee IERLeLEUR S eh Ld 48 On the Fly Switching 49 Special M Codes sois ei lS DE RI ws 51 T Codes i e Fes eae ide cae bette eed 55 Display acti kine peio haa a Wye neat raced id testers 56 Passwords foes 20 riar As Hes tae 57 Save Setup Pile iaces ues xck ER NOAs 59 DidenOsucs nue kEX WE KRAUS RE
2. clear_all_returns Stage This List Directive clears the entire Position Return List for the designated Stage disable_limit_report In some designs use such as machines that require squaring parallel stages for initialization limit switch interruption is inten tionally effected as part of the automatic sequence See the sub section entitled Squaring Parallel Drives in the Limit Switch Seek Configuration section of the chapter entitled System Set ups This List Directive suppresses the pop up window that alerts the operator when a limit switch interruption occurrs within the list This List Directive must appear as the first entry to the list G Code Controller Design Reference SYSTEM SET UPS System Set ups Chapter 6 G Code Controller R RECT CAM Top View File Job Production Lm Diagnostic View Help ex 2 Sz Ed AA Cycle Start Feed Hold Feed Rate Override Joystick Startup Commands M Code T Code S Code d Passwords Display SYSTEM SET UPS Systemset up values reflect and constitute the design of your machine For this reason though values may appear as place holders when the software is run for the first time there are NO default values Each System set up value must be reviewed by the machine designer and assigned a meaningful setting System set up values can be edited by means of the System selection on the G Code Controller Design
3. g code controller Copyright 2001 2009 Ability Systems Corporation Ability Systems Corp 1422 Arnold Avenue Roslyn PA 19001 Phone 215 657 4338 fax 215 657 7815 website www abilitysystems com email motion abilitysystems com 129 7 r5 VER 2 G Code Controller Version 2 Copyright 1996 2009 Ability Systems Corporation All rights reserved Except as authorized by Ability Systems no part of this publication may be reproduced in any form by any method for any purpose Ability Systems Corporation makes no warranty except as specifically provided in the Program License Agreement either expressed or implied including but not limited to any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose regarding these materials and makes such materials available solely on an as is basis READ AND UNDERSTAND THE TERMS OF THE PROGRAM LICENSE AGREEMENT LOCATED ON THE DISKETTE PACKAGE SEND THE MATERIALS BACK TO THE PLACE OF PURCHASE FOR A REFUND IF YOU DO NOT AGREE UNDERSTAND THE HAZARDS OF MOTION CONTROL SYSTEMS BEFORE USING THIS SOFTWARE By breaking the seal of the disk package or by using these materials you agree to be bound by the conditions of the Program License Agreement As per the Program License Agreement Ability Systems Corporation dis claims liability to anyone for special collateral incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the use of these materials The
4. G40 G41 G42 Radius Offset Compensation Radius Offset Compensation sometimes called Curf Width Compensation automatically adjusts the path of the tool away from the work so that the contour described by G01 G02 and G03 commands can represent the dimensions of the finished part Offset compensation occurs in the X Y plane and assumes that the tool enters the work from the Z direction Retrieving Offset Values The actual diameter of the tool is stored in the Tool Offset Table and read into the Part Programusing the index into the Tool Offset Table as an argument to the D word To edit the Page 124 G Code Controller Design Reference PART PROGRAMMING G40 G41 G42 Radius Offset Compensation Tool Offset Table refer to the chapter entitled Job Set Ups For example suppose the diameter 1 00 is stored under index 3 in the Tool Offset Table To retrieve this value for use in Radius Offset Compensation D3 would be used by the Part Program The amount of offset applied to the tool path in this case would be 0 500 which is one half of the diameter Left and Right Offset With the of the diameter of the tool read by means of the D word G41 or G42 can be used to automatically offset the tool path Looking in the direction of tool motion use G41 to offset the path to the left or G42 to offset the tool path to the right Radius Offset Compensation is instated after G41 or G42 is executed It will remain in effect until i
5. Position D Left Right Switches 52 53 Control Stage Down Up Switches 51 54 Control Stage Stage Pair Selector Switch Position 1 Left Right Switches 52 53 Control Stage Down Up Switches 51 54 Control Stage x 5m Snapping over this button invokes the Joystick Stage Configuration dialog The Indexer LPT joystick option can con trol up to four axes of motion from a single joystick The Joystick Stage Configuration dialog allows you to assign motion stages to the joystick control switches The switch numbers in the dialog S1 S4 refer to the schematic diagram in the Indexer LPT documentation G Code Controller Design Reference Page 45 Startup Commands SYSTEM SET UPS Startup Commands Startup Commands wees WARNING DANGER These commands will execute AUTOMATICALLY AND WITHOUT USER PROMPTING when the program loads PROGRAMS CAN BE LOADED INADVERTENTLY Do NOT include commands that would result in unexpected actions that could cause physical injury or harm Indexer LPT Commands winding_power f 0 dwell 25 winding_power f 1 save_num 10 10 123 Cancel This dialog provides for execution of a sequence of Indexer LPT commands and List Directives when the program is started List Directives are explained in the chapter entitled List Dialogs This list is typically used for initializing hardware com ponents and setting machine variables When the power is first turned on to the computer
6. Desktop or drag its Shortcut to the Program Files group if you prefer to see it there G Code Controller Design Reference Page 147 Setting the Look Ahead Queue Buffer GETTING STARTED Setting the Look Ahead Queue Buffer Page 148 If you expect your application to accommodate smooth con touring most application do then you will need to set the size of Indexer LPT s look ahead queue buffer Refer to the chapter entitled Queue Processing in the Indexer LPT manual for more detailed technical information The Indexer LPTcommand set_q_memis used to set the size of the buffer The Indexer LPT command command_mem can be helpful to determine how much memory you wish to set aside for this purpose Both of these commands are described in detail in the chapter entitled Commands in the Indexer LPT manual Look ahead memory is only used for continuous contours feeds G01 G02 G03 At the end of each contour such as the occurrence of G00 the queue buffer is emptied and re used Consequently it is not generally necessary to fit the entire Part Program into the queue buffer The object of this section is to arrive at a reasonable figure that meets your performance expectations If you expect at any time that a contour within your Part Program may exceed the amount of memory your system is capable of you may insert code that cannot be buffered such as GOO which would force the buffer at that juncture to automatically execu
7. In a concrete example a sequence of commands are set up under M10 to accomplish a punch press cycle The commands 1 activate a solenoid to extend a hydraulic cylinder 2 Wait for a switch signal that indicates the cylinder is extended 3 Deactivate the solenoid to retract the cylinder and 4 wait for a switch signal that indicates the cylinder is retracted In this example subsequent to G88 the Part Program need only include rapid traversals to the locations of the punch points After each rapid traversal M10 will be executed until G88 is cancelled with G80 See the chap ter entitled Part Programming for more on canned cycles G Code Controller Design Reference SYSTEM SET UPS T Codes T Codes The G Code Controller supports up to one hundred 100 customizable T codes Each T code can dispense a unique list of Indexer LPT commands and List Directives The argument to the T word in the Part Program determines which list is execut ed To edit the list of Indexer LPT commands associated with any T code select the code number using the spin control in the dialog that appears after you snap Setup gt T Codes When you snap over the Configure button a list editor appears for the select ed T code number You may enter any number of Indexer LPT commands using the list editor T codes are typically used to implement automatic tool changing It is common in automated systems to use a tool change carousel that indexes tools to a common
8. Z A B C I J K are followed by decimal numbers For whole number values the decimal point is optional Rate Control F and S Words The Rate Control words F and S are followed by a decimal number For whole number values the decimal point is optional G00 Rapid Traverse This command word is used to move rapidly from point to point using the Rapid Traverse rates set up under System gt Stage Configuration gt Stage gt Rapid Traverse Rate After G00 is executed rapid traverse remains in effect until it is can celled by G01 G02 or G03 When Rapid Traverse is in effect if multiple positioning words appear in the same block motion will occur along the short est path to the destination point All stages will start motion together finish motion together and remain in linear proportion along the way The Stage that requires the greatest number of control pulses to reach the destination point will automatically master the motion Other Stages will slave as if connected by gears Example GOO G91 X8 66 Y5 0 This Block of code will execute motion from the current position incremental motion is specified by G91 to a location 8 66 inches or other units as per the System set up in the posi tive direction along the X Stage and 5 0 inches along the Y Stage If the step resolution is the same for the X and Y Stages the speed of the motion will be governed by the values set up under the X Stage s Rapid Traverse Ra
9. keystrokes simultaneously or an external input The Main Menu appears across the title bar Sub menus drop down in a list when a selection is made from the Main Menu The most commonly used menu selections can be alternatively selected by snapping over its associated icon in the Toolbar Context Sensitive Context sensitive menus and dialogs greatly simplify using G Code Controller You are only presented with menus and con trols that are suitable to the particular task that you are perform ing so for example when a control panel for running a Job is up the Main Menu only presents items such as viewing and manual positioning and does not present selections that cannot or should not be used like setups or diagnostics You can optionally hide G Code Controller Design Reference Page 19 The System Setup Menu MENU USAGE Job and System setup menus to further simplify the user inter face Dialogs are also context sensitive in the sense that they only present information and selections that you have designed into your machine For example G Code Controller can control up to six Stages of motion but if you only activate two of these Stages the Position Readout and Manual Motion controls will only dis play the two Stages that you had made available and sized accordingly The size and position of the most used windows and dialogs are saved to disk so you can adjust them according to your needs and they will reappear in the same man
10. Absolute then the arguments to the stage positioning words represent the distance of the destination point from Program Zero If the current positioning mode is G91 Incremental then the arguments to the stage positioning words represent the distance of the destination point from the current location of the tool The words used to specify the center point of the arc are I and J Iis used to specify the center point along the X axis except for plane G19 Y Z in which case I represents a Y axis position J is used to specify the center point position in the Y axis for plane G17 X Y otherwise it is used to specify Z axis position Arguments to the center point location words are used according to the method set up for the job under Job gt Defaults gt G02 G03 See the Arc Translation section of the chapter enti tled Job Set ups If the Job set up specifies the arc center points to be Always Incremental then the arguments to center point location words will always be the distance from the current location of the tool If the Job set up specifies the arc center points to be Always Absolute then the arguments to the center point location words will always reflect the distance from Program Zero Otherwise if the Job set up specifies Follows G90 G91 then the arguments to the center point location words will reflect the current positioning mode absolute or incremental The example Part Programs in the screen clip are set up in
11. Reference PART PROGRAMMING G43 G49 Tool Length Compensation e 3D Window P OpenVert TE File Edit Format view Help G00 G90 X1 Y1 20 G01 2 1 D3 G42 tion in the X Y plane as it starts as shown in the illustration For closed contours the best offset path needed to cut the entire perimeter of the contour is used The offset point into a closed contour is located at a point on the optimized tool path also shown in the screen clip Vertical Entry and Exit Any segment of motion that does not contain movement in X or Y directions does not contain enough information to apply Radius Offset Compensation However it is often desirable to plunge the tool vertically into the work along the Z axis at the start of a contoured tool path In the same manner it is often desirable to retract the tool vertically at the completion of a con tour The G Code Controller accomplishes this by applying the offset entry point of the first segment containing motion in the X or Y direction to the X Y coordinates of the entry and exit vertical segments as shown in the screen clip G Code Controller Design Reference Page 127 G43 49 Tool Length Compensation PART PROGRAMMING e G Code Controller SQUARE CAM Front View P OpenVert txt EIE File Edit Format View Help G00 G90 X1 Y1 20 G01 2 1 D3 H3 G42 G43 coo X 5 Y3 5 xo YO M30 G43 G49 Tool Length Compensation Page 128 Tool Length Compensatio
12. Reference Page 31 Stage Configuration INTRODUCTION Main Menu After changes have Discrete Gen Ba been made the System Save System Setup menu option will Stage Configuration become accessible Selecting this Cycle Start menu will save changes that you had Feed Hold made to a file entitled GIXA INI file Feed Rate Override which is located in the WINDOWS Joystick folder Startup Commands M Code T Code 5 Code Passwords Display Save System Setup Stage Configuration Page 32 Motor controlled Stages are configured by means of dialogs accessible from the fly out menus that pop up when you select or hover the cursor over the System gt Stage Configuration menu as shown in the first illustration in this chapter Check marks appear next to the stages that have been activated Stages without check marks are disabled The illustration on the following page shows the dialog used to configure each Stage and the following text describes the meaning of each field in the dialog Feed Motor X Axis This field contains the Indexer LPT axis designation for the Stages Acceptable values are a through f Active This check box must be checked for the Stage to be activat ed Otherwise the Stage is disabled and not recognized by the system Once a Stage has been activated a check will mark will also appear next to its designation where it appears in the fly out menu that you used to
13. Run Tool Path control Starting Speed The Starting Speed is the instantaneous rate at which motion for tool feed starts from rest This value is used to compute Indexer LPT s feed_lowspeed described in the Indexer LPT manual Vector Speed Running Speed Vector Speed is the speed of the tool across the work This G Code Controller Design Reference JOB SET UPS Feed Rates Default Feed Rates Production Starting Speed 50o inmin Vector Speed f inmin Acceleration ao in mim per sec Feed Shift 50 in min Dry Run Starting Speed 50 in min Running Speed 250 inmin Acceleration 400 in min Per sec Feed Shift 50 in min Cancel value is used to compute Indexer LPT s feed_highspeed described in the Indexer LPT manual The value in the Vector Speed field is the default Feed rate The Feed rate can be changed within the Part Program using the F command In a concrete example the value for Vector Speed in the illustration defines the default feed rate at a value of 100 inches per minute If F80 occurs within a Part Program that is being executed under the Production gt Run menu the Feed rate changes from 100 to 80 inches per minute When the Job re loaded or rewinded via M30 the default feed rate of 100 is reinstated Running Speed is nomenclature that we use to specify the vector speed when a Job is run using the Production gt Dry Run menu F commands within the part program have no effect d
14. Stage Retract Distance from the point of interruption Indexer LPT Commands After Limit Seek After Retract This list will be executed at the end of the Production Limit Switch Seek sequence G Code Controller Design Reference Page 39 Cycle Start Configuration SYSTEM SET UPS Cycle Start Configuration Cycle Start Configuration Keyboard Ctl F2 Start Switch Indexer LPT Command to Query Start Switch scan g 2 9 0 Start Switch Query Result 1 V Require Two Start Switches Indexer LPT Command to Query Second Start Switch scan g 1 9 0 Second Start Switch Query Result 1 x Keyboard lt Ctrl gt lt F2 gt Start Switch When this check box is checked motion sequences requiring Cycle Start are initiated by simultaneously pressing the keyboard Ctrl and function key F2 If this box is not checked external sig nals are used for Cycle Start and appropriate set up fields appear in the dialog box Indexer LPT Command to Query Start Switch Start Switch Query Result The Cycle Start input is used by the G Code Controller to determine when the operator wishes to initiate motor movement The Query Start Switch field can be set up for any Indexer LPT query which responds with 1 and 0 Start Switch Query Result represents the query result necessary for motion to com mence In a concrete example the dialog in the illustration demon strates using joystick switches S6 and S7 installed as normally
15. Stop and Resume as well as the Canned Tapping cycle G84 Refer to the explanation under Special M Codes in the chapter entitled System Set Ups M07 M08 M09 Coolant Control These user definable M codes are typically used for coolant control where M06 turns a mist coolant on M07 turns a flood coolant on and M09 turns all coolants off These M codes are uniquely handled by the system and interact with Program Stop and Resume Refer to the explana tion under Special M Codes in the chapter entitled System Set Ups M98 M99 Subroutine Call Return Page 138 The Part Program normally executes from Block to Block in sequential order When portions of the Part Program are repeated rather than duplicating these portions within the Part Program it is often desirable to call them in when needed This not only reduces the size of the Part Program but also helps in program organization and maintenance Subroutine Call Within a File Code that is called from another location within the Part Program is called a subroutine Subroutines are identified by the line number of the first block in the subroutine The last block in the subroutine must be M99 M98 causes program execution to leave its normal sequence and begin executing at the subroutine that it identifies M99 located at the end of the subroutine causes the program to return execution to the Block where it departed from in M98 M98 uses the P word to identify the
16. Window The 3D Window e i ix 3D Launching Sizing and Placing The 3D Windowcan be launched by selecting View Show 3D Windowfrom the Main Menu or by snapping over its button on the Toolbar As its name implies the 3D Windows shows the tool path in three dimensions Line colors and styles follow the same convention used for the Orthographic Viewin the Main Window 3D Window The Viewmenu and Toolbar are context sensitive so after the 3D Windowis launched the Viewmenu replaces its selection item with a selection entitled View Hide 3D Window Accordingly the 3D button on the toolbar changes to represent its new function of reversing the gt former selection You can size and place the Orthographic Windowon your screen or maximize it to cover the entire screen It is often handy G Code Controller Design Reference Page 81 The 3D Window JOB SIMULATION and easy to maximize this window to more clearly show intricate detail If you remove the 3D Windowusing View gt Hide 3D Windowor its button on the Toobar its size and position will be preserved The next time you launch the 3D Windowit will appear in the same size in the same place and with the same set tings for Zoom Pan and Rotation described below You can save these settings for the next time you open the Job by snap ping File gt Save If you remove the 3D Windowusing the X on the upper right corner of its title bar then changes you may have made to t
17. by and Position to method small increments of manual motion typically used for setting up a Job s starting position can be accomplished under the Production gt Jog dialog without automatically updating the display until the joystick option is released See the chapter entitled Production Operations for more details regarding joystick Jog Job set up and manually moving Stages This option can be easily selected or deselected at run time Purpose for Passwords Password access is provided to protect System and Job set G Code Controller Design Reference Page 57 Passwords SYSTEM SET UPS Change Passwords System Setup Iv Require Password Password Job Setup CAM Edit Require Password Password Cancel ups from accidental modification These passwords should be used only to avoid accidental modification of setup values and not as an iron clad protection against access to certain fea tures The initial password which comes with the product is abc for the System Setup and def for Job Setup You may choose not to use this feature or temporarily restrict access without changing the set up Affect on System Menu The Password setting affects the File Access menu when G Code Controller starts The illustration shows a common con G Code Controller R RECT CAM Top View IE Job Production Diagnostic View Help open PSI E rn dh 7 Save As Exit Access b Show System S
18. command saves the value 10 123 to Machine Variable 10 S Code Spindle Control Axis d IV Active Axis Pulses per Unit 10 Pulse Frequency 1000 Indexer LPT Lead In Commands E dit id winding power d insert winding power d 1 Cancel S Codes are typically used for spindle speed control although they may be used for other things on specialized machines S Codes are NOT effective during Production Dry Run Spindle Control Axis Active Axis G Code Controller Design Reference Page 47 M Codes M Codes Page 48 SYSTEM SET UPS An Indexer LPT axis can be assigned to the spindle control for the purpose of rapidly generating pulses If the Active Axis check box is not checked the Spindle Control Axis is disabled and the designated Indexer LPT axis is made available to the system for use with other functions Pulses per Unit Pulse Frequency In the execution of the S command in a Part Program the argument of the S word is multiplied by the value of the Pulses per Unit field and applied to the Indexer LPT jog command on the Indexer LPT axis specified by the Spindle Control Axis at the rate designated in the Pulse Frequency field In a concrete exmple using the set up values in the illustration S50 would send 500 pulses from the step output of the Indexer LPT d axis at a rate of 1000 pulse per second Indexer LPT Lead In Commands Indexer LPT commands in this list are executed with each S
19. confuse the image The sliders in the Rotate group control rotation of the image around the respective axes The sliders outside of the Rotate group situated along the bottom and right sides of the 3D View Control window and entitled X and Y are used for horizontal and vertical panning Errors Systemand Translation Errors are reported in the Errors dialog accessible from the Diagnostic gt Errors menu All System Errors should be resolved prior to using the Simulator The presence of a red exclamation point button on the Toobar indicates one or more errors Snapping this button opens the Errors dialog where each error is reported according to type of error Block Number N number and Program Number 00 O9 Block Numbers optionally included in the text of the Part Program make finding errors within the text of the Part Program easier to isolate When Block Numbers are not includ ed in the text Errors are reported according to the Block Number that was automatically assigned to the Block when it was translated In this case the Simulator may be helpful in locat ing the errant Block since it prefixes each Block with its Block Number in the text readout The absence of reported errors does not guarantee that errors do not exist in the Part Program s or for the Job Some errors may prove to be inconsequential and may have no effect on the G Code Controller Design Reference Page 83 Simulation Control JOB SIMULATION Jo
20. encountered that cannot be executed from the look ahead buffer the current buffer is executed as if it were a single complex motion command The comment in the following code fragment indicates where calculation dwell will occur GOO X1 0 Rapid Traverse Calculation dwell occurs here G01 Z 1 75 Begins loading queue X10 Yee 25 X15 X237 Many more feed traverses may be here X2 3 T 75 21 75 Executes motion queue here GOO X1 0 Y1 5 Next Rapid Traverse The programmer should note that any command that cannot be loaded into the Indexer LPT look ahead buffer will force G G Code Controller Design Reference PART PROGRAMMING F Change Feed Rate Code Controller to stop loading the queue and immediately exe cute the buffer that it was loading Rapid traverse GOO as well as T and S commands cannot be loaded into the look ahead buffer and will force an end to queue loading M codes can either be accepted into the queue or not depending on how the particular M code is customized See the On the Fly Switching section in chapter entitled System Set ups for detailed information on how M codes can be executed during smooth contoured motion F Change Feed Rate Initial Entry Feed Rate The Part Program can change the feed rate which is the vector velocity speed across the work along a path defined under the feed modes G01 G02 and G03 G02 and G03 are explained in the next section of this chapter In most m
21. feed and the complex contour All is accomplished with continuous smooth motion Display Options The G Code Controller provides information relative to the state of the automatic process by means of a variety of displays These displays are especially useful in developing and verifying your Part Program as well as tracking the progress of the Job during production operations However a small amount of time is G Code Controller Design Reference PRODUCTION OPERATIONS necessary to update the displays In operations that involve large Part Programs and or many machine cycles the time to update the displays as the machine is running can accumulate significant ly For this reason elements of the display can be activated or deactivated as needed The Modal State and Block Position check boxes open the Modal State and Block Position display windows just as in the Simulator The contents of these windows are updated after the execution of each Block When the Scroll Code check box is checked the Part Program code is displayed in the text windows as it is executed just as in the Simulator The static display shown in the Main Window can be used to show the progress of the Job similar to the Simulator The static display shows rapid traverse motion with grey dotted lines contour paths with black lines and offset tool paths with grey lines Progress is shown by changing colors of the rapid traverse and offset tool paths from grey to
22. file name of the Part Program file s For this reason File gt Open Job is used to read a CAM File and NOT used to directly open a Part G Code Controller Design Reference Page 61 Programs Programs Page 62 JOB SET UPS Program file Opening a CAM File reads the Job settings into G Code Controller which can then be used immediately temporar ily changed and used changed and saved back to the original CAM File using File gt Save or changed and saved under a dif ferent name using File gt Save As The name of the Job is the name of the opened CAM File and appears in the title bar CAM Files contain information which pertains to the indi vidual part which is being manufactured some of which will change from Job to Job and some of which will not It may be convenient therefore to have a number of template or default CAM Files that contain information pertinent to different types of Jobs that you may run Using File gt Save As saves you the trou ble of entering information that will not change when creating another Job The working directory which the File gt Open Job browser initially displays is the Start in field which is set up under the Windows Shortcut To change the working directory right snap over the G Code Controller s icon and snap over the Properties selection of the pop up menu that appears Snap over the Shortcut tab then enter the complete path to the location of your CAM Files in
23. its set up dialog Snapping on Ok prompts the user for Cycle Start Once the operator activates Cycle Start the Stage will seek its associated limit switch until contact with the switch is made or until it has moved the distance specified in Setup gt Stage Configuration gt Total Distance If a limit switch closure is not encountered within the specified distance the Stage will stop moving and a message will appear If the limit switch is contacted the Stage will imme diately retract by the distance specified in System gt Stage Configuration gt Limit Switch Seek Configuration gt Retract Distance System gt Stage Configuration gt Rapid Traverse Rates governs the speed of retraction Machine Home position is automatically set at the final position after retraction If the Limit Switch Seek operation fails to find the limit switch Machine Home position is not automatically set Graphic Display Considerations The Limit Switch Seek sequence and the System gt Stage Configuration gt Total Distance set up value is used to determine the operational boundaries shown on the graphical display After completion of the Limit Switch Seek sequence the Machine Home position can be relocated using Production gt Set Home The graphical display will show the tool path in proper relation to the operational boundaries However if Machine Home is locat ed without first performing Limit Switch Seek the graphics will reflect the position of
24. list is executed immediately when G Code Controller is started starting with the first item in the list and working downward You can add items to the list by snapping over the uppermost Line Editing field and typing the Indexer LPT Commands dwell 25 Add winding power f0 Insert q Hsave num s10 10 123 Delete G Code Controller Design Reference Page 25 List Directives LIST DIALOGS Programs command The Add button transfers the command that you had typed to the bottom of the list Scroll bars automatically appear when the list grows larger than the display window You can insert a command by highlighting the command before which you want the item inserted and then snap Insert Items can be deleted by highlighting the command you want removed and snapping Delete Indexer LPT Commands Indexer LPT commands that control digital outputs such as reduced_current winding_power and bit commands are most commonly used in Command Lists The Indexer LPT dwell command as its name implies can be used to introduce a time delay where needed It is often handy to check out your hardware and the associat ed Indexer LPT commands used to control the hardware within a list using the Command Motor feature in Indexer LPT s Diag program You can transfer an Indexer LPT command from the Diag program to Notepad by highlighting it and pressing Ctrl C to transfer it to the Windows Clipboard then snapping to Notepad and pressing Ctr
25. location of the subrou G Code Controller Design Reference PART PROGRAMMING M98 M99 Subroutine Call Return tine The argument to the P word corresponds to the N line num ber of the subroutine For example N200 GOO Y2 G91 N201 M98 P500 Calls N500 N202 GOO Y2 0 N500 G01 Z 0 25 X2 X 1 Yl X 1 Y 1 M99 In this example program execution normally proceeds from N200 to N201 Then it jumps to N500 where it executes Blocks of code sequentially until it reaches M99 after which it resumes execution at N202 Subroutine Call to Another File M98 uses the O word to locate a subroutine in a different file The argument to the O word is the index assigned to the Part Program file set up for the Job under Job Programs In other words the argument to the O word associates one Part Program to another Part Program by its O number while the Job set up correlates each O number to the Windows file name If the O word is missing from the M98 block then the subroutine called is assumed to exist within the current file as in the previous exam ple Example N201 M98 P500 O1 This Block calls a subroutine starting at line N500 in a Part Program file stored in the Job under index 1 of the Job gt Programs dialog Multiple Calls to a Subroutine M98 uses the argument to the L word to designate how many times a subroutine is called If the L word is missing from the M98 block it is assumed to be one 1 G Code Controller D
26. not agree with the terms and conditions do not use the software and return it to the place of purchase for full credit allowance Be sure to read the notes in the README file for important information regarding the latest software release System Settings CAUTION There is no short cut to getting started You are the machine designer G Code Controller can help you automate tool path control but you must think through every implication of your design especially safety factors ALWAYS PLAN FOR THE UNEXPECTED WHEN USING SOFTWARE Build adequate electrical and mechanical safeguards into your system If you think that adequate safeguards are impractical then do not use this product In order to get the G Code Controller to run you must have Indexer LPT installed correctly Refer to the Indexer LPT man G Code Controller Design Reference Page 143 System Settings GETTING STARTED ual for installation instructions You must have a good working knowledge of Indexer LPT before setting up your machine with the G Code Controller Use the diagnostic program IXDIAG EXE supplied with Indexer LPT to exercise Indexer LPT and to become familiar with its features To copy the G Code Controller files on to your system from a distribution diskette place the G Code Controller diskette in drive A Snap Start gt Run then type A SETUP Alternately if you were provided an installation image via Email unzip the image to a directory on
27. one entry in order to preserve backward compatibility with your existing Part Programs In order to customize an M code so that it does not interrupt smooth motion enter only one Indexer LPT command in the Command List This command can be one of the Indexer LPT commands that control digital output specifically the reduced current or the winding power command Also within the Part Program this M code must be the only delimiting com mand from Block to Block at any transitional point in a smooth contour So for example if M14 and M15 had only one Indexer LPT digital output command and presuming that Contouring is turned on for the Job the following part program code would move smoothly through the transition moving X and Y stages ten 10 inches but activating the digital output half way while the motors remain at speed G91 G01 X5 Y5 M14 X5 Y5 Alternatively the M code can appear in the same block as the motion command When this occurs the M code will be executed before the motion The following sequence behaves the same as the previous example smoothly accelerating X and Y stages from rest decelerating to the destination point ten inches from the start but performing the switching action in the middle without affect G Code Controller Design Reference SYSTEM SET UPS Special M Codes ing the continuity of the motion G91 G01 X5 Y5 X5 Y5 M14 The following code however would decelerate motion to a stop execute each
28. per shaft revolution and the G Code Controller Design Reference Page 17 The Stages of Motion MOTOR CONTROL OUTPUTS Page 18 mechanical coupling that converts the rotation of the motor shaft to the actual motion of the Stage G Code Controller accommodates both linear and rotational Stages which may be used in the design of a broad range of machines However this program is especially suited for machines that incorporate linear motion in three orthogonal axes linear stages situated at right angles Tool offset compensation features accommodate a three dimensional profile mill configura tion Graphical preview and simulation as well as the canned pro gramming cycles also assume this configuration G Code Controller is not limited in its use strictly to these types of machines There are many specialty machines other than profile mills which are perfectly suitable for this program However the designer must consider that the program was written with profile cutting in mind and the features and displays reflect this type of application G Code Controller Design Reference MENU USAGE General Chapter 4 MENU USAGE General G Code Controller is set up and controlled by means of menus and dialog boxes Most options are selected using the mouse or keyboard according to conventions established for Windows programs Some options such as those that may effect machine motion for reason of safety may require depressing two
29. posi tion anywhere within the operational boundary of each Stage using the Production gt Set Home menu If a Limit Switch Seek operation had been formerly performed for that Stage the change in position is taken into account when using the Set Home con trol and the integrity of operational boundaries is preserved If Set Home is used to establish Machine Home without using the Limit Switch Seek operation operational boundaries are estimat ed but unreliable For some simplified applications this is accept able but most applications use the automatic Limit Switch Seek sequence to establish Machine Home Limit Switch Seek E Page 94 The Limit Switch Seek Sequence This menu provides a means for the system to automatically seek the operational limit switches on each or every Stage The set up values in System Limit Switch Seek Configuration set up dialog governs the motion and operations that may occur dur ing a Limit Switch Seek cycle See the Limit Switch Seek sec tion in the chapter entitled Job Setups for more detailed informa tion on the things that can be set up to occur under this procedure Check boxes let you select which axes you wish to operate on If more than one axis is chosen the Limit Seek Sequence will complete one Stage at a time proceeding from Stage to Stage automatically according to the Priority that it was assigned G Code Controller Design Reference PRODUCTION OPERATIONS Set Home Set Home in
30. position where the tool may be picked up and dropped off However using G Code Controller you can customize each T code to pick up and drop off each tool in a different location thus eliminating the need for the cost and complexity of an indexing carousel The Return Position list automatically maintained for each Stage when the List Directive rapid_to is used and the capacity to save and access Machine Variables within the Command List allows each T code to accomplish the tasks necessary to implement a tool changing from a static tray Each T command can be customized to 1 Depart from an arbitrary position in the work area along a necessarily complex safe clearance path to the storage location of the currently used tool 2 Drop the current tool off in its storage location 3 Pick up the new tool from a dif ferent location 4 Store the drop off location for the newly select ed tool in a Machine Variables so a subsequently used T code has sufficient information to drop off the current tool before pick ing up the next one and finally 5 Return along a safe path to the arbitrary point of departure from the tool path in the Part Program to resume operation In order to implement this strategy for tool changing Machine Variables for an initial drop off location must be initial ized in the Startup List This could be a location where a tool that may have been inadvertently left engaged when the machine was turned off may be
31. present in the other general purpose M codes G Code Controller Design Reference Page 51 Special M Codes SYSTEM SET UPS Page 52 Inclusive M07 M08 M09 We call M07 and M08 inclusive because they represent functions that can be active simultaneously M09 cancels both M07 and M08 In a concrete example you may use M07 to execute an Indexer LPT command or series of Indexer LPT commands that activates a solenoid to turn on a mist coolant You may use M08 to activate a different solenoid for a flood coolant Sometimes you may want both solenoids to be activated at the same time Other times you may want only one or the other Indexer LPT commands associated with M09 should be designed to deactivate both solenoids M09 cancels both M07 and M08 G Code Controller program keeps track of the status of M07 and M08 The status of these M commands is important in han dling program stop and resume sequences However it is up to the machine designer to make sure that the Indexer LPT com mands in the associated lists physically accomplish the desired hardware responses The status M07 is set when the part program executes M07 Likewise the status of M08 is set when the part program executes M08 The status of these commands governs certain machine operations when the Part Program stops and when the operator decides to resume from a stopped condition When M09 is exe cuted from within the Part Program the status of both M07 and M0
32. red The radio buttons in the Graphic group determine how the Main Windowgraphic displays the progress of the Job When the None radio button is selected the progress of the tool path is not followed by the Main Windowgraphic When Contouring is turned off there is no difference between the Full and the Fast Graphic radio button selection In both Full and Fast modes the graphics are updated after each tool motion is communicated to Indexer LPT The Full and Fast modes differ in the way the graphics update during Contouring operations In the Full mode each tool path motion is displayed after it is communicated to Indexer LPT Progress along feed paths will be highlighted in red as the Indexer LPT look ahead buffer is being filled and before actual motion begins The Fast mode as the name implies uses considerably less time to update the display for long and complex feed paths In this mode screen updating is postponed until after the look ahead buffer is loaded and executed The offset path is updated in red after the completion of each complex motion G Code Controller Design Reference Page 105 PRODUCTION OPERATIONS Status This group displays useful information about the Part Program as it is running The Feed Rate annotation reflects the last value set by the F command The H and D numbers show the last selected indexes into the Tool Offset Table for H and D and the respective H and D values at those selections S
33. select this dialog Only activated Stages will appear in other dialogs that refer to System Stages such as the Position Readout window and dialogs that you may use for the manual movement of the Stages G Code Controller Design Reference SYSTEM SET UPS Stage Configuration X Stage Configuration Feed Motor Axis la V Active Units Name nv Ratiometric Steps per Unit s E 000 Ratiometric Units 1 in Display Position to g Decimal Places Total Distance 24 in Limit Seek Configuration Rapid Traverse Rate Starting Speed 50 inmin Running Speed 200 inmin Acceleration 400 in min per sec Jog ptions Jog Instantaneous Speed E 0 iNmnin Jog Nudge Distance 0 01 in x Units Name Select the name of the dimensional units for motion from the list e g in for inches cm for centimeters dg for degrees am for arc minutes etc This selection ONLY affects the units annotations which appear in various places in this program and DOES NOT automatically set up the appropriate ratio of step motor steps to units which is explained below Ratiometric Steps per Unit s Ratiometric Units The ratio of the Ratiometric Steps per Unit s to Ratiometric Units defines the motion of the Stages in proportion to the step pulses generated by Indexer LPT Use a convenient number for Ratiometric Steps per Units s and a corresponding G Code Controller Design Reference Page 33 Stage Configuration SYSTEM SET UPS Page 34 number
34. such as a Stage falling under its own weight outer limit switches may be used in a cir cuit which interrupts the controlling step pulses The actual imple mentation of your over travel safety strategy depends on the char acteristics of machine that you are designing Input Query Page 16 Indexer LPT commands which are capable of determining the status of an input signal are used by G Code Controller to query the state of certain controls such as the Cycle Start switch Indexer LPT commands appropriate for query are limit limit aux_input and scan The feedback from any of these query commands is either a 1 or a 0 depending on the logic level or state of the input G Code Controller set up menus allow you to assign query commands to different control functions The Indexer LPT manual explains the usage and syntax of these input query commands G Code Controller Design Reference MOTOR CONTROL OUTPUTS The Stages of Motion Input set ups can be verified by means of the Diagnostic menu The display routines used by the Diagnostic displays con tinuously exercise the queries which you have specified in associ ated set ups The Diagnostic displays show a live view of the results of these queries so for example if you are monitoring a switch you will be able to see its status open or closed as you exercise the switch You should verify all of your input query commands using the Diagnostics menus before using them in active mach
35. the Job using the Follows G90 G91 to govern the interpretation of I and J The screen clip shows two Part Programs that pro duce the same result The Part Program shown in the left most window named ArcsR txt defines arcs in three different planes using incremental positioning The Part Program on the right named ArcsA txt uses absolute positioning G Code Controller Design Reference Page 123 G40 G41 G42 Radius Offset Compensation PART PROGRAMMING G17 G18 G19 Reference Plane Select These commands select the reference plane used in interpret ing commands that assume a reference plane selection such as G02 G03 and canned cycles G81 through G89 G17 selects the plane in X Y G18 selects the plane in X Z and G19 selects the plane in Y Z The screen clip in the previous section shows a concrete example of the effect changing reference planes has on G02 and G03 The default reference plane is determined by the Job set up under Job gt G17 G18 G19 G04 Set Dwell Time The G04 command is used to set up the delay time that is used by other commands that require a time delay in part of their execution cycle G04 is used only to set up the value of the delay and does not perform the delay itself The P word is used to designate the delay time in hundreths of a second The argument to the P word must be a whole number value The following code sets up a dwell time of 1 4 second 25 hundreths of a second G04 P25
36. the desired tool clamp the new tool then return the carriage to its current position in the Part Program A list to perform this might appear like this rapid_to Z 0 0 rapid to X 1 5 rapid to Y 2 0 educed current a l Zzero aux input a Clamp Open id_to C 90 educed_current a 0 wait for zero aux input b Clamp Closed rapid return Y rapid return X rapid return Z m H ct Hh Oo K N oal dE dE dE dE K OE de Hob d w ge This is a simplified example and more commands may be necessary to fully implement a tool changer but the basic utility of the directives is demonstrated Here switches are installed to auxiliary inputs to detect when the tool clamp is open and closed Operation is suspended until the clamp opens and closes at the appropriate times As the list completes the carriage returns to its G Code Controller Design Reference Page 29 List Directives Page 30 LIST DIALOGS former arbitrary position in the Part Program clear_last_return Stage This List Directive removes the last entry from top of the Stage s Position Return List You can clear_last_return if you need to issue a rapid_to List Directive without affecting the existing return Position Return List The rapid_to List Directive places the last position which is to say its departure position at the top of the list The clear_last_return List Directive removes that value from the top of the list
37. the field entitled Start in File Names and O Numbers As per the chapter entitled Important Files Part Program files contain Gcode control scripts Part Programs are Text type files stored on the computer using path and file names Each line of text in the Part Program script is referred to as a Block Blocks can transfer control to other blocks within the same script using N numbers See the chapter entitled Part Programming Blocks can also transfer control to Blocks in other Part Programs by means of O the letter O numbers This dialog establishes the relationship between the Part Program file name and the Onumber that represents it G Code Controller starts executing a Job in Part Program OO the letter O index Zero Up to nine other part programs can be accessed in the same Job thus G Code Controller sup ports the use of up to ten Part Programs per Job designated G Code Controller Design Reference JOB SET UPS Programs Programs Index O Number Edit Program T ext Program File Specification C MGixw square txt Browse DK Cancel from OO through O9 In the example Programs dialog the file entitled square txt contains a Part Program that is stored on the computer s disk under the name and location C Gixw square txt This Part Program would be referenced from other Part Programs in the same Job by means of the code O3 letter O index three since this dialog sets th
38. the progression of processing along the tool path Fast updates the display after each rapid traverse and each full contour is processed Full updates the G Code Controller Design Reference SYSTEM SET UPS Passwords Passwords graphic display as each element in every Block is processed Fast is the most commonly used option Refer to the chapter entitled Production Operations for a more complete description of these settings and the Production gt Run control dialog Stage Position Readout This portion of the dialog permits you to choose between a small and large Position Readout window A large Position Readout is handy when it is more convenient to view the opera tional position of the Stages at a distance The small Position Readout is more convenient when you wish to customize screen area to show other relevant information Reload and Redraw The graphical display of the tool path is shown in the Orthographic and 3D Windows in a position relative to the limit switch boundaries Manual motion of the Stages as may be accomplished by means of the Production gt Move by Position to or Jog dialogs changes the graphic display Some users prefer not to update the display for very large Part Programs in order to conserve on the time that it may take to redraw the screen after each manual motion This check box is usually left checked especially on systems where the joystick Jog option is used Unlike the Production gt Move
39. the use of the machine at a particular time and more unique to manufacturing different parts In other words these parameters are more likely to change from Job to Job and include such things as the name and location of the Part Program s tool off set file name arc resolution default cutting speeds fixture offsets etc These set ups are stored in files with CAM as the filename extension which this manual refers to as CAM Files CAM Files are loaded using the File gt Open Job menu The settings loaded by the CAM File can be changed using the Job menu You may use changes without saving the changes to disk G Code Controller Design Reference Page 21 Tool Motion MENU USAGE This is handy when you have a number of similar Jobs but none that needs all of the settings to be saved permanently In this case you would open the CAM File that has most of your settings then change only the setting that needs to be different perhaps only the name of a Part Program file After you have run the Job you need not save the changes leaving that particular CAM File intact as a template for other Jobs Alternatively you may save the changes you had made using the File gt Save menu or save changes to a CAM File of another filename using File gt Save As This is handy when you want to save all of the information relating to the manufacturing of a part that you wish to duplicate later Other CNC systems commonly use the system setup f
40. then retracts 1 0 inches in the positive direction again bringing it to the R Level This is followed by a Rapid Traverse 1 00 inches in the negative Z direction to the depth that it had previously fed to followed by an additional 0 062 of move ment at feed velocity to the Z level 1 062 beneath the R Level Finally the Z axis rapid traverses to the finish position G87 Canned Chip Breaking This command differs from the Canned Deep Hole cycle G83 only by the distance that the Z axis is retracted after each incremental plunge Instead of retracting all the way to the R Level this command only retracts by the amount set up for the Job in the Job G87 Partial Retract Distance field The part programmer must assure the incremental distance specified by the argument to the Q word exceeds the value set up in the Job s G87 Partial Retract Distance field M00 Program Stop This command causes the Part Program to stop Program execution can resume when the operator presses Cycle Start Page 136 G Code Controller Design Reference PART PROGRAMMING M03 M04 M05 Spindle Control Unlike the user definable M codes you MUST INCLUDE THE LEADING ZERO with this M code MO KKKK WRONG KKK K MOO CORRECT A Program Stop conditionally executes special commands M05 and MO9 M01 Optional Stop This command causes the Part Program to stop only when the check box entitled Optional Stop M01 in the Breakpoint group of the Co
41. to a speed that establishes the speed rate across the work Example G01 G91 X86 6 Y50 0 F10 0 This Block will cause the tool to subscribe a 30 degree path The X Stage which dominates the movement will automatically accelerate to 8 66 inches per minute to establish the speed across the surface of the work at 10 inches per minute which is the cut ting speed established by F10 0 The speed of the master axis is calculated by dividing the G Code Controller Design Reference PART PROGRAMMING G01 Linear Feed number of control pulses required by the master axis by the square root of the sum of the squares of all participating axes This establishes the scaling factor which is multiplied times the desired feed rate and applied to the master axis to establish the feed rate across the work This calculation is accurate in up to three dimensions if the step resolution of all three stages is the same If the step resolution between stages differ the accuracy of the calculation will vary accordingly It is therefore preferable to design the step resolution of all Stages to be the same or as close to each other as possible Please note that the inaccuracies involved here relate to SPEED and NOT to position or path Also consider that the same method of motion is applied to rotational Stages as linear stages In fact the square root of the sum of squares calculation is performed across all axes that are being moved simultaneously Cons
42. to context as shown in the illustration Manual positioning Instant Block and display options are available Job and System set up options will not be available until you close the Run control and Manual motion will not be possible if the Job is interrupted at a time when the look ahead Queue Buffer is being loaded Automatic Control This group consists of buttons entitled Ok Cancel and Suspend situated next to three sunken text annotation windows as shown in the following illustration As its name implies the Cancel button cancels the automatic operation The Ok button is active when the dialog is first invoked After the Ok button is pressed the middle annotation window prompts the operator for Cycle Start to commence auto matic operation which is to say sequential execution of the Blocks in the Job s Part Program s After automatic operations begin Cycle Start is generally used to commence and repeat operations freeing the operator from the mouse and keyboard providing of course that Cycle Start is not set up to be activat ed with the keyboard Automatic operation can be halted from a number of sources including this dialog s Breakpoints M codes within the Part Program or external feed hold From a halted condition you can snap to the Main Menu to use positioning or display options then snap back to restore focus to the Run control window When you restore focus to the Run control you will need to snap OK once
43. 8 are cleared When the Part Program stops due to an M00 Program Stop M30 End of Program Stop or Abort from Feed Hold Stop if the status of M07 or M08 is set the list of Indexer LPT commands stored under M09 will be executed If the program stops due to an M30 the status of M07 and M08 will also be cleared When the operator decides to resume by means of a Cycle Start after a program stop if the status of M07 is set then the Indexer LPT commands stored under M07 will be executed and if the status of M08 is set then the Indexer LPT commands stored under M08 will be executed Using the example of the coolants if the Part Program stops G Code Controller Design Reference SYSTEM SET UPS Special M Codes as a result of M30 any coolant solenoid that may have been acti vated will be shut down When the operator resumes the coolants will not be turned on until the Part Programturns them on If the program stops due to M00 M01 Abort from Feed Hold Stop or Breakpoint Stop any coolant solenoid that may have been acti vated will be shut down However when the operator resumes the coolants that were shut down will be automatically re activated Exclusive M03 M04 M05 We call M03 and M04 exclusive because they represent functions that cannot be active simultaneously M05 cancels M03 and M04 However when M03 is executed it cancels M04 and when M04 is executed it cancels M03 The exclusive nature of M03 and M04 m
44. LY as ASCII ANSI text type files Many word pro cessing programs are capable of storing text in formats that can not be used G Code Controller Design Reference Page 13 IMPORTANT FILES Page 14 G Code Controller Design Reference MOTOR CONTROL OUTPUTS Discrete Digital Outputs Chapter 3 MOTOR CONTROL OUTPUTS The electronic signals which are used to control the motors are generated by the Indexer LPTdevice driver G Code Controller communicates appropriate commands to Indexer LPT in the background transparently to the user and Indexer LPT performs low level control over the motors via the outputs located on the computer s parallel port s Refer to the Indexer LPT manual for technical information regarding the wiring and use of stepper motors translators amplifiers and limit switches Discrete Digital Outputs All signal input and output between the G Code Controller and the outside world occurs through the Indexer LPT device driver using Indexer LPT commands Two useful commands for setting the voltage level on discrete output lines are reduced_cur rent and winding_power The associated output signals of these commands can be used to control external devices such as optical ly isolated relays and solenoid actuators Set up menus allow you to specify Indexer LPT output com mands for different purposes When configuring your system it is recommended that you first exercise whatever commands you intend to spec
45. M USE 59 ii Table of Contents Chapter 7 JOB SETUPS xui rase mh Saud dena ea oe eer genet 61 Programis 2 isk4 ence kde bed Pee be 62 Tool Offset Table 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 cee eee 65 Contour Tool Feed 0 0 0 0 eee eee 68 Block Skip prere Ra hes ik ee ee RELY 69 Arc Translation 02 G03 45 69 Reference Plane Selection G17 G18 G19 71 Chip Break Cycle G87 esses 72 Positioning Mode G90 G91 72 Feed Rates oe EL bu Uber ESSE 12 Fixture Offsets G54 G55 G56 G57 G58 G59 74 Simulate and Reload 0000 76 Chapter 8 JOB SIMULATION vtr esas alates EE NEM ER 77 The Main Window 2 0 ccc eee ees 78 The 3D Window 0 0 ccc cee eee 81 EOTS oet dde a oat ale qood a EGRE Ret data tg 83 Simulation Control llle 84 Resuming a Job 0 eee ee eee eee 88 Chapter 9 PRODUCTION OPERATIONS 00055 91 Context Sensitive 2 0 0 cee ee eee 91 Physically Setting up a Job 93 Limit Switch Seek 0 0 0 0 00 000 ee 94 Set HOMS 3 4 0 ar oud xe Var a cad A eee E 95 MOVE DY a mr PEL PER 96 POsitlOnO eld eS Qo Ree uci 97 NOP Se 98 Table of Contents iii Position Readout 200 00 ee 99 Instant Block 4 42 eo ELE ctrca 10 SD Gon S Rd 100 Dry Run and Run Tool Path 101 Starting from a Resuming Location 106 Stopping spr
46. M code then proceed G91 G01 X5 Y5 M14 M15 X5 Y5 Specifically since two M codes delimit the contour motion decelerates to a stop in the middle M14 and M15 are executed then motion accelerates and decelerates to a stop at the destination point In another example consider a machine that sprays a coating at a carefully controlled density M14 turns a spray nozzle on and M14 turns the nozzle off Since the speed of the spray nozzle affects the density of the coating it is important to activate the nozzle only after the motors have accelerated to vector rate and to deactivate the nozzle before decelerating to a stop Here is example code for motion that activates the nozzle while the X Stage is at speed and only within a specified region G91 G01 X1 0 X5 0 M14 X1 0 M15 In this example M14 is executed exactly 1 0 inches into the motion and while the X Stage is at speed Exactly six inches into the motion M15 executes also while the X Stage is at speed The remaining 1 0 inch that remains provides room for the Stage to decelerate with the nozzle off It should also be noted that this feature is not limited in its performance to the number of stages that are being moved which in the example is only the X Stage On the Fly Switching can be performed while the maximum number of Stages are being moved simultaneously Special M Codes These M codes special in the sense that G Code Controller adds features to them that are not
47. OPERATIONS Dry Run and Run Tool Path Position to Stages are to be moved When the Ok button is snapped the distances you entered Move Selected Stages by are rounded off to the step resolution of the system The step res olution is the mini X Iv 1 275 in mum distance which can be moved or the s fo in distance which is moved as a resultofa 4 E 0 in single control pulse and the you are prompted for Cycle Start Cycle Start Iv Reload and Redraw Clear All will initiate motion Holding Cycle Start will automatically Cancel repeat the motion If you snap away from this dialog before activating Cycle Start the prompt will be removed and you will need to snap OK once again Specified amp mount This option does not require position tracking to be initial ized The field entries are persistent and remain effective until over typed by another value The Clear buttons resets the values to zero 0 Clear All resets all of the Stages Leaving the Reload and Redrawcheck box unchecked defeats the screen update after each motion This control allows you to move the Stages to a designated position Like the other controls the size of this dialog is context sensitive and adjusts to the number of Stages that are checked Active in the System Stage Configuration dialogs Similar to the Move by control this dialog also prompts for Cycle Start and displays the selected values rounded off to the step resolution of
48. PLE CAM You may use this file as a template to construct your first Job However do not permanently save Job setup information to this file as this file is over written each time you may run Setup for upgrades Instead after editing SAMPLE CAM save your work under another file name using the File gt Save As menu Tool Offset Table Files Length and diameter offsets are changed from within an oper ating part program by means of H and D words respectively Arguments to these words e g H3 has an argument of 3 pro vide an index into a table of values that is stored in the Tool Offset Table The actual values associated with each index is stored in a Tool Offset Table File The Tool Offset Table File has the file name extension OFF The file name specification for this file is stored in each CAM File and loaded when the CAM File is loaded Dialogs within the Job menu allow you to edit and or change Tool Offset Files In most installations the same Tool Offset Table File will be used for many Jobs However the ability to specify a different Tool Offset Table File with each Job allows the flexibility for the G Code Controller Design Reference Page 11 Part Program Files IMPORTANT FILES designer to build into the machine a removable tool tray system The Tool Offset Table File installed by the Setup program is named SAMPTOOL OFFP This file will be overwritten when you re install the G Code Cont
49. R RECT CAM Top View Production gt A 4 If a Job is currently in progress either by Apply ing a resuming Block location from the Simulator or Suspend ing from a Production Run dialog then options to Resume or Cancel the Job also appear under the Production menu and in the Toolbar Resume appears in the Toolbar as a button entitled Page 92 G Code Controller Design Reference PRODUCTION OPERATIONS Position to RUN Cancel appears as a button with X over greyed RUN G Code Controller R RECT CAM Top View Production m Fixture Offsets Fixture G54 v Apply Current Position x 0 5 in x v Ink in T Before a Job is Simulated or Run manual positioning conr mands are available to use physical Stage positioning to help you determine Fixture and Tool Offsets When the dialogs to set Fixture or Tool Offsets are opened from the Job menu only manual motion dialogs for manipulating Stage position are acces sible Jog Move by and Position to from the Production menu as reflected by this picture of the Toolbar Notice that when dialogs to set Offsets are open the Main Menu only presents this abreviated Production menu You can snap back and forth between the controls in the Offsets dialog and the Main gt Production menu The selections in the Production menu help you manipulate the Stages or touch off on desired positions The buttons in the Apply Current Position group help you use actual St
50. SAGE The Job Setup Menu The System category involves parameters relating to the design of the machine These parameters are not likely to be changed in normal production operations These set up values are stored in a file named GIXA INI located in the WINDOWS directory and are accessed by means of the System menu The System menu can be hidden and password protected The initial password to access this menu is abc and the initial setting is not password protected You can access these settings using the System Passwords menu where you may change the password and enable password protection Once you enable pass word protection you will be prompted for the password when you try to enter this menu again The password helps prevent inadvertent access to System set ups and is NOT an iron clad access lock If you forget your password you can find it by printing the GIXA INI file The pass word will appear to the right of the keywords system password You can choose to show or hide the System menu at any time by means of the File Access menu If the System menu is hid den and password protected you will be prompted for the pass word when selecting it to be shown again If you had saved the option to password protect it using System Save System Setup the System menu will be hidden by default the next time you run G Code Controller The Job Setup Menu The other category of set ups involves parameters relating to
51. a period of time passes when the parallel output signals are in an indeter minate state These signals may even change values as the com puter performs a power on self test prior to loading G Code Controller and Indexer LPT In order to prevent spurious activa tion of components hardware may need to be designed that requires a specific signal sequence to make the component in question ready to accept the signal that will ultimately turn it on and off This list provides a means to use a sequence of Indexer LPT commands to provide for this type of component enabling List Directives can also be included in this sequence For example it may be desirable to store Machine Variables that designate the physical locations of tools in a tool tray or at least Page 46 G Code Controller Design Reference SYSTEM SET UPS S Code an initial drop off location for the last tool that was used Tool changing requires releasing a prior tool before positioning to engage the selected tool An initial drop off location would release a tool that may be present at startup to a location chosen for tools that had been inadvertently left in place when the machine was shut down In a concrete example given in the illustration the output controlled by the Indexer LPT winding_power command is used to bring the voltage that it controls on the Indexer LPT f axis momentarily to ground for 25 hundreths of a second Then this voltage is brought to five volts The next
52. a reminder of system effects for Special M Codes described below Disable these Indexer LPT Commands for Dry Run When this check box is checked the list of Indexer LPT commands associated with this M code are not executed for Production Dry Run On the Fly Switching Prior to G Code Controller Version 2 the appearance of an M code in a part program would temporarily interrupt continuous G Code Controller Design Reference Page 49 On the Fly Switching SYSTEM SET UPS Page 50 contouring execute the M code then if followed by contouring commands mode G01 G02 G03 proceed loading the look ahead buffer for the next contour Version 2 supports switching a digital output signal while the motors are moving at speed and without interrupting smooth contouring motion This feature accommodates applications that require motion to be at feed rate and typically not while accelerating nor decelerating when a com ponent is switched on or off However the part program deter mines the geometric point where switching occurs so it is possi ble to perform On the Fly switching at a specific location even while motion is accelerating or decelerating Backward Compatibility Warning If you are upgrading from Version 1 and you had used an M code that contained one or no entries in the Command List to intentionally close the look ahead contouring buffer then you will need to modify that M code so that it includes more than
53. a small er number than the next incremental value that would have been automatically assigned to it The screen clip in the following illustration shows how both automatic and assigned line numbers are handled The Notepad G Code Controller Design Reference PART PROGRAMMING Comments e G Code Controller SQUARE CAM Top View View Help XC et P square txt Notepad f File Edit Format View Help GOO G91 Z 2 5 G01 Z 0 5 X2 Herel s a Comment N200 Y2 Optional Ns e 3D Window NO G91 GOO Incremental Positionir N1 G00 G91 2 25 N2 G01 Z 0 5 N3X2 HERE S A COMMENT N200 12 OPTIONAL Nit N201 x 2 0 N202 Y 2 00 window shows the original text of the Part Program Blocks pre ceding the line assigned a number N200 are automatically assigned and incremented After N200 unassigned lines are assigned incrementally higher values Comments 50 The semicolon character is used to insert comments into the Part Program Be careful to follow the following rules when applying comments If you wish to insert an entire line as a comment make sure that the semicolon occurs as the first character in the line Otherwise you may place a comment for a Block of code on the same line as shown in the previous illustration Everything to G Code Controller Design Reference Page 113 Command Word Arguments PART PROGRAMMING the right of the semicolon will be ignored in translat
54. achine will dwell for the amount of time set up by the previous G04 command At the com pletion of the cycle M3 will be executed to restore original rota tion In a similar manner if M4 is in effect at the beginning of the cycle then M3 will be executed when the Z axis reaches the Z Level and M4 will be executed at the completion of the cycle G83 Canned Deep Hole This command is used in drilling operations where the tool G Code Controller Design Reference Page 135 MOO Program Stop PART PROGRAMMING must be repeatedly removed from the work to clear the accumula tion of debris in the hole Each time the tool is removed drilling proceeds to an incrementally deeper depth The operation is com plete when drilling finally reaches the Z Level The incremental distance is specified in the G83 Block by an unsigned argument to the Q word For example G83 X1 Yl R1 0 Q0 5 21 062 F20 G91 This command rapid traverses to the X and Y location fol lowed by a rapid traverse 1 0 inches in the negative Z direction to the R Level After that the Z axis feeds an additional 0 5 inches in the negative direction at 20 inches per minute then rapid traverses 0 5 inches in the positive direction back up to the R Level After that a Rapid Traverse 0 5 inches in the negative direction occurs bringing the Z axis down to the depth that it had previously fed to It continues in the negative direction at feed rate for an addi tional 0 5 inches
55. achining operations it is highly desirable to feed the tool into the work at one traverse rate then subtend a contour path at another rate G Code Controller makes special provision for changing feed rate after an initial entry into a contour and absorbing calculation dwell before the initial entry while the tool is not in contact with the work The F command is used by the part program to change feed traverse rate The following code fragment shows the relation that the F command has to calculation dwell GOO X1 0 Rapid Traverse Calculation dwell occurs here Initial entry at existing feed rate G01 Z 1 75 F10 Plunge feed rate X1 0 Y 25 F50 Feed rate changed here X3 5337 Many more feed traverses may be here X2 9 T 715 21 75 Executes motion queue here GOO X1 0 Y1 5 Next Rapid Traverse Other commands that cannot be executed from the queue can be inserted in the second block of a contour such as S T and G Code Controller Design Reference Page 119 G02 G03 Circular Feed PART PROGRAMMING some M codes Similar to processing the F command the Code Controller will process the queue so that all of the calculation dwell that occurs when the queue is loading is absorbed before the entry Block is executed However the part programmer should be aware that there may be dwell times connected to the particular M S or T code that is used depending how it is cus tomized in System set ups Immediately following the first line
56. again before you will be prompted for Cycle Start G Code Controller Design Reference PRODUCTION OPERATIONS Run Tool Path N101 G01 2 25 G41 G91 N102 X2 N103 Y2 N104 X2 N105 Y 2 N106 M99 N7 G90 2 1 F20 N8 G00 x0 YO Breakpoint Display Modal State Each Action Block Position Iv Each Block M Scroll Code I Graphic Stop At Line N lo in Program ofo 3 None C Fast e Optional Stop M01 Full Automatic Control Ok Automatic Feed Procedure o Select Ok to Continue Suspend Status Program OO Line N Feed Rate 20 0 H3 0 512500 Loop Level 0 Feed Rate Override 100 D3 0 500000 The Suspend button temporarily closes the Run control while preserving the state of automatic operation The Main Menu reflects the context of a suspended Job offering additional capability to use the Simulator to recover and resume from any place in the Job Using the Simulator to recover from an inter rupted Job is explained later in this chapter Select Production gt Run or its counterpart on the Toolbar to reopen the Run control from a suspended condition You can easily determine if the auto G Code Controller Design Reference Page 103 Page 104 PRODUCTION OPERATIONS matic operation is being suspended by observing the Main Menu s Production gt Cancel Run Operation menu or its button RUN on the Toolbar LC The lower annotation windows provides the operator with useful information as
57. age slower screen updates and longer pre calculation dwell at run time Excessively tight tolerance may even compromise the quality of machine motion Reference Plane Selection G17 G18 G19 G Code Controller Design Reference Page 71 Feed Rates JOB SET UPS The default reference plane that is in effect at the start of the Job can be set with this menu X Y G17 X Z G18 or Y Z G19 The Part Program can change the reference plane by exe cuting G17 G18 or G19 Chip Break Cycle G87 This set up dialog allows you to specify the tool retract dis tance that occurs after each peck plunge during the G87 chip break cycle Positioning Mode G90 G91 Feed Rates Page 72 The default positioning mode that is in effect when the Job starts can be set with this menu Absolute G90 or Incremental G91 The Part Program can change the positioning mode by executing G90 or G91 The mode of motion is either Rapid Traverse instated by G00 or Feed which is instated by G01 G02 or G03 Rapid Traverse dynamics are set up under the System gt Stage Configuration menus This dialog allows you to set up the default motion dynamics for Feed Notice in the illustration on the following page that there are two groups of similarly named fields The groups are entitled Production and Dry Run The group of values that are in effect depends on whether the Job is being run under the Production gt Run Tool Path or the Production gt Dry
58. age Down key automatically increas es the magnification for all of the Orthographic Views and adjusts the Pan positions for the current Viewaccording to the location of the cursor The Pan position for the remaining axis in the adjacent View since it extends into the screen is indetermi nate Panning to a suitable location in an adjacent View however is very easy even at elevated magnification Since the adjacent view has one axis in common you can use the Scroll Bar for the uncommon axis to bring the visible portion of the tool path image into the display In a concrete example consider increasing magnification Zooming In from the Top View The horizontal X Stage and vertical Y Stage Pan positions are automatically adjusted according to the location of the cursor when you pressed Page Down The Pan position of the Z Stage which extends into the image is indeterminate The Front Viewhas the horizontal X Stage in common Consequently when you switch from the Top to the Front View you can slide the image into the view using only the vertical scroll bar which in the Front Viewrepresents the Z Stage Similarly when switching from the Top Viewto the Left View the vertical Y Stage Pan position is common so from the Left Viewyou can slide the image into the display using only the horizontal scroll bar which in the Left Viewmanipulates the Pan position along the Z Stage G Code Controller Design Reference JOB SIMULATION The 3D
59. age positions as setup offset values Tool lengths can be similarly sized For a more complete explanation for setting Fixture and Tool Offsets see corresponding sections in the chap ter entitled Job Set Ups Physically Setting up a Job Controls available from the Production menu provide meth ods for positioning Stages to accommodate the Job that is being run This entails locating Machine and Fixture Offset locations that are used to reference starting points for manual and automatic tool motion as well as sizing the length of tools that are being G Code Controller Design Reference Page 93 Position to PRODUCTION OPERATIONS used Manual methods for manipulating Stages are also used to address recovery and resumption in cases where the Job has been interrupted Reference locations for the Stages must be established before automatic operations can proceed for a Job These locations are referred to as 0 Zero or Machine Home It is also helpful for the software to record the reference locations in relation to the operational boundaries typically delimited by Limit Switches This relation is typically determined shortly after the machine is powered up by driving the Stages into their limit boundaries and from there traversing to the reference position where it establishes 0 reference Machine Home The Production gt Limit Switch Seek menu is used for that purpose It is also possible to manually set the Machine Home
60. ake them useful not only in stop and resume procedures but also in Part Program control that requires a reversal of a particular process such as for a spindle in the canned tapping cycle G84 For example you may use M03 to execute Indexer LPT commands that control relays in such a manner as to set up spin dle rotation in the clockwise direction Indexer LPT commands to control relays in a manner to set up spindle rotation in the counterclockwise direction can be set up under M04 The rotation of the spindle represents an exclusive condition because the spin dle can be turning clockwise or counterclockwise but not both directions at the same time The machine designer must make sure that the Indexer LPT commands in M03 disable set ups performed under M04 Likewise Indexer LPT commands set up under M04 must dis able set ups performed under M03 Indexer LPT commands in M05 should disable set ups performed under M03 and M04 When the program stops due to an M00 Program Stop M30 End of Program Stop or Abort from Feed Hold Stop if the status of M03 or M04 is set the list of Indexer LPT com mands stored under M05 will be executed If the program stops due to an M30 the status of M03 and M04 will be cleared When the operator decides to resume by means of a Cycle Start after a Part Programstop if the status of M03 is set then G Code Controller Design Reference Page 53 Special M Codes SYSTEM SET UPS Page 54 the Indexe
61. aller one to manage screen space with the set up dialog accessible from System Display Fixture G54 X 12 504 Position Y 1 500 Z 1 125 Similar to the control dialogs the size of the Position readout G Code Controller Design Reference Page 99 Dry Run and Run Tool Path PRODUCTION OPERATIONS is sensitive to the context of the Stages that are marked Active in the System gt Stage Configuration setups Only Active Stages are shown and the window is sized accordingly When the Position readout is first launched it shows Machine coordinate values as indicated by the annotation in the mode button which reads Machine In this case the readout dis plays distance from the Machine Home location Snapping over the mode button changes the readout mode to fixture relative The annotation in the button will indicate Fixture followed by the name of the current fixture e g G54 as in the illustration In this case the readout displays distance from the Fixture Offset location designated in the Job for the current fix ture See the secton entitled Fixture Offsets in the chapter enti tled Job Set Ups The current fixture can be changed by means of the drop down selector in the Production gt Position to con trol You can alter the location of the Position readout by dragging its title bar When the Position readout is Beg open the View menu and Toolbar changes to present the option to close it The
62. alue within the machine s operational lim its G02 G03 Circular Feed Page 120 G Code Controller Design Reference PART PROGRAMMING G02 G03 Circular Feed Ce G Code Controller arcsR cam Top View Fie Job Production System Diagnostic View Help wo AE e 3D Window Edit G01 x2 0 YO 0 G17 G03 x2 0 Y2 0 IO 0 32 0 G03 X2 2 2 I2 JO G18 Gol x2 aol Y2 G03 Y2 Z2 IO J2 G19 xO YO zo G30 Edit Format View Help G01 x2 0 G17 X4 0 Y2 0 I2 0 32 0 x6 z 2 I6 30 G18 xs Y4 Y6 20 I4 JO G19 xo vo za View Format Orientation The G Code Controller is capable of circular interpolation within three reference planes X Y the default which is also instated by G17 X Z which is instated by G18 and Y Z which is instated by G19 Circular interpolation is approximated by means of linear segments which are generated according to accuracy G Code Controller Design Reference Page 121 G02 G03 Circular Feed PART PROGRAMMING requirements that you set up for the Job under Job G02 G03 See the Arc Translation section of the chapter entitled Job Setups G02 effects clockwise circular feed and G03 effects counter clockwise The direction of rotation clockwise and counterclock wise is determined by viewing the plane from the positive direc tion of the remaining axis For example the direction of circular feed in the X Y plane is determined by viewing the rot
63. and the traverse mode of the machine is returned to the mode prior to the instating the canned cycle This command clears the Initial Height stored by the canned cycle G81 Canned Drill Cycle This command is used for normal drilling operations Traverse is performed at feed rate from the R Level to the Z Level then retracted to the finish position at rapid rate Rapid traverse is first performed to the X Y positioning point to initiate the cycle For example N200 G81 X1 5 Y2 0 R 5 z2 F20 M3 G99 G91 N201 X1 G98 N202 G80 M05 The G91 in block N200 instates incremental positioning mode The machine then rapid traverses in the X Y plane to a point located 1 5 inches in the X direction and 2 0 inches in the Y direction M3 turns the spindle on and a Rapid Traverse plunges the Z axis 0 5 inches in the negative direction from the Initial Level to the R Level A Feed Traverse at 20 inches per minute set up by F20 continues to plunge the Z axis an additional two inches to the Z Level which is 2 5 inches beneath the Initial Level G99 establishes the finish point at theR Level Consequently a final Rapid Traverse lifts the Z axis 2 0 inches G Code Controller Design Reference Page 133 G85 Canned Boring PART PROGRAMMING in the positive direction to complete N200 Block N201 rapid traverses to a location 1 0 inches from the current position in the X direction and thereafter immediately plunges the Z axis from its existing pos
64. ar segment into a contour the F command can set the feed rate for the contour to any value within the machine s operational range Changing in Feed Rate Within a Smooth Contour In some machining operations it is desirable to change the contouring feed rate while the tool is in motion and without stop ping The F command can be used for this within a contour However the effective range of acceptable values is constrained to the range of variation that is set up for Indexer LPT s feed rate override control See the chapter in the Indexer LPT manual entitled Feed Rate Override for more information on setting override range In a concrete example consider the following code fragment N200 G01 Z 1 0 F50 N201 X10 0 F100 N202 GO2 X2 0 Y2 0 I0 0 32 0 F75 N203 Y5 0 F100 In this example the tool plunges into the work at a speed of 50 at N200 and starts cutting the contour at 100 through N201 Without stopping it enters into the arc at N202 where it smoothly decelerates to 75 At N203 and without stopping it accelerates back to 100 If in this example Indexer LPT s fro high register was set to 130 representing 130 percent high limit and the fro low register was set to 30 representing 30 percent low limit then the F com mand used in N202 could not be used to change the feed rate lower than 30 30 of 100 nor higher than 130 130 of 100 The change in feed rate specified going into the contour at N201 however can be any v
65. are set ups An end users guide is therefore necessary to describe the actual operation of the machine Consequently although portions of this manual may be referred to from within an end users guide this manual was not meant to be an end users guide Documentation in the form of an G Code Controller Design Reference Page 5 How to Use this Manual INTRODUCTION Page 6 end users guide is the responsibility of the machine designer Getting Started Ironically the last chapter in this publication is devoted to and entitled Getting Started Unlike documentation associated with software that does not absolutely require customizing and especially unlike software that doesn t manipulate potentially dan gerous equipment this manual presumes its user will become rea sonably familiar with is specifications before applying the soft ware to actual machine hardware Obviously not every feature will be used in every design Some simplified applications only require configuring a Stage or two use the keyboard for Cycle Start and require very little wiring Even so it is important to become familiar with at least the existence of features and the reasons why they are available There will be a period of time while your machine is under development before your machine is put into productive use During this time additional precautions apply However the col lection of features was designed in a manner to accommodate troubleshootin
66. ation from the positive Z direction On a gantry type milling machine this would be looking down on the work in the direction that the cut ter would plunge into the material By far the easiest way to visualize the implementation of G02 and G03 is from the Simulator which not only provides views that you can scale and rotate but also allows you to ani mate the progress of the tool along its path showing you the rela tionship between the Part Program code and the direction of the path that it produces Setting the Each Action check box in the Breakpoint group of the Simulation Control allows you to step through each segment of the arc although this is seldom neces Sary as even running the simulation without breakpoints is usual ly adequate to determine tool direction Syntax The geometry of the arc is defined by the current location of the tool the center point of the arc and the destination of the tool after the arc has been subtended X Y PLANE X Z PLANE Y Z PLANE G17 G18 G19 Page 122 G Code Controller Design Reference PART PROGRAMMING G17 G18 G19 Reference Plane Select Stage position words are used to specify destination points according to the plane of operation For the G17 X Y plane use X and Y for the G18 X Z plane use X and Z and for the G19 Y Z plane use Y and Z Arguments to the Stage position words are used according to the current positioning mode If the current positioning mode is G90
67. ation to fit on the page shows states of the machine that remain in effect as they are controlled by the part program Commands that set a machine state and remain in effect from Block to Block are called Modal Block Position G Code Controller Design Reference Page 87 Resuming a Job JOB SIMULATION re Offset Interpolation Radius Comp G54 C Linear GOO GO1 None G40 G55 Circula Cw GO2 C Left GH Exclusive M G56 C Circular CCW G03 Right G42 M03 G57 3 D Index C M04 G58 Plane G59 xY G17 Length Comp Inclusive M C xZ G18 C On G43 MO C YZ G19 C MOS Off G49 Loop Level 0 3 H Index The Block Position display shows the position of the tool before and after the execution of each Block Resuming a Job Starting Condition When the Simulator is run from a newly opened Job or run when the Job is not Suspended from within a Production opera tion nor being Resumed from within a prior simulation simula tion starts from the first Block of code in Program Number O0 Letter O Zero Snapping the Rewind button restores the Simulator to this condition Similar to its Production counterpart an initializing Block entitled NO is always executed first The initializing Block exe cutes GOO making the default mode of motion Rapid Traverse It also executes either G90 or G91 depending on the Job setting for default coordinate interpretation Absolute or Incremental When the Simulator is run fro
68. b Other errors my be severe to the extent that the translation process is aborted Subtle errors that cause unexpected results are of course the worst Error reporting and Simulation tools in and of themselves do not assure that the the Job is error free but instead provide additional resources to be used in alerting the technician of potential problems before machine motion is initiat ed Simulation Control Page 84 G Code Controller R RECT CAM Top View View Help SIM The Simulation Control dialog is used to animate your Part Programto the screen You can use this control to verify the integrity of the Job before it is used to effect machine motion You can also use this control to display the state of a suspended Job and start or resume a Job from different loca tions within the Part Program s The Simulation Control dialog is opened using the Job gt Simulate menu or by snapping over its button on the Toobar When the Simulation Control dialog is open the Main Menu context and Toobar changes to permit only visual operations that are pertinent to the Simulation as shown in this screen clip When the Simulation Control dialog is closed the Main Menu returns to its prior state 3D m ry 2 Code Windows Two sunken windows located in the upper part of the dia log display the part program code during the animation process The lower text window displays the block of code that is about to be animated by the sim
69. ble purpose as the joystick release switch described below In this example the Indexer LPT Command to Query Release Switch described below would be limit h and the Release Switch Query Result would be 0 Feed Rate Override The Feed Rate Override control is a powerful method of smoothly controlling the operational speeds of motion while the Stages are actually in motion If the hardware to support Feed Rate Override in most applications a potentiometer connected to the Indexer LPT Hardware Assist Module is not installed this feature should be disabled here at a System level using the Setup Feed Rate Override dialog Refer to the chapter entitled Job Setups for selectively applying Feed Rate Override to rapid traverse and feed operations G Code Controller Design Reference Page 43 Joystick SYSTEM SET UPS Joystick Joystick Switch Configuration v JoystickJog Feature is Installed Joystick Jog Axis lg Indexer LPT Command to Query Release Switch limit h Assign Stages to Joystick x Wiring See the chapter in the Indexer LPT user guide entitled Switch Scanning and Joystick for a description of joystick fea tures and wiring The option to choose the set of signals inclusive of parallel port pin numbers 2 4 5 3 14 and 1 in the diagram is suggested Switch S8 refered to in the Indexer LPT manual as Remain Exit is refered to in this manual as the Mark switch Release Switch Query Res
70. ch motion Jog This option uses the Indexer LPT joystick con trol for manually controlled positioning The joystick options that are available will depend on the options that you include in the system wiring Refer to the Indexer LPT and the Joystick section of this manual in the chapter entitled System Set Ups To enter Jog mode you must simultaneously press the Mark Page 98 G Code Controller Design Reference PRODUCTION OPERATIONS Dry Run and Run Tool Path which is the Indexer LPT joystick exit switch and Release switches If the Position display is active the current position fields will be masked when the joystick is active To view the current position press the switch entitled Mark This momentarily deacti vates the joystick and displays the current position To leave the Jog mode simultaneously press Mark and Release Position Readout POS The system Position window is launched by snapping View Position The position that it displays reflects the actual position read from Indexer LPT Position tracking is only in effect after a Limit Switch seek sequence or after the Set Home control has been used Position tracking is lost after a limit switch interruption The large Position window as its name implies presents a display large enough to be read at a distance and is useful when using a control pendant to set up Fixture or tool length offsets You can select between the larger display or the sm
71. command prior to any subsequent pulse generation and regardless of the condition of the Active Axis field G Code Controller supports over one hundred 100 cus tomizable M codes Each M code can dispense a unique list of Indexer LPT commands and List Directives The argument to the M word in the Part Program determines which customized M code list is executed To edit the list of Indexer LPTcom mands associated with any M code select the code number using the spin control in the dialog that appears after you snap Setup gt M Codes The spin control will skip over system M codes such as M00 M01 M02 M98 and M99 System M codes cannot be customized When you snap over the Configure button a List Dialog editor appears for the selected M code number You may enter any number of Indexer LPT commands and List Directives using the list editor Description This field provides the machine designer a place for a short G Code Controller Design Reference SYSTEM SET UPS On the Fly Switching Description Spindle On Counter Clockwise Executes on Resume if Set Resets M04 is Reset by MO5 or M30 Indexer LPT Commands Edit winding_power c 0 dwell 10 winding power c 1 Disable these Indexer LPT Commands for Dry Run x Em written description of the function designed into the particular M code Annotation The sunken box that appears between the Description field and the list editor displays
72. d M07 M08 M09 automatic process ing is discontinued and the Job must be cancelled A pop up win dow alerts you to the occurance and reports the Stage and switch high or low that generated the interruption Abrupt limit switch interruption destroys position tracking so the Home Position must be reestablished for the affected Stages before the Job can be started again Feed hold Stop Installation of the feed hold feature as explained in the Indexer LPTusers guide comprises two external switches the feed hold switch which is typically a normally closed switch con tact to ground and the abort switch which is typically a normally open pushbutton When feed hold is activated by opening the contacts of the feed hold switch motion immediately decelerates to a controlled stop All control activity is suspended as long as feed hold is activated If feed hold is deactivated by releasing the feed hold switch then the Job will resume However if contact closure of the abort input is made to ground via the abort switch a Program Stop sequence will be executed as set up under M03 M04 M05 and M07 M08 M09 and recovery options are made available to the operator The lower text annotation window in the Run control will indicate that the machine was stopped by means of feed hold The Resume Position for each Stage is set at its location G Code Controller Design Reference PRODUCTION OPERATIONS Resume to Resume to immediately f
73. d starting is not suitable for tool paths that follow seg ments defining a smooth contoured path G Code Controller is designed to take advantage of the advanced look ahead contouring feature of Indexer LPT described in the Indexer LPT users guide in the chapter entitled Queue Processing When Contouring is turned on feed tra verse motion is loaded into and executed from the Indexer LPT look ahead buffer Indexer LPT pre processes the motion dynam ics involved in the contour and then executes the motion in a smooth continuous manner modulating acceleration as needed to avoid over stress through the transition points When multiple points are used to describe a contour path by means of many Blocks of code in the Part Program considera tions must be made for the time that it takes to process This time is called calculation dwell It is often not desirable for the tool to be in contact with the work during the calculation dwell It easy to construct a Part Program so that calculation dwell does not occur while the tool is in contact with the work Simply begin the contour at a point where the tool is not in contact with the work As long as the state of the Part Program is in a feed traverse mode and as long as subsequent blocks of code only contain positioning information G Code Controller will auto matically load motion commands into the look ahead queue buffer instead of executing them immediately Once a condition is
74. degree arc will be drawn using two segments subtended by 4 degrees A ten degree arc will be drawn using two segments subtended by five degrees This setup is useful in optimizing jobs where tolerances of smaller radii arcs are held tighter than the Segment Error allows for larger radii arcs Segment Error This value is the maximum dimensional error due to linear G Code Controller Design Reference JOB SET UPS Reference Plane Selection Segment Error L Segment Angle approximation In other words it is the farthest distance that the segment deviates from the true theoretical arc This set up over rides Segment Angle Smaller arcs subtend ed at Segment Angle may generate errors which are less than this set up value Larger arcs are broken down into more segments so that Segment Error is not violated If the destination point designated in a G02 or a G03 Block deviates from the radius established by the starting point and the center point by an amount greater than the Segment Error a warning is posted in the Diagnostic Errors dialog Maximum Segments per Arc This value over rides both Segment Error and Segment Angle The number of segments used to approximate an arc is limited by this value Accuracy Guidelines Do NOT enter tolerance requirements that greatly exceed your manufacturing requirement In other words use sensible val ues A greater number of segments will result in greater memory us
75. dimensional milling cutter and you wish to start machining at some point within a the Part Program s Use the Simulator to advance to the Block that you want then with the Apply check box checked snap Ok Use manual positioning options Production Move by or Position to to make sure that the Z Stage is at a clearance height above the work The Simulator records the positions that the Stages should be when resuming so if you want to Run the Job from the resuming location first use Production Resume to checking only X and Y Stages for motion to move the tool over the top of the resuming location The resuming location is presented automatically by this dialog With the tool still above the work turn the spindle on using Production Instant Block Use Production Resume to now with the Z Stage checked to to plunge the active spindle into the work Finally Run resume the automatic operation of the Job from there G Code Controller Design Reference Page 89 Resuming a Job JOB SIMULATION If you had Suspended the Job from a feed hold condition then entering the Simulator immediately advances the simulation up to the Block of the segment of motion that was interrupted If you immediately check Apply Resume Position from the Simulation Control dialog and snap Ok then the Resume to position of the Stages and the resuming state of the Job will cor respond to help you retrace the tool path leading into the point of interrupti
76. e Controller G Code Controller s context sensitive menus expose manual positioning options when the Offsets dialog is active similar to when the Fixture Offsets dialog is up see the section of this chapter enti tled Fixture Offsets Mount the first tool and manually position it so that it touches its reference location the zero position of its Fixture Offset The Fixture Offset menu allows you to automati cally apply this position to the Job Close the Fixture Offsets dialog and use the Offsets dialog to assign the value of 0 0 zero to the H field of the first tool Now you can physically mount sub sequent tools and for each tool manually touch off on the refer ence location By snapping the Apply button the length of the G Code Controller Design Reference Page 67 Contour Tool Feed JOB SET UPS tool is calculated and automatically applied to the H field In a concrete example suppose your Job uses two or more tools situated in carriers so that they can be mounted and dis mounted to consistent lengths but you have not yet determined the actual length of each tool in its carrier Place the first tool in the spindle launch the Fixture Offsets dialog and manually posi tion the tool along the Z Stage until its tip touches a reference position Snap the Apply button to transfer the machine position to the Fixture Offset for the Z Stage Snap OK to save and drop from the Fixture Offsets dialog Now launch the Offsets dialo
77. e file up under the Index O Number at a value of 3 For example to call a subroutine located in this Part Program located on line N550 another Part Programin the Job might use the following line of code M98 P550 O3 L1 Selecting a Program File To bring an existing file into the Program File Specification field you may snap over the Browse button to bring up a Windows browse menu then snap over the file that you desire Files with extensions txt tap and nc will be listed in the files available for selection as these extensions are commonly appended to Part Program files generated by CAD CAM post processors The extension txt is handy because it is often auto matically appended to new files by Notepad As mentioned and G Code Controller Design Reference Page 63 Tool Offset Table JOB SET UPS Page 64 regardless of the file name extension that you are using Program Files are Text type files The Browse window can alternatively expose files of every extension if you use the All Files option in its Files of type field If you use this option only select Text type files that contain Gcode scripts and do NOT select a file with CAM as its extension Editing a Part Program You can edit a Part Program selected into the Job by snap ping the button entitled Edit Program Text in the Programs dia log A text editor will pop up with the Part Programfile read into it and you can begi
78. e set to exceed the Running Speed The values which you set up in this dialog box will largely depend on the limitations of your system The rapid traverse Running Speed is the speed of the Stage along its axis not the combined vector speed as in contouring modes G01 G02 and GO3 One limitation for the upper limits of rapid traverse settings is the maximum step rate of which your computer is capable The dialog box displays maximum values of speed and acceleration which can be attained by your computer but this does not guaran tee that the power of your motor drive system will be able to sus tain these maximum rates The power of your step motor drive system may be a limiting factor You should not set the starting speed faster than your motors can instantaneously start neither should you set the Acceleration faster than the capabilities of the motor drive sys tem Safety and the physical strength of your system components are also considerations G Code Controller Design Reference Page 35 Limit Switch Seek Configuration SYSTEM SET UPS Jog Options Jog Instantaneous Speed This field sets up the speed for joystick control when the acceleration select switch de selects accelerated motion Instantaneous rate means constant speed Refer to the Indexer LPT documentation for more information regarding the joystick hard wired options Jog Nudge Distance An optional joystick hard wired option allows allows the opera
79. ed plunge cycles G81through G89 Drill Axis and Positioning Plane The most common type drilling operation requires position ing in the X Y axis and drilling along the Z axis Canned cycles operate according to this mode when the current reference plane is X Y as selected by default or by G17 When the current refer ence plane is X Z as selected by G18 then positioning occurs in the X Z axes and drilling along the Y axis When the current ref erence plane is Y Z as selected by G19 positioning occurs in the Y Z axes and drilling along the X axis The examples in this book assume that the current reference plane is X Y G17 Explanations will reference the Z axis as the drilling axis and X Y axes as positioning axes Initial Level This is the position of the Z axis before the beginning of the first operation in a canned cycle or sequence of canned cycles R Level Sometimes called the gage height this is a point along the Z axes located below the Initial Level but above the work Typically the first motion of the Z axis in a canned cycle is a G Code Controller Design Reference PART PROGRAMMING Canned Cycles e 3D Window E File Edit Format View Help Goo F20 Z 1 G90 G04 P10 Absolute Canned Drill G81 X2 Y2 Z 3 R 1 5 G98 Incremental coo X1 Y1 G91 G81 X2 Z1 5 R 5 G99 x2 x2 G98 G80 G00 xo YO 20 G90 m30 rapid traverse from the Initial Level to the R Leve
80. ed explanation of the feed hold feature and how it can be wired Most installations support the feed hold feature with two switches a toggle switch entitled feed hold to effect a holding state and a pushbutton entitled abort to be optionally activated to release the system from the holding state When the feed hold switch is activated Stage motion is brought to a decelerated and controlled stop and the system is frozen in a suspended state If G Code Controller Design Reference Page 41 Feed Hold Configuration SYSTEM SET UPS Page 42 the feed hold switch is released at this time the system resumes motion accelerating to feed or rapid rate and completing the geometry as if feed hold had not been activated The feed hold command is very robust and for example in a Dry Run it can be activated and deactivated as an alternative to feed rate override to slow motion around critical areas If the abort switch is activated when the system is suspended in a feed hold state the suspended state is terminated and the operator is presented with recovery options such as resuming the Job from a previous point in the tool path G Code Controller also supports automatic sequencing following abort from feed hold typically used to automatically turn a spindle off See the section in this chapter entitled Special M Codes Recovery procedures when abort from feed hold occurs with in a customized list e g customized M or T code
81. en it is disabled its limit switch also is disabled When both sides are enabled motion is arrested by either limit switch See the Zdisable limit report List Directive in the chapter entitled List Directives The squaring sequence is accomplished as follows Commands in the list Indexer LPT Commands Before Limit Seek enable both sides X1 and X2 The system then travels at instantaneous rate towards the limit switches XL1 and XL2 The first switch that makes contact arrests the motion Commands in the list Indexer LPT Commands After Limit Seek Before Retract execute a squaring sequence alternately enabling only one side and moving towards and against its respective switch The squaring sequence in this list finishes by enabling both sides The system then retracts the distance specified in Retract Distance and sets the machine home reference position Finally the list in Indexer LPT Commands After Limit Seek After Retract is executed This list is handy to complete hardware ini tialization that may be necessary set system variables or for example initialize portions of a tool changer Indexer LPT Commands Before Limit Seek This list will be executed at the beginning of the Production Limit Switch Seek sequence Indexer LPT Commands After Limit Seek Before Retract This list will be executed immediately after the Production gt Limit Switch Seek action causes a limit switch interruption and before the sequence moves the
82. equently if your machine is designed to rotate a fourth axis while simultaneously contouring in three dimensions you can expect the actual vector rate in three dimensions to be somewhat slower when using the rotational axis Designing the step resolution of the linear Stages to be small in relation to the step resolution of the rotational Stages minimizes this effect The G Code Controller graphically shows feed traversal as solid lines showing both the contour path that is specified by the Stage positioning commands and the actual tool path when offset compensation applies When there is no offset compensation the contour path and the actual tool path coincide The graphical display shows the contour path in black and the actual tool path in red When the two coincide the path is shown in red During Simulation and Run operations the actual tool path is shown in grey and as the tool traverses over the path the path it is changed to red Smooth Contouring When Contouring is turned off feed traverse motion is exe cuted immediately as each Block is processed In this case feed traverse is executed immediately from Indexer LPT and each motion accelerates from rest to vector velocity and decelerates to a stop at the completion of each Block Although this mode is acceptable for rectangles and other sharp angular shapes abrupt G Code Controller Design Reference Page 117 G01 Linear Feed PART PROGRAMMING Page 118 stopping an
83. er ee pip RAW pex pe x 107 Resume t0 recie e Gad sae ex pue Pn 109 Chapter 10 PART PROGRAMMING esses 111 The Programming Environment 111 Composing a Job 0 0 eee eee 111 Lane N mbers 2220 Seed eer p ina a 112 Comments os iA ane a Posten VAR edt ur thus 113 Optional Block Skip 200 114 Command Word Arguments 114 G00 Rapid Traverse 2005 115 GOI Linear Feed i e ide bea ed 116 F Change Feed Rate 0 119 G02 G03 Circular Feed osea Re 120 G17 G18 G19 Reference Plane Select 124 G04 Set Dwell Time 2 RIA 124 G40 G41 G42 Radius Offset Compensation 124 G43 G49 Tool Length Compensation 128 oe G55 G56 G57 G58 G59 Fixture Offsets Canned Cycles osse REN RARE RA u rR EAA 130 G98 G99 Canned Cycle Return Point Level 132 G80 Cancel Canned Cycle 133 G81 Canned Drill Cycle 133 G82 Canned Spotfacing Drilling with Dwell 134 Table of Contents G86 Canned Drilling with Operator Interaction 134 G85 Canned Bonne ove g 54 eee Ja te ee 134 G88 Canned Punch Press 135 G89 Canned Boring with Dwell 135 G84 Canned Tapping 135 G83 Canned Deep Hole 135 G87 Canned Chip Breaking 136 MO0 Program Stop eese 136 MO1 Optiona
84. esign Reference PRODUCTION OPERATIONS Stopping one In this case you Suspend the Run operation and snap to the Simulator The Simulator preserves the halted operation making it easier to Rewind and simulate to a known position close to the Block where the tool was broken Checking Apply then OK from the Simulator moves the Resuming Location to the Stage posi tions specified at this point in the Part Program Using the Resume to dialog you quickly locate the X and Y Stages over their resuming coordinates From there you precisely lower the Z Stage until the tool touches the work When finally you snap OK from within the Run control you are asked if you wish to pro ceed from an offset location since the new position of the Z Stage no longer corresponds to its ideal location due to the differ ent length of the replacement tool Snapping Yes preserves the offset and the Job is completed as if the tool length was the same for the replacement tool In another concrete example suppose you stopped a Job because you needed to relocate a clamp Using manual position ing controls you move the spindle out of the way but before resuming you forgot to restore it to its Resuming Location When you snap OK from the Run control you are warned of an offset condition and asked if you want to proceed from the cur rent location You snap No then use the Resume to control to correct the condition With the actual Stages aligning wit
85. esign Reference Page 139 M98 M99 Subroutine Call Return PART PROGRAMMING Example N201 M98 P500 L4 In this example the subroutine located at line N500 of the same file as N201 is executed four 4 times File Job Production System c lal sim E jwpn EEx File Edit Format View Help File Edit Format View Help N100 Hole Subroutine GOO G90 Z 0 25 GOl Z 25 G41 G91 G01 G43 G42 D3 H3 F Goo G90 x2 5 Y1 M01 G90 Z 1 F20 sical Hole Subroutine M98 P101 01 L5 G90 Z 1 F20 coo xo Yo Perimeter Subroutine G30 GO01 2 1 NSOO G01 G91 Z 25 G42 Call Perimeter Subroutine x4 M98 P500 O1 L5 G03 X2 Y2 IO J2 G30 G01 2 1 Gol Y2 G30 Goo ZO Bp x 4 co2 x 2 v 2 I 2 J0 Gol Y 2 m99 Page 140 G Code Controller Design Reference PART PROGRAMMING M98 M99 Subroutine Call Return Nested Subroutines The practice of calling a subroutine from within another sub routine is called nesting The called subroutine in turn can call another subroutine and so forth The number of times this occurs is called the level of nesting G Code Controller sup ports leveled nesting of subroutines G Code Controller Design Reference Page 141 PART PROGRAMMING Page 142 G Code Controller Design Reference GETTING STARTED System Settings Chapter 11 GETTING STARTED Before Starting Before starting read and understand the terms and condi tions of the Program License Agreement If you do
86. et for Specified Position Faas 3 X w Feed Hold Location 3 8055042 in Y w FeedHold Location 1 2499975 in Z FeedHold Location 0 2499995 in Cancel G Code Controller Design Reference Page 109 PRODUCTION OPERATIONS adjacent buttons If the Resume Position was established by an abort from feed hold the buttons will be entitled Feed Hold Location Otherwise the buttons will be entitled Resume Location Resume Feed to Move Selected Stages to Specified Position Pasition Offset for Fixture G54 Xp Resume Location 2 7499945 in ma Resume Location 1 2499975 in ZY Resume Location 0 499999 in Cancel In a concrete example you had interrupted a Job and used the Simulator to retrace over a tool path to a Block earlier in the Part Program You retract the tool to a safe height by checking the Z Stage and type its temporary destination leaving the other stages unchecked Snap Ok and Cycle Start to move Now by checking the X and Y Stages you can move the tool over the top of the Resume Position Snap Ok and Cycle Start to move Snapping the Resume Location button for the Z Stage restores the value of its Resume Position to the destination point field Snap Ok and Cycle Start to complete positioning to the point where you may resume automatic operations Page 110 G Code Controller Design Reference PART PROGRAMMING Composing a Job Chapter 10 PART PROGRAMMING The Programming Enviro
87. etup Menu Hide Job Menu figuration as it may appear right after start up where the System setup is password protected and the Job setup is not The menu entitled System is absent in the Main Menu but the menu entitled Page 58 G Code Controller Design Reference SYSTEM SET UPS Diagnostics Job is visible and accessible If you were to select Show System Setup Menu from the fly out you will be prompted for the System password The System menu will then be visible and accessible and the fly out will be changed to read Hide System Setup Menu You can show or hide System and Job setup menus at any time using the File gt Access menu If the check box requiring a password is checked in the associated field in the Passwords dia log then you will be prompted for a password when selecting the menu to Show Otherwise the File gt Access menu can be used to alternately Show and Hide the menus without prompting Recovering Passwords If you forget your password you can find it by printing the GIXA INI file using Notepad Be very careful not to alter the contents of GIXA INI within Notepad The passwords will appear under the section Password Save Setup File This menu selection will only become visible after changes have been made to the System setup Use this menu to store changes that you have made to the System configuration file GIXA INI which is located in the WINDOWS folder Diagnostics A full range of d
88. for Ratiometric Units For instance assume you are directly driving a 200 inch lead screw with a step motor configured for 400 steps per revolution In this case 400 steps would move the stage by 200 inches You may enter a value of 400 in the Ratiometric Steps per Unit s field and a value of 200 in the Ratiometric Units field Select in from the Units Name list box to make the other menus and dialogs read correctly Assume this same machine is to be used in CAD CAM oper ations where centimeters is the standard of measure In this case since 200in 508cm enter a value of 508 in the Ratiometric Units field In this case cm is the most appropriate selection for Units Name In another example assume that you are driving a linear Stage by means of a cable system You have determined experi mentally using the Indexer LPT Diagnostic Program and an appropriate measuring device that commanding the motor to move 3000 steps results in a movement of 3 103 inches In this case enter a value of 3000 in the Ratiometric Steps per Unit s field enter a value of 3 103 in the Ratiometric Units field and select in for Units Name For rotary Stages the Ratiometric Units would apply to the angle of Stage rotation For example to set up a Stage that rotates a complete revolution 360 degrees as a result of 4000 steps put 4000 in the Ratiometric Steps per Unit s field enter 360 in the Ratiometric Units field and select d
89. g for Units Name Total Distance This is the distance between the high and low operational limit switches In a Production gt Limit Switch Seek if the Stage does not contact the limit switch after traveling the distance specified here motion will cease and a warning message will appear For Stages X Y and Z this distance also defines the oper ational boundaries that are shown in relation to the tool path on the graphical display G Code Controller Design Reference SYSTEM SET UPS Stage Configuration Rapid Traverse Rate Starting Speed Running Speed Acceleration Rapid traverse rates apply to Stage motion that occurs under Part Program control in the rapid traverse mode instated by G00 It also applies to motion performed under control of the Move by and Position to menus and joystick control when the joystick acceleration selector switch is in the accelerated setting Speeds are represented in units per minute The names of the units in the display in cm etc are the names which were set up in the Units Name fields Acceleration is represented in units per minute per second The Starting Speed field represents the instantaneous rate which the stepper motor will begin motion The motors accelerate from the Starting Speed at the rate you specify in the Acceleration field in units per minute per second to the plateau velocity defined by contents of the Running Speed field The Starting Speed must never b
90. g and assign 0 0 to the H field of Tool Table Index 1 Manually move the spindle e g using the joystick Jog Position to or Move by control to a point where you can replace the first tool with the second one Use the spin button to select Tool Table Index 2 Now with the second tool seated in the spindle manually move the Z Stage to the position where the tool touches the refer ence position Snapping Apply automatically transfers the calcu lated value for the tool length to the Hfield For subsequent tools you need only advance the Tool Table Index manually touch the tool and Apply it to the H field If you are using the joystick Jog feature for manual motion pressing the Mark switch calculates the H value and displays it to the dialog Snap over the Apply button then press Mark to auto matically apply the current position to the H field You can include into your design a feature that automatically stops the Z Stage at the touch off location using a circuit that activates the Z Stage low limit switch input when a tool contacts the reference position When incorporating this feature however you must be sure that the joystick is operated in Instantaneous mode as position tracking cannot be maintained if a limit switch interruption occurs in Accelerated mode See the chapter in the Indexer LPT manual entitled Joystick for more information on joystick wiring and optional mode switching Contour Tool Feed Page 68 This
91. g component parts Dependencies can be isolated So for example you may first simply exercise motor motion using Indexer LPT s Diagnostic program After you have veri fied that the motor is working correctly you may configure it to a Stage in G Code Controller and exercise the motor with one of the manual Stage control dialogs After you know that the motor is working and its associated Stage is configured correctly you may automatically move the Stage back and forth automatically using a simplified Part Program Perhaps finally you may import a more sophisticated Part Program from another CAD CAM system The same development technique applies can be applied to other portions of your machine s design In another example you may exercise control over manual and automatic operations at first using the keyboard for Cycle Start You can add wiring for an external Cycle Start switch later but in the mean time if for example a motor is not yet operation you are relieved of the task of determining whether the problem is with the Stage or the Cycle Start configuration Isolating each functional component not only speeds prototype development but also greatly aids find G Code Controller Design Reference INTRODUCTION How to Use this Manual ing and correcting problems that may occur in the field G Code Controller Design Reference Page 7 INTRODUCTION Page 8 G Code Controller Design Reference IMPORTANT FILES The G Code Contro
92. g the spin buttons in the Offsets dialog entitled Tool Table Index See the chapter entitled Part Programming for more information on how the Part Program applies the values assigned to H and D words to the tool path G Code Controller Design Reference Page 65 Tool Offset Table JOB SET UPS E G Code Controller R_RECT CAM Top View Production Oo 7 Offsets m Offset Table File Name C ASCDev TestJobs tools2 off Tool T able Index 4 3 H Calculator H Z Machine Position Z Fixture Offset Apply Cale H Length Diameter Curf Width H 0 8133842 D 0 375 DK Cancel Setting D Offsets D offsets are used in conjunction with G41 left offset and G42 right offset to alter the cutting path and automatically com pensate for cutting tool diameter or curf width The value assigned represents the diameter a circular cutting tool or the width of a flame cut curf Instating G41 or G42 offsets the path of the tool from the contour by one half the amount of the D entry Using the D value in the illustration as an example when used with G41 or G42 the cutting path for D3 would be offset by one half 0 375 or 0 1875 When CAD CAM software is used to generate the Part Page 66 G Code Controller Design Reference JOB SET UPS Tool Offset Table Program this feature is often processed into the generation of the tool path obviating the need for this feature However D offset compensation is often useful
93. gers laser controls vacuum or clamping can also be incorporated All of the output signals that this pro gram uses are generated through the Ability Systems Indexer LPT device driver How the Machine is Controlled The part program defining the geometry of tool motion as well as other operations pertinent to the manufacturing of the part can be generated manually by means of a text editor such as Windows Notepad or Word in ASCII mode which can be G Code Controller Design Reference Page 3 Who Uses this Manual INTRODUCTION launched from within this program The Part Program can be graphically viewed and simulated Three dimensional views that can be rotated in real time and orthogonal front end and side views assist in the process The Part Programs can be incremen tally edited saved and reloaded by the G Code Controller mak ing Part Program composition convenient and efficient Alternately the Part Programcan be automatically generat ed by third party CAD CAM software Subsequent to generating and verifying the Part Program the technician may wish to do a Dry Run During a Dry Run the machine traverses the geometry of operation at a rate specified for this purpose in the Job set up and disables operations such as activation of coolant or vacuum solenoids that are not perti nent to a testing the tool path Finally with material in place the part is manufactured under control of the Job set up for Producti
94. h their expected position in the Part Program the next time you snap OK from the Run control you are immediately prompted for Cycle Start to proceed There is No Keyboard Stop All but the smallest and simplest applications of this program require the feed hold feature to be installed The feed hold switch is the method used to accomplish immediate and controlled stop ping Breakpoint Stop The Run control s Breakpoint group include options that stop automatic execution similar to the Simulator Use Cycle Start to continue G Code Controller Design Reference Page 107 Page 108 PRODUCTION OPERATIONS The Each Action check box halts operations that may hap pen within a particular Block For example G02 and G03 subtend an arc by means of approximating linear segments When Each Action is checked automatic execution is halted before each seg ment is processed When Each Block is checked processing is halted after the completion of the entire Block You can stop at any Block by checking the Stop at Line check box and specify ing the line number N number and Program Number O num ber where you want the Job to halt Automatic processing will proceed to and stop after the specified Block Checking Optional Stop MOI stops after encountering MOI in the Part Program Limit Switch Stop If motion is arrested by means of Indexer LPT end limit switches a Program Stop sequence will be executed as set up under M03 M04 M05 an
95. hese considerations may include shields lock outs placards specialized training and clear written docu mentation The design and setup routines incorporated in this product should ONLY be used by technicians who have an acceptable understanding of the safety issues involved Likewise end use of this product should ONLY include those who are familiar with the hazards involved in operating automated equipment and necessary precautions WARNING ALWAYS PLAN FOR THE UNEXPECTED WHEN USING SOFTWARE If you cannot build appropriate safety features into your hardware by virtue of cost expertise or any other rea son you should not be using this product How to Use this Manual An Engineers Guide This manual is an engineer s guide to implementing the G Code Controller This text presumes that the reader has a work ing knowledge of Indexer LPT Details pertaining to the opera tion of Indexer LPT can be found in the Indexer LPT documen tation This manual is not an instructional guide on CNC procedures or G Code part programming Instead it is a guide to the particu lar performance of this product and how it may be customized to apply to the unique design of your automated machine Doesn t Replace End User Manual Since the G Code Controller is meant to be customized to accommodate a large variety of machine designs the manner in which the program functions is highly dependent on the physical nature of the machine and the softw
96. his window will not be preserved The 3D View Control Window 3D View Control Scale E Clip Rotate The 3D View Control window is automatically launched with the 3D Window and automatically closed when the 3D Windowis closed You can place it anywhere on the screen by dragging its title bar You can closed it without removing the 3 D Windowby snapping over the X on the right side of its title bar If you allow it to close with the 3D Window any changes you may have made to it will be preserved Otherwise it will revert back to its last preserved state the next time you launch the 3 D Window You can save its preserved state to the Job using File gt Save Page 82 G Code Controller Design Reference JOB SIMULATION Errors You can manipulate the 3 Ddisplay by dragging the sliders with the mouse You can also snap over a slider to select it then use the keyboard cursor keys to move it by small amounts The Scale slider manipulates the Zoom magnification of the graphic When the scale is made sufficiently small the entire volume within the operational boundaries is displayed delimited by dashed lines When the scale increased a clipping region is established that only makes visible a range of depth into the screen The Clip slider allows you to move the visible depth towards and away from the screen allowing you to focus on a particular portion of the tool path by clipping foreground and background paths that may
97. hown in dotted lines The Feed path is shown in red The Contour Path which is basically subscribed by a point on the radius of the tool normal to the tool path and vertically offset by the tool height is shown in dark grey When radius and length compensation are not instated the Contour and the Feed paths overlap The operational boundaries of the working volume which is to say the limit switch boundaries are shown in dashed lines The dashed lines showing the X Y plane in the most positive Z direc tion are displayed in a different color than the other boundaries Zoom and Pan Zoom describes the magnification of the tool path image and Pan controls the portion of the image that is displayed When loading a new or revised Part Program into a Job but especially when opening a Job generated by previous versions of G Code Controller it may be necessary to use View gt Zoom Full to make all portions of the tool path visible within the Main Window To magnify the image Zoom In locate the cursor over the portion of the image that you want to appear in the center of the screen after magnification then press the Page Down key on the G Code Controller Design Reference JOB SIMULATION The Main Window G Code Controller R RECT CAM Top View File Job Production System Diagnostic View Help T sim 2 RUIN 7 E keyboard Magnification is increased each time you press Page Down and the Scroll Bars are automaticall
98. iagnostic menus are available to assist you in troubleshooting your System set ups and in diagnosing other problems Switch diagnostic menus such as the one shown below continuously monitor switch inputs giving you a live display of the switch status The Error List dialog collects system and part programming errors in a list format that can be easily reviewed Part programming errors are shown with the location of the error Block number N number and program number O number preceding the description of the error In cases where G Code Controller Design Reference Page 59 SYSTEM SET UPS you optionally omit the Block number the display shows the number that was assigned to the block by the G Code Controller Page 60 G Code Controller Design Reference JOB SET UPS Job Set Ups Chapter 7 JOB SET UPS G Code Controller R RECT CAM Top View File alia Production System Diagnostic View Help Programs MJ Tool Offset Table gt RUN o P Fixture Offsets G54 G59 a Feed Rates Feed Rate Override wv Contour Tool Feed G02 GOS Block Skip G17 G16 G19 G8 G90 G91 Simulate Reload Job setups can be modified by means of the dialogs accessi ble from the Job menu which becomes visible when you have opened a Job by means of File gt Open Job As mentioned in the chapter entitled Important Files CAM Files contain information about the Job including but not limited to the
99. ify using the Indexer LPT Diag program provided with Indexer LPT accessible from Windows using the Start gt G Code Controller Design Reference Page 15 Input Query MOTOR CONTROL OUTPUTS Programs gt Indexer LPT Diag menu selection The Diag pro gram allows you to exercise Indexer LPT directly from its own console making it easier to troubleshoot your design To rule out typographical errors you can Copy highlight then press Ctrl and C and Paste highlight then press Ctrl and V Indexer LPT commands from the Diag program to Notepad then use the same method to transfer the commands from Notepad to the setup dialogs in G Code Controller Limit Switch Inputs Limit switches are used to define the normal operational boundaries of the motorized Stages Operational limit switches may be wired to the parallel port as per the instructions found in the Indexer LPT manual The Indexer LPT Diag program as well as G Code Controller s Diagnostic menu provide a means to check the functioning of the limit switches In some systems where Stage over travel is likely to present a hazard an outer set of limit switches may be used for an emer gency stop The outer limit switches must not rely on software to arrest motion For example in one design an outer set of limit switches can be used to independently remove all power from the system via a drop out relay In a different design where remov ing power may introduce other problems
100. inches from the Machine Home position rapid_to X 10 clear_num reference index This List Directive clears the entry for the system variable saved under reference index For example the following List Directive removes the variable saved under reference index 10 clear_num 10 clear_nums This List Directive removes all of the stored variables wait_for_one command query annotation This List Directive suspends operations until a qualifying result of one 1 is obtained from the specified Indexer LPT command query Until such a result is obtained the specified annotation preceded by the words Waiting for is displayed in the Automatic Control prompt window of the control console Run Tool Path or Dry Run Tool Path dialogs A command query is an Indexer LPT command that forces a response of either one 1 or zero 0 depending on the status of an input signal For example the directive wait_for_one aux_input a Air Clamp causes the G Code Controller to repeatedly send the aux input a command to Indexer LPT until Indexer LPT responds with a one 1 in its mailbox In this example all other machine operation is suspended until the qualifying result of 1 is received from Indexer LPT and the annotation Waiting for Air G Code Controller Design Reference Page 27 List Directives Page 28 LIST DIALOGS Clamp is displayed in the Automatic Control prompt window wait_for_zero command
101. ine operations Feed Hold Input The Indexer LPT feed hold feature must be installed in all but the smallest and simplest machines When the motors are in motion Indexer LPT occupies the computer s processor as a necessary requirement for fast and accurate timing As a result keyboard and mouse input is sus pended temporarily when the motors are moving The feed hold feature provides for immediate and controlled interruption of motion With the introduction of extensive look ahead contouring where Indexer LPT has continuous control over the tool path for potentially long times incorporation of the feed hold feature into the machine design has become more important and in most cases absolutely necessary The feed hold feature is conceptually simple and easy to install as per the documentation provided in the Indexer LPT Users Guide See the chapter in this manual entitled SYSTEM SET UPS for incorporating feed hold into G Code Controller The Stages of Motion Stages consist of motor driven mechanical devices that either translate motion along a linear path or rotate about an axis The paths that the motorized Stages follow are controlled by means of pulse step direction signals generated by Indexer LPT Each pulse results in an incremental movement of its associated Stage The chapter entitled System Set Ups will help you config ure each Stage according to the step resolution of the motor that you are using the number of pulses
102. ing This version can use the F command any where within a contour to modulate the feed rate continuously without interrupting motion See the F Change Feed Rate sec tion in the chapter entitled Part Programming for a more detailed description Menus In prior versions inaccessible menus were displayed but dis abled and grayed Menus in the current version are context sensi tive and so only the menus that are appropriate to the current state of the machine appear at any one time For example the Job menu doesn t appear until a Job is opened and the System gt Save System Setup menu doesn t appear unless changes are made to the System set ups G Code Controller Design Reference Page 145 Upgrading Page 146 GETTING STARTED File gt Open was changed to File gt Open Job to be more descriptive Main Menu Edit was changed to Job to be more descriptive of its function in changing Job specific settings and to remove name redundancy that might be confused with changing editing a Part Program Similarly Main Menu Setup was changed to System to remove name redundancy that might be confused with the SETUP program used to install G Code Controller Toolbar icons follow the same theme as previous versions but they have been colorized and made larger to enhance visibility and ease of access Some icons have been added to support addi tional features Display The Main Windownow displays an orth
103. ion You MAY NOT use the comment character in Blocks that contain procedural statements such as M98 Jump to Subroutine and M99 Return from Subroutine Optional Block Skip If the slash character appears as the first character in the Block and Block Skip is enabled for the Job the entire block will be ignored Line numbering however will not be affected See the Block Skip section of the chapter entitled Job Set Ups for more information on enabling and disabling Block Skip In a concrete example the following Block is ignored when Block Skip is enabled in the Job N200 Y2 0 X1 5 If the next Block in the Part Programis not numbered with in the Part Program with an N number the next line number N201 will be assigned to it whether or not Block Skip is enabled for Command Word Arguments Line Number N Words N words accept whole number arguments G Words Arguments to the G code prefix must be at least two digits in length G01 X1 0 Y2 3 Correct Do not abbreviate the G code by eliminating the leading zero G1 X1 0 Y2 3 Wrong Be especially careful not to use the letter O instead of the leading zero GO1 X1 0 Y2 3 Wrong O instead of 0 Page 114 G Code Controller Design Reference PART PROGRAMMING G00 Rapid Traverse M T D H P O Words These words accept whole number arguments with or without leading zeros Position Words Words designating Stage positions such as X Y
104. ions rapid traverse rates etc it is not likely to need changing after initial configuration You can optionally hide the System menu to simplify the user interface and minimize the chances for the machine configuration to be accidentally changed OEM s can copy a premade GIXA INI file to the WIN DOWS folder to expedite the configuration process It is also good to keep a backup copy of this file to simplify the process of duplicating the machine in case of hard drive failure The CAM File is NOT the file that contains the GCode Part Program Instead the CAM File can be thought of as a file that keeps all of the information relating to a particular Job together For example though most Jobs may use only one Part Program some Jobs can consist of multiple Part Programs that refer to each other The way that part programs refer to each other is by means of O the letter O designations The Job associ ates each O designation O1 O2 O3 etc with a unique file name and location These O files are the Part Program files described later in this chapter The Job and its associated CAM File contains the file NAMES of the Part Program s not the Part Program itself CAM Files also contain other information relating to the manufacturing of a part such as default feed rates arc accuracy fixture offsets and other setup values that relate specifically to each Job As the name implies CAM Files have a file name exten
105. is dialog contain dis tances from the Machine Home reference location which is either automatically set as part of the Production gt Limit Seek sequence or manually set using Production gt Set Home See the chapter entitled Part Programming for more information on using Fixture Offsets Assigning Current Stage Position The Fixture Offset menu can be useful in setting up the Fixture Offsets Using the Move by Position to or Jog methods of manual positioning the machinist can situate each Stage at the Program Zero point for the particular Fixture Offset position The Apply Present Position button will read the current position of the associated Stage and automatically insert it into it s Offset G Code Controller Design Reference JOB SET UPS Fixture Offsets e G Code Controller Sample CAM Top View Fixture Offsets Fixture G54 v x 10 in Y 0 in Z lo in Cancel Position field in the dialog Use of the Move by Position to and Jog dialogs is described in the chapter entitled Production Operations Apply Current Position Special Considerations for Apply using Jog The Jog method of manual positioning is particularly useful in assigning current stage positions to the Fixture Offsets Here s how You can launch the Jog dialog from within the Fixture Offset dialog by snapping over the Jog button in the Toolbar or by using Production Jog from the Main Menu Before enter ing the Jog mode by pressing
106. ition at the R Level to the Z level 2 0 inches negative at feed rate G99 in N200 had estab lished that the finish point should be the Initial Level Consequently a final rapid traverse lifts the Z axis 2 5 inches in the positive direction to complete N201 N202 cancels the canned cycle and turns off the spindle G82 Canned Spotfacing Drilling with Dwell This command is commonly used for spotfacing operations where the tool must dwell at the Z Level for a specified length of time G82 is identical to the Drilling Cycle G81 except that dwell is introduced after the Feed Traverse to the Z Level The extent of the dwell is set up by G04 For example N200 G04 P25 N201 G82 X2 0 R 5 Z 050 F10 G91 Block N202 rapid traverses to 2 0 inches in the X direction then rapid traverses 0 5 inches in the negative Z direction to the R Level From there Feed Traverse plunges the Z axis an addition al 0 050 inches to the Z Level at 10 inches per minute At the Z Level the tool dwells for 25 hundreths of a second 1 4 second which is the amount that was set up by the G04 command in block N200 Finally the Z axis is retracted to the finish position at Rapid Traverse rate G86 Canned Drilling with Operator Interaction This command is used in drilling operations where adjust ments must be made when the drilling Stage is fully extended This command identical to the Canned Drilling cycle G81 except the operation stops at the Z Level pr
107. k Configuration X Stage Limit Switch Seek Configuration Seek Low Set Home Retract Seek Rat Switch After Retract Distance weis Vv v jo5 in so in nin 2973419 max Priority ja gt 1 Highest Priority m Indexer LPT Commands Before Limit Seek Edit Add reduced_current a 0 Insert winding_power a 0 Delete EE m Indexer LPT Commands After Limit Seek Before Retract E dit winding_power a 1 move a 500 winding_power a 0 reduced current a 1 FEE Indexer LPT Commands After Limit Seek After Retract Edit reduced_current b 1 PLE x m G Code Controller Design Reference Page 37 Limit Switch Seek Configuration SYSTEM SET UPS Page 38 Set Home After Retract A check in this check box causes the program to automatical ly set the position counter of the associated axis to zero home position after the Production gt Limit Switch Seek sequence This selection is usually checked Retract Distance This field specifies the distance the Stage will retract after contacting its limit switch during the Production gt Limit Switch Seek operation Seek Rate Motion during the Production gt Limit Switch Seek opera tion will occur at an instantaneous rate specified by the value entered into this field Priority The Production gt Limit Switch Seek control sequences one Stage at a time This field lets you specify the order of operation The lower number will seque
108. l Tool Length Compensation if instated by G43 is applied during this portion of the canned cycle R Level in Absolute Mode If the Part Program is in absolute positioning mode instated by G90 then the argument to the R word is the position of the R Level with respect to Program Zero on the Z axis The R Level is determined by the R word used in the Block that instates the canned cycle If the R word is not included in the Block its value is assumed to be 0 0 For this reason it is good G Code Controller Design Reference Page 131 Canned Cycle Return Point Level PART PROGRAMMING practice to always include the R word in the Block that instates the canned cycle when in absolute positioning mode R Level in Incremental Mode If the Part Program is in incremental positioning mode instated by G91 then the argument to the R word is the unsigned distance of the R Level from the Initial Level In other words in incremental mode the argument to the R word will always be interpreted as a positive value an unsigned distance and subtracted from the value of the Initial Level to establish the absolute position of the R Level Z Level The Z Level is the position along the Z axis at the bottom of the hole It is the furthest distance into the work along the drill axis Z Level in Absolute Mode If the Part Program is in absolute positioning mode instated by G90 then the argument to the Z word is the position of the Z Level wi
109. l Stop sess 137 M30 End of Program Stop and Rewind 137 M03 M04 MOS Spindle Control 137 M07 M08 M09 Coolant Control 138 M98 M99 Subroutine Call Return 138 Chapter 11 GETTING STARTED 5445 cdi sapaesuentud vaaeaeed 143 Before Starting 2 53422 heeS eid bende beak 143 System Settings 2 ssc herded ed 3 n sows dnote 143 U psradihg i222 9 hens ded Pee Sheds 145 Setting the Look Ahead Queue Buffer 148 CAM File Settings 004 149 Table of Contents V vi Table of Contents INTRODUCTION What G Code is Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION What G Code is The command language commonly referred to as G Code is used to control automated machinery such as milling machines lathes and other devices that typically move a cutting tool over a prescribed path In the Electronic Industries Association standard RS 274 this language is entitled Interchangeable Variable Block Data Format for Positioning Contouring and Contouring Positioning Numerically Controlled Machines Understandably a shorter reference would evolve and so most technicians involved with numerical controlled machinery refer to control languages which have evolved from the RS 274 specifica tion as G Code since the letter G is used as a prefix to the most fundamental commands The commands for the earliest numerical controlled machines used a method of storing characters a
110. l Vto transfer it from the Clipboard into Notepad You can transfer lines from Notepad to the Line Editing field of the Command List dialog in a similar manner List Directives Page 26 A List Directive is a line of text in a Command List that operates directly upon G Code Controller It may require G Code Controller to perform more complex and interactive tasks All List Directives begin with the character Unlike the other lines of text in the list List Directives are not directly executed by Indexer LPT Instead each List Directive defines an action taken by the G Code Controller program No extraneous white spaces tabs or space characters are permitted in the List Directive save_num reference index number This List Directive saves a number that can be used later by another List Directive The reference index is an integer preced ed by the character The number can be an integer or floating G Code Controller Design Reference LIST DIALOGS List Directives point value The Diagnostic gt Machine Variable menu can always be used to view the numbers that are saved using this method In a concrete example the following List Directive stores the numeric value 10 123 to the reference index 10 save_num 10 10 123 In this example when the following rapid_to List Directive described below executes the number 10 123 is accessed from its index location 10 and the X Stage is moved to a location 10 123
111. ller Program Chapter 2 IMPORTANT FILES The G Code Controller Program The file name of the G Code Controller program is GIXA EXE It is run by snapping over its icon from the Windows Start gt Programs menu The Indexer LPT Device Driver The G Code Controller communicates directly with the Indexer LPT motion control software and takes advantage of many of its advanced features Indexer LPT is a Windows device driver which is accessed by the G Code Controller All reading from and writing to external control signals is accom plished through the Indexer LPT device driver Refer to the Indexer LPT manual for instructions on the proper installation of this software and for effective use of its many unique features The System Configuration File Information defining the characteristics of the machine which you are designing is kept in a file entitled GIXA INI located in the WINDOWS folder G Code Controller reads this file when it starts running The GIXA INI file is generated when the G Code G Code Controller Design Reference Page 9 CAM Files CAM Files Page 10 IMPORTANT FILES Controller is run for the first time and is accessed for set up and changes by means of menus and dialog boxes which are available from its System menu Since the GIXA INI file contains informa tion which is specific only to the design and configuration of the machine such as the step to distance ratio of the motorized stages axis designat
112. m a Suspended Job the next Block to be processed is displayed in the lower code window and processed Blocks are listed above If resuming from a Production feed hold condition the Block of the interrupted segment of motion is listed as the next Block to be processed Page 88 G Code Controller Design Reference JOB SIMULATION Resuming a Job Resuming from Within a Part Program SIM RUN Bul ae A F e You can start or resume a Job from a location within a Part Program by simulating to the Block and checking the Apply check box under Resume Location than snapping Ok The Simulation Control dialog will close and the Main Menu will present options as if you had suspended a Production operation from the Block you had advanced to in the Simulator Notice from partial image of the Toolbar that the Job is con sidered in progress and options to Run resume or Cancel the Run operation are available Manual positioning options includ ing screen display options not shown in this illustration are also available The Simulator does not simulate through M T or S codes so for example if you are turning on a spindle within the Part Program by means of M03 and the spindle needs to be on at the Block that you are resuming from within the Simulator you will need to execute M03 manually by means of the Production gt Instant Block dialog or its button on the Toolbar BLK In a concrete example suppose you are operating a three
113. n Position List that includes prior departure positions for previous Zrapid to List Directives performed for that Stage When a departure position is saved to the Return Position List the number of positions stored to the list increases by one and all prior departure positions are moved down in the list G Code Controller Design Reference LIST DIALOGS List Directives rapid_return Stage This directive moves the designated Stage back to the posi tion that was before the last rapid_to directive was performed on that Stage The rapid_to directive stores the departure position the position before rapid_to moved the Stage of the Stage to the top of the Stage s Return Position List The raid_return List Directive returns the Stage to the last departure position and removes its entry from the top of the list It is thereby possible to return carriage positions over a complex path for example to manipulate in and around obstacles when changing tools The rapid_return directive has no effect if a rapid_to directive for the particular Stage has not previously been execut ed if previous positions have been cleared or if position tracking is not in effect In a simplified example suppose you wanted to construct a list of commands that would move the carriage from its current position to a tool pick up position release a clamp to deposit a tool in the last open position on a tray move a rotary stage to position the tray for
114. n adjusts for the extension of the tool from the tool reference zero location in the negative Z direction As its name implies it compensates for the length of of the tool The extension of the tool from the tool zero position is stored in the Tool Offset Table and read into the Part Program using the index into the Tool Offset Table as an argument to the H word To edit the Tool Offset Table refer to the chapter entitled CAM Set Ups Tool Length Compensation is instated using G43 and can celled with G49 For example suppose the length 0 75 is stored under index 3 in the Tool Offset Table To retrieve this value for use in tool G Code Controller Design Reference PART PROGRAMMING Fixture Offsets length compensation H3 would be used in the Part Program The amount of Tool Length offset applied to the tool path in this example is 0 75 The red path in the graphic represents the zero point on the tool The black represents the point of contact along the contour which in the illustration accounts for both Tool Radius and Tool Length Compensation Adjusts Destination of Rapid If G43 it is instated in the rapid traverse G00 mode it will adjust the destination of the current rapid If it is instated in a feed mode G01 G02 or G03 it will adjust the destination of the pre ceding rapid It will have no effect on the current feed contour if it is instated after the first interpolation It will also compensate for tool length i
115. n editing The text editor used in the default installation of the G Code Controller is Notepad To create a new Part Program you can type a name for the file in the Program File Specification field then snap Edit Program Text The default path e g C Gixa will be used if you do not specify the path name If a file does not exist in the folder path for the name you have chosen Notepad will ask you if you want to create a new file of that name You may then snap Yes and begin editing a newPart Program You are not constrained to use Notepad to edit your Part Programs You may use any editor capable of working with Text type files and capable of accepting a file name from a command line argument Interacting with the Text Editor l After you finish editing the Part Program in the text editor you must save it to disk to make it accessi ble to G Code Controller In Notepad you would used File gt Save Then snap to G Code Controller and use Job gt Reload or its associated Toolbar button to load the changes that you had made into the Job Reload will immediately display changes to the Orthographic and 3 D windows as it makes the Job ready for either running or simulating You can work back and forth between the text editing windows and the Simulator to verify the Part Program s that you are developing or changing See the chapter entitled Job Simulation for more information about veri fying Part Programs G Code Controller De
116. n the canned plunge cycles G80 G87 G89 G54 G55 G56 G57 G58 G59 Fixture Offsets 3D Window P Fixtures txt EIE File Edit Format View Help GOO G90 G54 XO YO 20 All absolute positions referenced in the part program repre sent distances from the current fixture offset position otherwise known as Program Zero The fixture offset position is specified as a distance from the Machine Home position which is either automatically set after a Limit Switch Seek sequence or reset by means of the Production Set Home dialog Refer to the section G Code Controller Design Reference Page 129 PART PROGRAMMING Canned Cycles entitled Fixture Offsets in the chapter entitled Job Set Ups The current fixture offset can be changed under program con trol by calling its associated command word In the example screen clip the fixture offset position for G54 is X 0 Y 0 Z 0 and for G55 is X 3 Y 0 Z 0 Although G54 appears in the first programming line it is not necessary since it is the start up default The same program code is used for each fixture to simpli fy this example In an actual Job it is often convenient to change the fixture in one portion of the program and call the repeated operation using a subroutine Canned Cycles Page 130 Canned cycles are commonly used machining sequences that can be more easily programmed using a single Block of code This section describes some common terms used in the cann
117. nce first Squaring Parallel Drives Some profile cutting systems use two stepper motors with two tranlators for a single Stage controlling both motors syn chronously from the same set of control signals These systems attain mechanical stiffness by driving both sides of a Stage in par allel instead of from only one driving point In a concrete exam ple consider the X Stage of a profile cutter driven by two lead screws situated parallel to each other on the extremities of the Y beam Each X lead screw is driven by its own stepper motor and each step motor is connected to its own translator Both X Stage step motor translators are controlled by the same step and direction signals one Indexer LPT axis so that both lead screws track as if directly coupled In order to maintain accuracy and system integrity in this design the parallel X drives must be squared before manufacturing is allowed to begin The list boxes provided in this dialog provides for an automatic squaring procedure A simple circuit is necessary to accommodate the squaring G Code Controller Design Reference SYSTEM SET UPS Limit Switch Seek Configuration sequence Refer to the translators on each side as X1 and X2 Limit switches are installed on both sides XL1 and XL2 In this example they are low limit switches Two Indexer LPT discrete outputs enable and disable each side When a side is enabled its associated limit switch is also enabled Wh
118. ner that you had left them when you re enter the Job or program You can save the display settings by snapping Job gt Save Zoom pan and view default setting Top Front or Left view are saved for the main ortho graphic view Zoom pan and rotation are saved for the 3D view Keyboard Navigation Some shop environments may require an alternative to the mouse as a pointing device such as a touch pad or mouse com patible touch screen If you must only use a keyboard you can press and release the Alt shift to move the highlight to the Main Menu bar Use the cursor keys to navigate the menu or press the character key corresponding to the underlined letter of the menu item to select it Use the cursor keys or character keys in a similar manner to select the menu item from the drop down list Drop down menu selections which contain an ellipsis three dots invoke another menu or a dialog box You may navigate the dialog boxes using the Tab key to change the highlight and the Space key to select an item change a check box or press a button Use the cursor keys to change Radio Button selections these buttons look like little radio dials or to scroll through selections of a list box Press the Enter key to accept changes or Escape to abandon changes The System Setup Menu Set up features are broken down into two categories that are accessible from the Main Menu System and Job Page 20 G Code Controller Design Reference MENU U
119. nment As described in the Part Program Files section in the chap ter entitled Important Files Part Programs are scripts of text that contain the automatic sequence of operations Part Programs are often created by means of CAD CAM software such as MasterCAM BobCAD Pro Engineer etc They can also be manually composed using a text editor like Notepad and veri fied using G Code Controller s Simulator See the Programs section in the chapter Job Set ups for more information on inter acting with the contents of Part Programs See the chapter enti tled Job Simulation for more on the use the Simulator Composing a Job Start a new Job by duplicating the settings of a previous Job The initial software Setup of G Code Controller installs a Job entitled Sample cam to the working directory You can open Sample cam using File gt Open Job from the Main Menu Use File gt Save As to duplicate the settings under another name such as Default cam Use the Job menus in the Main Menu to make modifications and establish settings appropriate to the Job that you are composing G Code Controller Design Reference Page 111 Line Numbers PART PROGRAMMING You may use Default cam as a template to subsequently cre ate other Jobs Open Default cam and use File gt Save As to replicate it under another name You may have many default CAM files representing the set ups for different types of Jobs It is recommended that you do not save set
120. ntrol dialog is checked Unlike the user definable M codes you MUST INCLUDE THE LEADING ZERO with this M code M1 kk kk WRONG kkkxk M01 CORRECT A Program Stop conditionally executes special commands M05 and M09 M30 End of Program Stop and Rewind This command should appear at the end of the Part Program It causes automatic operation to stop and it re initial izes rewinds the Part Program Re initializing occurs for Production gt Run and Production gt Dry Run but not during Job gt Simulate If you wish to re initialize any time during a simulation session simply snap the control s Rewind button A Program Stop conditionally executes special commands M05 and M09 Refer to the section explaining these commands Cycle Start resumes automatic execution of the Part Program In this case program execution will be re initialized and repeated This is especially useful in the production of multi ple pieces as the operator need only press Cycle Start to repeat the Part Program M03 M04 M05 Spindle Control G Code Controller Design Reference Page 137 M98 M99 Subroutine Call Return PART PROGRAMMING These user definable M codes are typically set up to be used for spindle control where M03 turns the spindle on in the clock wise direction M03 turns the spindle on in the counterclockwise direction and M05 stops the spindle These M codes are uniquely handled by the system and interact with Program
121. ographic image instead of the 3D image as in previous versions Top front and end views are now quickly accessible from the Toolbar A 3D image is also quickly accessible from the Toolbar When opening a CAM File created with a prior version you may need to snap View gt Zoom Full to make the images visible Once adjusted to your liking use File gt Save to save your new Viewsettings to the Job Folder and File Names The executable file name for G Code Controller was changed from GIXW EXE to GIXA EXE The default installation folder created by the SETUP program for prior versions was C Gixw The default installation folder is nowC Gixa You can change the installation folder to C Gixw when you run SETUP SAMPLE CAM and SAMPTOOL OFF will be overwritten but you will be able to run both the older ver sion and the newer version of G Code Controller from the same folder As an alternative to running SETUP you can obtain GIXA EXE from Ability Systems and manually copy it your working folder The name of the System Configuration File in older ver sions was GIXW INI The new name for this file is GIXA INI Upgrading Using SETUP G Code Controller Design Reference GETTING STARTED Upgrading The quickest way to upgrade is to run SETUP from the new installation image You may prefer NOT to use the default instal lation folder and instead install to the path of your existing instal lation e g C Gixw Making a copy of your S
122. ollowing abort from feed hold Manual positioning options from the Main Menu can be used to reposition the Stages as necessary depending on the reason the machine was stopped The Resume to control described below l also available from the Main Menu can be used to restore the Stages to the Resuming Position prior to continuing the Job As mentioned earlier in this chapter by suspending the Job and entering the Simulator the Resume Position can be changed to correspond to any Block within the Job If the Resume Position is changed reentering the Run control will resume the operation as if the Job was started from the designated Block Only M codes associated with stop and resume sequencing are automatically handled You must make sure conditions set by other M codes are suitable for resuming from the point in your Job that you specified in the Simulator You can do this using the Instant Block control The Resume to control moves Stages selected by associated check boxes to destination positions at the current Feed rate The destination is specified relative to the cur rent Fixture The current Fixture is the Fixture that was last selected within the Part Program but it can be changed using the Position to control When the control is launched the default destination positions reflect the current Resume Position This position can always be restored to the dialog by snapping the Resume Feed to Move Selected Stages to Position Offs
123. ompting the operator for Cycle Start to resume operation G85 Canned Boring Page 134 G Code Controller Design Reference PART PROGRAMMING G83 Canned Deep Hole This command is used in boring operations where cutting feed rate must be maintained while withdrawing the tool from the work It differs from the Canned Drilling cycle G81 only in the manner that the drilling axis is withdrawn from the Z Level to the R Level The Canned Drilling cycle G81 withdraws drilling axis at rapid rate while this command withdraws it at feed rate G88 Canned Punch Press This command simply executes M10 which can be cus tomized to implement a punch press cycle G89 Canned Boring with Dwell This command is identical to the Canned Boring cycle G85 except this command dwells when the Z axis reaches the Z Level similar to the Canned Spotfacing cycle G82 G84 Canned Tapping This command accommodates tapping operations where the drilling axis is extended at feed rate spindle rotation is reversed at the Z Level dwell permits the spindle enough time to reverse and the tool is retracted to the R Level at feed rate At the com pletion of the cycle the spindle is restored to its original direction of rotation This command operates in conjunction with special miscella neous functions M3 and M4 If M3 is in effect at the beginning of the cycle then M4 will be executed when the Z axis reaches the Z Level After M4 is executed the m
124. on If you need to retrace from a point in the Part Program prior to the interrupted Block you can snap Rewind and simulate to the Block that you want to resume from Please note that you are not constrained to retrace the tool path after feed hold You may resume from the interrupted location Whatever course of recovery that you choose however the Resume to dia log assists you in positioning the Stages to resume processing the Job after interrupting the tool path You may defer using the manual positioning and Instant Block dialogs until after you selected Production gt Run to resume the Job Under control of the Production gt Run dialog if the position of the stages do not correspond to their simulated positions within the Part Program you will be prompted for a decision to proceed with an offset condition If you respond Yes to this prompt the Job will proceed to subtend the geometry tak ing the current offset condition into account for both G91 incre mental as well as G90 absolute motion prescribed within the Part Program Thus you can easily apply a geometric offset for a resuming location within the Job without having to recalculate Fixture Offset values Page 90 G Code Controller Design Reference PRODUCTION OPERATIONS Chapter 9 PRODUCTION OPERATIONS G Code Controller R RECT CAM Top View File Job Mg System Diagnostic View Help Run Tool Path S Dry Run Tool Path RUN o Fj Ul ij Jog M Move b
125. on Run and the Part Progranxs The operator interface menu offers numerous control and display options Control options include such things as manu al motion feed hold feed rate override joystick and instant block execution Also included are block skip and several break point stop methods Display options include position readouts machine state and a graphical display that highlights the progress of the tool across a picture of the tool path in multiple dimen sions Who Uses this Manual Page 4 The G Code Controller is a design engineers tool It pro vides a powerful and convenient operator interface for OEM s and machine tool retrofitters It requires a working knowledge of Indexer LPT and a knowledge of machine design Since this product can be used on machines varying from small educational devices to powerful and dangerous cutting tools the depth of knowledge required will depend on the nature of the design Safety should be your primary concern Due to the complex nature of software in general safety features must be designed into machine wiring and mechanical hardware Of course all machines should be designed for safety but special considerations for safety must be incorporated by design G Code Controller Design Reference INTRODUCTION How to Use this Manual ers and OEM s in anticipation of potential users who may lack some of the detailed technical knowledge involved in the particu lar machine s design T
126. only one Part Program you only need to use the Browse feature in the Job gt Programs dialog to snap the name of the Part Program file into the Job at location OO You can generate a simple Part Program file from scratch by giving it a name in the Job Programs dialog and snapping the dialog s Edit button A text editor will be launched in another window the default text editor is Notepad using the file name that you had assigned G Code Controller Design Reference IMPORTANT FILES Part Program Files Each line of text in the Part Program is referred to as a Block This nomenclature comes from older CNC systems where GCode was transcribed by hand to blocks on a form and subsequently copied from the form to paper tape by means of a Teletype Today Blocks are lines In Notepad for example you would add a Block of GCode by typing a line of text and press ing Return The initial Setup configures the G Code Controller to invoke Notepad from within its own menu driven environment Notepad is convenient because it can only save files as ASCII text However very large part programs may exceed the file size capacity of Notepad making a different editor such as Wordpad or other third party program more desirable The G Code Controller set ups can be modified to accommodate other word processing programs When using word processing programs other than Notepad the user must always be mindful to save the part programs ON
127. ons on the Machine not the work and so using this menu to arbitrarily change the Machine s reference points may have negative effects It is just as easy to apply the reference home positions for the Part Program using the Job gt Fixture Offsets menu which is the recommended procedure If the home position had been previously established by means of a Seek Limit Switch sequence the tool path display will be updated to show the correct relation of the tool path to the operational boundaries since the relative position of the tool path to the boundaries changes when the Machine Home position is moved The actual relationship between the tool path and the opera tional boundaries can only be established by means of a Limit Switch Seek sequence If Set Home is used to establish position tracking without first completing a Limit Switch sequence then the operational boundaries will not be displayed correctly Refer to the precautions under the Limit Switch Seek section of this chapter This option allows the operator to move the d Stages by incremental amounts relative to the present position Like the other controls the size of this dialog is context sensitive and adjusts to the number of Stages that are checked Active in the System Stage Configuration dialogs The contents of the fields in the dialog box represent the desired motion and the check boxes are used to select which G Code Controller Design Reference PRODUCTION
128. open push buttons for a dual purpose as Cycle Start switches Refer to the Indexer LPT documentation for the wiring of these switches and the syntax for the scan command CAUTION Using the Auxiliary Input signal for the start switch may pres Page 40 G Code Controller Design Reference SYSTEM SET UPS Feed Hold Configuration ent a safety hazard Unless terminated to either ground or logic 1 5 Volts the Auxiliary Input signal may randomly fluctuate and could possibly cause a spurious Cycle Start a dangerous condition Even if properly terminated an accidentally unplugged cable could break external termination and present this hazard Using the Auxiliary Input for this purpose is there fore not recommended Require Two Start Switches Indexer LPT Command to Query Second Start Switch Second Start Switch Query Result In some applications it is prudent for safety to require the operator to occupy both of his hands before motion is allowed to commence This option provides for a second switch input for Cycle Start Feed Hold Configuration Feed Hold Configuration Iv Feed Hold Feature is Installed Feed Hold Axis h x ues The feed hold feature allows the operator to bring motion to a decelerated and controlled stop Since the keyboard is ineffective while the motion is in progress this feature must be installed in all but the smallest and simplest applications Refer to the Indexer LPT documentation for a detail
129. operation If the user selects Ok to proceed a prompt appears requiring the user to press Cycle Start or Ctrl F2 if the System is set up for Keyboard Start At this point the user can still abort the operation by selecting Cancel If at this time the user snaps away from the controlling dialog the Cycle Start prompt will be removed and Ok must be selected again Once the Cycle Start signal is received motion commences or in the case of the Instant Block control the action is performed G Code Controller can be set up to accommodate three dif ferent Cycle Start options Keyboard Start Start Switch or Dual Start Switch G Code Controller Design Reference Page 23 MENU USAGE Page 24 G Code Controller Design Reference LIST DIALOGS Command Lists Chapter 5 LIST DIALOGS Command Lists Command Lists are sequences of Indexer LPT commands and List Directives that may be dispatched by G Code Controller for a number purposes and from different parts of the program such as a sequence of operations that is automatically performed when G Code Controller starts List Directives are explained later in this chapter Command Lists are used to cus tomize M T and S codes and used for special sequences that may be designed into initializing each Stage during the automatic homing procedure One command appears on each line of the list The list shown below is a screen clip from the System gt Startup Commands dialog This particular
130. or many of these values but you may require different settings depending upon the size and type of parts that you are manufacturing from time to time By separating setups most pertinent to the Job at hand G Code Controller more ably manages this information You can even save Jobs with part numbering and descriptive text in long file names You can optionally restrict access to the Job set up menu by means of a password Similar to the System password the pass word protection for the Job set up is only meant to prevent inad vertent changes and not as an iron clad access lock The initial password to access Job set ups is def If you forget your pass word you can find it by printing the GIXA INI file The password will appear to the right of the keywords camedit password Also similar to the System menu you can choose to show or hide the Job menu at any time by means of the File gt Access menu If the Job menu is hidden and password protected you will be prompted for the password when selecting it to be shown again If you had saved the option to password protect it the Job menu will be hidden by default the next time you run G Code Controller Tool Motion Tool motion is controlled from dialogs that are launched from the Production menu Selections under this menu bring up a dia log boxes that present the user opportunity to proceed or cancel Page 22 G Code Controller Design Reference MENU USAGE Tool Motion the
131. query annotation This directive is similar to the wait_for_one directive except this directive suspends operations until a qualifying result of zero 0 is obtained rapid_to Stage position This directive moves the specified Stage at rapid rate to the designated absolute position relative to Machine Home The Stage argument can be any installed stage X Y Z U V W A B or C Use only capital letters for Stage names The position argu ment is a number representing the destination point of the motion For example the directive rapid_to X 2 125 causes the X stage to move at rapid rate from its current position to a destination point which is located 2 125 inches from Machine Home A Machine Variable reference index can be alternatively used for the position argument The following example moves the Y Stage to a position 7 1875 inches from its Machine Home position save_num 3 7 1875 frapid to Y 3 This command has no effect if position tracking is not in effect The position argument has no meaning outside of position tracking Position tracking can be put into effect automatically by means of the Production Limit Switch Seek dialog or manu ally via Production Set Home Position tracking is terminated by sudden stopping due to collision with end limit switches Each Zrapid to directive stores its departure position the position before Zrapid to moved the stage to the top of a list the Retur
132. r LPT commands stored under M03 will be executed If the status of M04 is set then the Indexer LPT commands stored under M04 will be executed Using the example of the spindle if the Part Programstops as a result of M30 the spindle will be turned off under control of the Indexer LPT commands for M05 When the Part Program resumes the spindle will not be enabled until the Part Program enables it since its status had been cleared by the implicit execu tion of M05 If the Part Program stops due to M00 M01 Abort from Feed Hold Stop or Breakpoint Stop the spindle will be turned off but when the operator Resumes the spindle will immediately be enabled in the mode M03 or M04 that it was in before the Part Program was stopped In the tapping cycle G84 if the status of M03 is set at the beginning of the cycle then at the bottom of the cycle where the spindle must be reversed to withdraw the tap the Indexer LPT commands associated with M04 are executed At the end of the G84 cycle the commands for M03 are executed to prepare for the next cycle Similarly if the status for M04 is set at the beginning of an M84 cycle at the bottom of the cycle Indexer LPT commands associated with M03 are executed Commands associated with M04 are subsequently executed at the end of the cycle in prepara tion for the next cycle Associated M10 The list of commands set up under M10 is automatically executed under the canned cycle instated by G88
133. r creates the system set up file entitled GIXA INI in the WINDOWS directory Page 144 G Code Controller Design Reference GETTING STARTED Upgrading Upgrading When changing System values you may find the Diagnostic menu to be very helpful This menu makes screens available which give a live display of the state of configured limit and con trol switches Also it is useful to periodically check the Diagnostic gt Errors dialog which helpful to use while trou bleshooting different kinds of set up and run time problems If you are unable to get satisfactory results using G Code Controller s built in diagnostics you can use Indexer LPT s diagnostic program IXDIAG EXE to troubleshoot your system at a lower level All physical input and output performed by G Code Controller goes through Indexer LPT Contouring Maintaining backward compatibility with previous versions has always been a priority for Ability Systems software With the addition of the On the Fly Switching feature however Part Programs that used an M code to force the look ahead buffer to execute and start reloading may not run the same on this version as previously If you had used an M code for this purpose you may need to modify it as per the On the Fly Switching section in the chapter entitled System Set ups In prior versions an F command that occurred more than one segment into a contour would force the look ahead buffer to exe cute and start reload
134. ram Number O Number that you specify in the adjacent fields Optional Stop M01 When this check box is checked the Part Program will stop when it encounters an M01 command G Code Controller Design Reference JOB SIMULATION Simulation Control Auxiliary Displays We call Modal State and Block Position windows Auxiliary Displays These displays are launched by checking the associated check box You can place these displays anywhere on your screen by dragging them by their title bar You can remove these displays by either snapping over the X in their title bar or by un checking the check box in the control dialog The position is automatically saved so when you open the display again it will appear on the screen in the same position it was in when it was last removed These displays are available from both Simulation and Production operations However due to the space that they occu py on the screen and the small amount of time that it takes to refresh the display when processing each Block they are usually opened only to diagnose certain types of problems Modal State Modal State Traverse Fixture Offset Interpolation C Rapid GOO 354 C Linear GOO GO1 Feed G l C G55 Circula Cw GO2 C G56 C Circular CCw G03 F 100 C G5 C G58 Plane Position Mode G59 8 XY G17 Absolute G90 C xZ G18 Incremental G91 C YZ G19 Program 1 Line N505 Loop Level 0 The Modal State display split in the illustr
135. released without damage When the first tool is selected after starting G Code Controller a machine cus G Code Controller Design Reference Page 55 Display SYSTEM SET UPS tomized according to this strategy will cycle through its tool release sequence in a safe spot Display Production Run Display Configuration Production Run Modal State Block Position v Scroll Code Stage Position Readout Small Large Page 56 Graphic None Fast e Full C Cancel This portion of the dialog permits you to enter default set tings for items in the Production gt Run control dialog These default settings will also apply to the Production gt Dry Run dia log Each of these items can be changed at run time Move by Position to Jog Iv Reload and Redraw Modal State and Block Position check boxes will make information windows of the same names visible with the Production Run dialog When the the Scroll Code check box is checked each Block of the Part Program is written to the screen as it is processed On very large Part Programs this is typically left unchecked for even though it may take only a fraction of a second to update the screen for each Block processing thousands of Blocks this way can take a considerable amount of time The Graphic radio button selection field allows you choose options None Fast and Full None shows the tool path graphic but does not update the color change to show
136. roduction operations Pop up menus and easy to use man ual positioning options allow the operator to conveniently load and graphically verify Part Programs as well as set up and con trol manufacturing operations Tool programming is quickly stored and retrieved for each Job Job set ups include such things as the names of the Part Program text files as well as other pertinent information relating to the manufacturing of the part such as an optional tool tray table list of H and D offsets arc accuracy fixture offsets peck plunge retract distance etc Many of these values will not change from Job to Job Job setup values are entered via dialog boxes and are easily duplicated modified and stored under descriptive names for later use Consequently when a Job is retrieved all of the set ups per tinent to the manufacturing of the particular part are restored What Kind of Machine is Controlled This program is especially suitable for milling operations in three or more axes where the primary geometric control contours in three orthogonal dimensions X Y and Z However it is also suitable for simpler two dimensional machines where G code part programming is preferred as well as some more complex spe cialty machines The motorized Stages are moved by either step motors or step direction controlled servo motors Other actuators which can be effected by means of a digital on off signal such as solenoids for coolants tool chan
137. roller or when you install upgrades Consequently you should use the editing features with in the G Code Controller to Save As to another file name such as TOOLS OFF before investing time in setting up the tool table Use the menu Job gt Tool Offset Table gt Save Save As Part Program Files Page 12 As mentioned Part Program files contain the G Code scripts and are ordinary text type files These files are stored with the extension TXT Alternatively the files may have the extension TAP or NC as these extensions are commonly assigned by some CAD CAM graphical tool path editing pro grams The TXT extension is commonly used by text editing pro grams such as Windows Notepad It is also used by popular word processing programs to designate files which are to be saved in the ASCII sometimes referred to as Text or ANST format Part Programs can refer to other Part Programs by means of the O the letter O word followed by a numerical argu ment indexed up starting from a numerical value of 0 Zero O0 O1 O2 etc A Job can contain up to ten Part Programs OO through O9 You must associate each O lt number gt Part Program file with its associated system filename using the Job gt Programs dialog These values are saved to the CAM File when you save the contents of the Job The Part Program designated by OO will always run first For Jobs that contain
138. s are not sup ported so for example if abort from a feed hold occurs within a rapid_to List Directive G Code Controller will discontinue the Job that is being run However Stage motion designed into M and T codes can be designed to accommodate Job recovery by either defeating the abort switch during the course of the motion if safety permits and or alerting the operator with a light indi cating that the abort switch cannot be used at that time In a concrete example the abort switch is wired in series with a normally closed relay that is opened by the Indexer LPT command winding power c 0 Another pole of the relay lights a light on a panel indicating that the abort switch has been dis abled The System gt Startup Commands list includes the Indexer LPT command winding_power c 1 to make sure that the relay is closed permitting the abort switch to operate normally on startup In this example you are customizing M06 with a sequence of commands that move the Stages to a tool change position Insert winding power c 0 in the list before the com mands that cause Stage motion disabling the abort switch Insert winding power c 1 at the end of the list restoring the abort switch to its normal function In this design if the operator acti vates the feed hold switch during the tool change cycle he will be able to toggle the feed hold switch off and on until the stages move beyond the critical section and the light goes off He can then use
139. s and interacts with the controller s front panel In the case of this software based controller the front panel consists of the program s user interface Although the EIA RS 274 has provided a basis for a numeri cally controlled machine language and the EIA RS 267 has defined a standard of nomenclature for referring to axes of motion on various types of machine tools individual manufacturers of controls have generated different dialects of the control language to suit particular purposes and to accommodate advances in tech nology Fortunately the dialects are similar enough so that a tech nician familiar with one should have little trouble working with others Similar to other controllers the Ability Systems G Code Controller shares many common elements of industry wide con trol language It can also be customized to emulate various other controllers What the G Code Controller is Page 2 The G Code Controller uses the commands contained text files containing G code to control motors for milling routing engraving plasma cutting water jet cutting laser etching glue dispensing flame cutting large scale template plotting or other operations where the motion of a tool must be directed over a specified path The G Code Controller program also provides a convenient G Code Controller Design Reference INTRODUCTION How the Machine is Controlled operator interface and includes features especially useful in man aging p
140. s between Dry Run and Run Production Run and Production Dry Run operations are essentially the same with the following exceptions During Dry Run the feed rate does not respond to to the F command words in the Part Program Instead feed rate is governed by the Dry Run settings in the Job gt Feed Rates dialog The user defin able M codes can optionally be disabled during Dry Run Spindle S codes have no effect under Dry Run RUN Similarities to the Simulate Control Dialog The Code Windows and all the controls in the Breakpoint group are identical in function their counterparts in the Simulate Control dialog and are explained in the previous chapter Also like the Simulate control the Modal State and Block Position auxiliary displays can be opened and closed by means of check boxes located in the Display group Main Menu Context G Code Controller Design Reference Page 101 Dry Run and Run Tool Path PRODUCTION OPERATIONS G Code Controller R RECT CAM Top View Production View Help e 7 six pos 3p A IR 2 Page 102 The Run control cannot be launched unless position tracking is in effect Postion tracking is instated automatically via a Seek Limit Switch sequence or manually using the Set Home con trol You can open the Run control from its entry in the Production menu or from its associated button on the Toolbar When the Run dialog is active the Main Menu and associated Toolbar options change according
141. s numbers on punched tape The system of converting numbers to characters known as ASCII is still used today Older machines are programmed by punching tape with ASCII characters via a teletype terminal and the tape was used as the means of transferring the commands to the machine s controller More modern machines still use ASCII char acters to represent machine commands However these characters are stored by means of more efficient electronic media accessible G Code Controller Design Reference Page 1 What the G Code Controller is INTRODUCTION to the controller by means of disk drive or network access Also the commands are more readily generated viewed and changed by means of text editors such as Window s Notepad word processors or versatile graphics based CAD CAM programs In short the collection of machine commands called the Part Program that is used to control the machine consists of ASCII text stored in text type files typically located on the computer s hard drive and accessible by text editors and word processors capable of reading and writing in ASCII characters The types of commands contained in the G Code text not only define the desired paths of motion for the machine s motor controlled Stages but also order other features relating to the machine such as control over peripheral elements including spin dles and coolants etc The Part Program defines the procedure for dispensing these command
142. screen location of the Position readout is preserved so when it is re opened it will return to its former location even after the program has been closed and re started Instant Block Page 100 BLK This control is used to exercise M T and S codes outside of the Part Program It is a useful diagnostic tool when used while customizing these codes It is typically used when needed to assure certain conditions such as activating a clamp or turning on a spindle when resuming from a Job that has been interrupted Type the command that you want to execute for example M03 then snap OK The OK button will then grey and you will be prompted for Cycle Start When you activate Cycle Start the Block will be executed If you snap the focus away from this dialog and then return to it you will need to snap OK once again The upper two sunken fields beneath the input field are used G Code Controller Design Reference PRODUCTION OPERATIONS Dry Run and Run Tool Path Instant Block Press START Button to Execute L o Cancel by this dialog for user prompts The lowest sunken field provides feedback annotation from List Directives such as Zwait for one and Zwait for zero as the feedback would appear in the Production Run control See the section entitled List Directives in the chapter entitled Command Lists for more infor mation on annotations associated with these List Directives Dry Run and Run Tool Path Difference
143. selection allows you to enable and disable the advanced look ahead contouring feature Look ahead contouring described in detail in the Indexer LPT users guide provides for exception ally smooth speed modulation through complex contours looking G Code Controller Design Reference JOB SET UPS Block Skip Arc Translation ahead as many Blocks as necessary to begin deceleration when necessary to avoid over stress This selection allows you to enable and disable the Block Skip feature If Block Skip is enabled lines of the part programs that begin with the slash character will be ignored Consider this line block of code for example N325 GOO X5 200 Y3 00 If Block Skip is enabled this block will not be interpreted Otherwise it will be read into program for execution Arc Translation G02 G03 The manner in which the G Code Controller interprets the circular interpolation codes G02 and G03 is set up using Arc Translation dialog shown on the following page Center Point Location It may be desirable to configure the G Code Controller to be similar to other controllers that exist in the field in order to more easily accommodate existing Part Programs or CAD CAM post processors that are set up for other systems One manner in which controllers differ is the way that they interpret center point loca tion values See the Circular Feed section in the chapter entitled Part Programming Some controllers always consider
144. sign Reference JOB SET UPS Tool Offset Table Tool Offset Table G Code Controller R RECT CAM Top View File SM Production System Diagnostic View Help i Programs een lier T al m canl 4 al Entries H and D Offsets Fixture Offsets G54 G59 Load New Offset Table File Feed Rates Save Save as Entries to Offset Table File Feed Rate Override v Contour Tool Feed Gn cna The Tool Offset Table is used to store values used for tool length and tool radius compensation and to make these values accessible from within the Part Program The values contained in the Offset Table are stored to disk in a special type of file that we call an Offset Table File When the CAM File loads a Job values from the Offset Table File are read into the Tool Offset Table The Tool Offset Table can store diameters and lengths for 100 one hundred different tools Save Save as Entries to Offset Table File Load New Offset Table File These menus allow you to create new Offset Table Files and to load different Offset Table Files into the Job This feature is convenient for machines with removable tool trays making it easy to save and retrieve all of the tool offsets together as part of the Job Entries H and D Offsets The tool index is the means by which the Part Program can refer to the offset values via arguments to the H and D words You can select the particular D and H index for editing D1 H1 D2 H2 D3 H3 etc usin
145. sion CAM The CAM Files are opened by means of the File gt Open Job menu and are accessible for editing by means of the dialogs available from the Job menu Menus are context sensi tive so the Job menu does not appear until a CAM File is opened Once you open a CAM File it s name appears in the title bar G Code Controller Design Reference IMPORTANT FILES Tool Offset Table Files CAM Files contain a large amount of information but it is not necessary for you to manually enter all of this information into each field for each new Job CAM Files are easily replicated by means of the File gt Save As menu One convenient approach is to save a CAM File for types of Jobs that are used often To generate a new Job you would open the CAM File for that Job type then using the Job menu you would only change values per tinent to the Jobat hand In some shop settings the only change from Job to Job might be the name of the Part Program You don t have to save modifications to the CAM File in order to use modifications that you had made so it is possible to open a Job modify it using the Job menu run it and then abandon the changes In other production environments it may be desirable to save all of the information pertinent to manufacturing a particular part In this case you can save each Job under its own CAM File name On a new or upgraded installation the G Code Controller s Setup program installs a file entitled SAM
146. sole and exclusive liability to Ability Systems Corporation regardless of the form of action shall be limited to the purchase price of the materials giving rise to the claim The entire risk as to the performance of these materials is with the pur chaser Ability Systems Corporation assumes no responsibility of any kind for errors in the package the documentation or for the consequences of such errors This allocation of risk is reflected in the purchase price of the product Ability Systems Corporation reserves the right to make changes to and improve its products as it sees fit Indexer LPT is a trademark of Ability Systems Corporation G CODE CONTROLLER table of contents Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 5 teta Shek oat a ee teed Sts Rt 1 What G Code is 2 0 ee ee 1 What the G Code Controller is 2 What Kind of Machine is Controlled 3 How the Machine is Controlled 3 Who Uses this Manual less 4 How to Use this Manual 5 Chapter 2 IMPORTANT FILES 223133 2 eae RAER 9 The G Code Controller Program 9 The Indexer LPT Device Driver 9 The System Configuration File 9 CAM PIGS Geier paa ce x aaa e NR k 10 Tool Offset Table Files 04 11 Part Program Files 1 222 REP 12 Chapter 3 MOTOR CONTROL OUTPUTS 15 Discrete Digital Outputs 15 Limit Switch Inputs
147. t is cancelled by means of G40 Only Applies to Tool Feed Offset Compensation only applies to contours which is to say tool paths defined G01 G02 or G03 The destination of 3D Window P OpenSquare txt TB File Edit Format View G00 G90 X1 Y1 G01 X3 D3 G42 coo X 5 Y3 5 xo YO M30 G Code Controller Design Reference Page 125 G40 G41 G42 Radius Offset Compensation PART PROGRAMMING Rapid Traverse G00 entering into and leaving a contour is automatically adjusted as illustrated in the screen clip The part programmer should be aware that in some circumstances it is nec essary to insert an intermediate rapid traverse movement to keep the automatically adjusted rapid path clear of the material Optimized Path Around Outside Corners The offset tool path around outside corners is optimized by using the best intermediate straight line across the vertex also shown in the accompanying screen clip Open Contours An open contour is a feed path that does not end at the same location in the X Y plane as it starts as the one shown in the pre vious screen clip The entry point into the offset tool path is a point located a distance of one half the diameter of the tool on a perpendicular projection from the starting segment of the contour Closed Contours A closed contour is a feed path that finishes at the same posi Edit Format View Help G90 X1 Y1 x3 D3 G42 Page 126 G Code Controller Design
148. tarting from a Resuming Location Page 106 You can start a Job or resume from a suspended condition from any Block in the Job s Part Program s For more detailed information concerning this see the section Resuming from Within a Part Program in the chapter entitled Job Simulation Run Tool Path OFFSET CONDITION EXISTS Proceed from current location Yes Align with Production Resume to Menu No Yes No If the actual position of the Stages align with the Resuming Location when you snap OK to start the Job you will be prompt ed for Cycle Start to proceed Otherwise a pop up dialog will alert you to the offset condition and ask if you want to proceed from the current location If you select Yes the offset condition will be preserved for the remainder of the Job If you select No you will have opportunity to correct the condition using manual motion controls accessible from the Main Menu The Production gt Resume to control described later in this chapter was designed specifically for that purpose In a concrete example suppose in a milling operation your Job uses only one tool and the tool breaks somewhere during the course of running the Job You stop the Job using feed hold and use manual positioning controls to move the spindle to a position where you can replace the tool but the extension of the tool in the Z direction does not accurately replicate the position of the former G Code Controller D
149. te G Code Controller Design Reference Page 115 G01 Linear Feed PART PROGRAMMING Rapid Traverse motion is graphically displayed with dotted lines During Simulation and Run operations the path is shown in grey and the tool traverses over the path the path graphic is changed to red G01 Linear Feed Page 116 Syntax This command word is used to traverse from point to point at vector feed rate The vector speed is either the value set up under Job Feed Rates or the last value established by the F command word if automatic operations are in operation under Production gt Run The F command has no effect under Production Dry Run The starting speed and acceleration rate will be governed by the values set up under Job gt Feed Rates After GO is exe cuted feed traverse remains in effect until it is cancelled by GOO or G28 When Feed Traverse is in effect and multiple positioning words appear in the same Block motion will occur along the shortest path to the destination point All Stages will start motion together finish motion together and remain in linear proportion along the way The Stage that requires the greatest number of control pulses to reach the destination point will automatically master the motion Other Stages will slave as if connected by gears The vector rate is the speed of the tool across the work according to a square root of the sum of squares calculation The master axis will accelerate
150. te making buffer memory once again available Even so the amount of look ahead memory available to most systems is usually more than adequate as the following example illustrates Use the Command Motor dialog in the Indexer LPT s Diag program to query how many bytes a feed command occupies in the look ahead buffer command_mem feed At the time of this writing the reported number of bytes a feed command occupies in the look ahead buffer for the current version of Indexer LPT is 724 This represents the memory required for each segment in a smooth contour The number of segments used for arcs depends on Job settings for arc accuracy For the sake of this example select fifty megabytes for the size of the queue buffer Use Command Motor in the Diag pro G Code Controller Design Reference GETTING STARTED CAM File Settings gram to set the value like this set q mem 50000000 Indexer LPT will report back the actual amount of memory that was set aside Usually it is the number that you requested or a number close to it You must then re boot the computer In this example the number of segments that your Part Program is capable of smoothly executing from the look ahead buffer for each contour is 50000000 724 69 060 With this set ting roughly sixty nine thousand facets are available to accurately approximate the smooth shape of a single contour The look ahead buffer size is stored by Indexer LPT to the Registry so yo
151. th respect to Program Zero Z Level in Incremental Mode If the part program is in incremental positioning mode instated by G91 then the argument to the Z word is the unsigned distance of the Z Level from the R Level In other words in incremental mode the argument to the Z word will always be interpreted as a positive value an unsigned distance and subtracted from the value of the R Level to estab lish the position of the Z Level G98 G99 Canned Cycle Return Point Level Page 132 These G codes allow you to select the Z axis position at the completion of a canned cycle Each command is in effect until it is cancelled by the other If G99 is in effect at the completion of a canned cycle the Z axis will be retracted to the R Level This mode is used to save G Code Controller Design Reference PART PROGRAMMING G81 Canned Drill Cycle time and is typically instated at the beginning of a sequence of canned cycles If G98 is in effect at the completion of a canned cycle the Z axis will be retracted to the Initial Level This command is typi cally used in the last of a sequence of canned cycles The programmer should note the the Initial Level is stored before the first Block of a sequence of canned cycles and can only be changed after the canned cycle mode is cancelled by means of G80 Cancel Canned Cycle G80 Cancel Canned Cycle This command should be used in a the Block after the canned cycle After this comm
152. the Job is being processed such as when the look ahead queue buffer is being loaded halt conditions and annotations customized to M or T Codes with List Directives See the chapter entitled List Directives for more information on customized annotations Danger of Calculation Dwell With the the massive look ahead capability of Indexer LPT the time to pre calculate a very large contour can be long enough to deceive an operator or bystander into thinking that the machine is either not in operation or malfunctioning This may be danger ous if unexpected motion occurs at an inopportune time Consequently in installations where pre calculation dwell times may constitute a safety hazard it is recommended that appropriate measures be designed into the machine such as annunciator lights and or lock out mechanisms From an operational standpoint however calculation dwell as well dwell introduced by other aspects of processing intro duced by the display options should not affect the tool motion when it is in contact with the work In other words you can arrange your Part Program so that ALL calculation dwell occurs while the tool is not in contact with the work Using look ahead processing techniques the G Code Controller allows you to change feed rates after the entry feed into the work and pre cal culate subsequent complex contouring before the entry feed is ini tiated The result is that there is no calculation dwell between the entry
153. the Mark and Release pushbutton switches drag the Jog dialog to the side so that it doesn t overlap the Fixture Offset dialog Once you enter the the Jog mode both the joystick and the cursor will be active but the mouse snap will have no effect until you press the joystick Mark pushbutton Consequently to avoid inadvertent mouse selections do not snap the mouse button until you are immediately ready to apply it with the joystick Mark pushbutton You can rapidly set the fixture off sets for each Stage without leaving the Jog dialog by positioning G Code Controller Design Reference Page 75 Simulate and Reload JOB SET UPS each Stage with the joystick snapping over the associated Apply Present Position button in the Fixture Offset dialog and then pressing the joystick Mark pushbutton Simulate and Reload Page 76 Simulate and Reload are located in the Job A menu because they are closely related to Part Program development The chapter entitled Simulation describes the features that are available to you under the Simulation menu You will probably use Job gt Reload frequently during Part Program development For this reason it is also accessible by means of the curved arrow button on the Toolbar This menu selection reads the Part Programs from disk into G Code Controller s memory and updates the graphics displays Suppose you are changing one of the Part Programs in your Job with Notepad From Notepad select File gt Sa
154. the abort switch and Job recovery features built into G Code Controller G Code Controller Design Reference SYSTEM SET UPS Feed Rate Override Feed Hold Feature is Installed This check box should be checked if the system is designed to utilize the Indexer LPT feed hold feature Feed Hold Axis This field contains the Indexer LPT axis designator for the feed hold feature Allowable values are a through h providing you had not already assigned the selected axis to another function such as a Stage joystick or spindle control Recommended values are b d f or h if you wish to consolidate wiring for the joystick feed hold and feed rate override to a single DB25 con nector to the back of the Hardware Assist Module HAM since the HAM does not wire through signals that would permit the joy stick to be installed to pins 6 7 8 and 9 In a concrete example where the HAM is situated on a paral lel port mapped to Indexer LPT axes g and h joystick wiring to the back of the HAM is supported for Indexer LPT axis g and feed hold wiring is supported on h The feed rate override feature can be wired to the same connector The dialog for Cycle Start shows how optional joystick switches can be used for a dou ble purpose as Cycle Start switches thus wiring can be conve niently extended to a control pendant with a single DB25 extender cable The feed hold abort switch can be used to serve a dou
155. the system G Code Controller Design Reference Page 97 Dry Run and Run Tool Path Postion to Move Selected Stages to Specified Position AllHome x Home Y jv Home ZT Home iv Reload and Redraw Cancel 854 C Machine Fixture 0 75 3317 n 1 037 n PRODUCTION OPERATIONS Unlike the Move by dialog Position to requires position track ing to have been initialized via the a completed Limit Switch Seek Sequence or the Set Home con trol The default values in the fields of the Position to menu rep resent the current Stage positions making it easier for you to move each Stage individually The radio buttons allow you select between Machine and Fixture relative positioning For Fixture relative position ing you may select one of the six available fixtures by means of the drop down list The fixture that you select in this dialog will gov ern the View Position window Fixture display when the Position readout window is placed in the Fixture mode The fix ture you select in this dialog also determines the fixture that the H Calculator in the Offsets dialog Job gt Tool Offset Table gt Entries uses to automatically calculate tool length The Home buttons set the field values to zero 0 All Home applies a desintation point of zero 0 to all of the Stages Similar to the Move by dialog leaving the Reload and Redrawcheck box unchecked defeats the screen update after ea
156. the tool path as if the initially assigned Machine Home position was located at the Stage s Retract Distance from the limit switch boundary It is therefore advisable to always perform a Limit Switch Seek operation to establish the initial Machine Home position It is always necessary to specify a starting point for automatic tool procedures References to tool locations within the Part Program are relative to the Fixture Offset position which is the distance the Fixture Offset is from the Machine Home location Since all references to Stage location refer back to Machine Home this location must be established before a Job can be run As described above Machine Home can be automati G Code Controller Design Reference Page 95 Position Readout PRODUCTION OPERATIONS Move by Page 96 cally assigned from the Limit Switch Seek sequence or it can be applied to any position using the Production gt Set Home con trol In certain simplified applications where for example only one Fixture is used and the Fixture Offsets for each Stage are always zero 0 positions relative to Machine Home and Fixture Offset are the same so in this case the operator could move the Stages to their reference positions use this dialog to set the zero points then procede to Run the Job This method however cir cumvents the usefulness in separating Machine coordinates from Fixture coordinates Customized M and T codes may require locating Stage positi
157. these val ues as an absolute location referenced to the Program Zero point Absolute Others always consider the values to represent dis tances relative to the current location of the tool Incremental Still others interpret the values as Absolute or Incremental depending on the positioning mode of the machine at the time Absolute following G90 and Incremental following G91 The radio button controls allow you to choose which interpretation to use Always Incremental is very commonly used and recom mended Segment Angle G Code Controller approximates circular interpolation by G Code Controller Design Reference Page 69 Arc Translation Page 70 JOB SET UPS Arc Translation Segment Angle 5 Segment Error fo e in Maximum Segments per Arc 360 Center Point Location C Follows G90 G91 Always Incremental C Always Absolute Cancel means of line segments situated end to end across the path of the true theoretical arc As per the diagram on the next page the Segment Angle is the maximum subtended angle for each line In other words as long as the geometry does not violate the Segment Error or the Maximum Segments per Arc the arc will be constructed in segments using Segment Angle or less It is important to note that Segment Angle is maximum angle and that the total included angle of the arc is not limited to resolve to this angle In other words if the Segment Angle is specified as 5 degrees an 8
158. tings under Sample cam as this file is likely to be over written when you upgrade or re install the G Code Controller As mentioned in the chapter entitled Important Files the Part Program is NOT the CAM File Instead it is a text file that contains the programming code The Job specifies the name and location of the Part Program file s and stores this file name information to the CAM File The remainder of this chapter explains the syntax and format of programming code that G Code Controller supports The word line meaning line of text is used synonymously with Block Line Numbers Page 112 Line numbers with the prefix N can be optionally begin each Block of program text G Code Controller will use the line num ber that you specify Otherwise it will assign line numbers in sequential order after the last specified line number The initializ ing line number is assigned a value of 0 Zero Consequently automatic line numbering for unassigned Blocks begins at 1 One meaning it starts with N1 All lines including com ments either have or are assigned line numbers If you are assigning line numbers you must observe the fol lowing precautions The N prefix to the line number must appear as the first char acter in the line Line numbers can only be assigned in ascending order within each Part Program file When assigning a line number after lines that have no line numbers you must be careful not to use
159. tor to switch select a nudge mode In nudge mode when the operator uses the joystick the Stages move a small increment every half second The resulting motion appears to nudge the Stage in small increments allowing for very fine positioning This field sets up the incremental distance After selecting Ok the value is rounded off to the resolution of the nearest step increment To view the actual value being used simply bring in the dialog again Very small values will be pre sented in scientific notation The decimal precision of the dis played values will correspond to the set up entry in the Display Position to Decimal Places field Limit Switch Seek Configuration Page 36 Snapping over this button in the Stage Configuration dialog launches the dialog box shown on the following page which is used to set up the limit switch seeking parameters for the Stage Seek Low Limit Switch This check box allows you to choose whether the Production Limit Switch Seek operation will seek the high or low limit switch Note that in a drilling machine or a profile mill since the direction of travel to retract the tool is positive plunge is nega tive it is usually convenient to configure the Z Stage to seek the high limit switch as this cycles the stage away from the work The other stages X and Y are generally retracted into the low limit switch G Code Controller Design Reference SYSTEM SET UPS Limit Switch See
160. troller Design Reference Page 85 Simulation Control JOB SIMULATION Page 86 Cycle Start Animation begins when you snap the button entitled Cycle Start Blocks of Part Programcode are processed line by line and the resulting effect of each Block is consecutively displayed in the graphic and information windows Animation is stopped when a stop condition is reached such as M02 or M30 or if a Breakpoint condition occurs You can manually stop the anima tion at any time by pressing the Shift key on the keyboard Rewind Snapping the Rewind button re initializes the Simulator to the starting point for the Job Breakpoint Group Breakpoints can be set for verification or for actual produc tion operations A breakpoint is a condition that causes the Part Program to be stopped If multiple conditions are set either with in the program e g M00 or on the screen control the first break point condition will arrest the Part Program Execution is resumed by snapping Cycle Start Each Action Some Blocks of code contain multiple actions For example a block that executes G02 or G03 circular interpolation is com posed of many linear interpolation actions Checking this check box will stop program execution at each action Each Block Check this check box if you wish to step through the Part Program a block at a time Stop At Checking this check box will set a breakpoint at the Block Line Number N Number and Prog
161. u need only set it once If you re install Indexer LPT at any time however you will need to go through this pro cedure again CAM File Settings Making default CAM Files As described in the chapters entitled Important Files and Job Set ups CAM Files contain information which pertains to the individual part which is being manufactured The CAM File not only contains the file specification of the Part Program s but also other vital information necessary to control your machine Some of this information will change from one Job to the next Other information will remain the same For this reason G Code Controller makes CAM Files easy to change and repli cate One CAM File is provided in the installation image entitled SAMPLE CAM This file must be modified to accommodate the design of your machine and the type of manufacturing operations which you are anticipating After the SAMPLE CAM file has been read by means of the File gt Open Job menu you can modi fy it by means of the Job menus You can then save your modified Job under another name leaving the original intact using File gt Save As You can change set up values by means of dialogs in the Job menu Make sure each set up is appropriate When you are fin ished editing SAMPLE CAM it can be easily saved and or dupli G Code Controller Design Reference Page 149 CAM File Settings GETTING STARTED Page 150 cated under a different name such as DEFAULT CAM You may
162. ulator The larger text window scrolls blocks of code that have been processed If line numbers N num bers are absent from the original text of the Part Program they G Code Controller Design Reference JOB SIMULATION Simulation Control Simulation Control NO G91 GOO Incremental Positioning Mode G91 N1 G00 G90 Z 0 25 N2 G01 G43 G42 D3 H3 N3 G00 G90 x2 5 Y1 N4 G90 Z 1 F20 N5 CALL HOLE SUBROUTINE NB M98 P101 01 L5 N101 G01 2 25 G41 G91 Breakpoint Display Each Action Modal State V Each Block a Block Position Stop AtLine N E iri Piogram iom Graphic Fast C Full e Control _ ok R Locati Rewind esume Location Cancel Status Program OO Line NB H3 0 512500 Loop Level 0 Feed Rate 20 0 D3 0 500000 Optional Stop M01 Apply are consecutively assigned and inserted in the display Display Graphic The static simulation in the Orthographic and 3D display shows Rapid Traverse and Feed Paths in red When the Simulation Control dialog is opened these representations are changed in color to light grey The color is changed to back to red as motion along its path is effected when each Block is processed by the Simulator The Full selection updates the screen with the color change after each action The Fast selection updates the screen after each contour The Fast selection is typically used to save time when advancing very large Part Programs to a desired stopping point G Code Con
163. ult ly Joystick Jog Feature is Installed This check box should be checked if the system is designed to utilize the Indexer LPT joystick feature When this box is checked fields which relate to setting up the joystick controls appear in the dialog box Joystick Jog Axis This field contains the axis designator for the joystick jog fea ture Allowable values are a through f You cannot designate the same axis for both joystick and feedhold You cannot specify here any axis which is being used for a Stage or spindle control For a more thorough explanation on the implementation and wiring of the joystick and feedhold features consult the Indexer LPT documentation Indexer LPT Command to Query Release Switch Release Switch Query Result Page 44 G Code Controller Design Reference SYSTEM SET UPS Joystick The release switch input is used by G Code Controller to determine when the operator wishes to exit the joystick jog mode The release switch input can be set up for any Indexer LPT query that responds with 1 and 0 The machine designer may consider using the feedhold abort input for this purpose Since feedhold abort releases the machine from a suspended motion state and since the feedhold feature is never active in joystick jog mode a single input entitled release may be used to accomplish a dual purpose Assign Stages to Joystick Joystick Stage Configuration Stage Pair Selector Switch
164. uring a Dry Run Acceleration G Code Controller Design Reference Page 73 Fixture Offsets JOB SET UPS This is the rate of acceleration between Starting Speed and Vector Speed or Running Speed It is used to compute Indexer LPT s feed_accel described in the Indexer LPT manual Feed Shift Feed Shift is the maximum instantaneous shift in velocity that is permitted during contouring operations This value is used by G Code Controller to calculate Indexer LPT s vshift parame ter described in detail in the Indexer LPT manual Increasing the value of Feed Shift increases the consistency of velocity when negotiating transition points and also increases the stress on the motors In stepper motor controlled systems Feed Shift is generally set as high as the system can stand with out risking loss of steps In servo motor controlled systems motor stress relates more closely to accuracy requirements and Feed Shift should be set accordingly The value of Feed Shift cannot exceed the numeric value of Starting Speed Fixture Offsets G54 G55 G56 G57 G58 G59 Page 74 All absolute position references in the Part Program are dis tances from the currently instated Fixture Offset position The Fixture that is instated when a Job starts is G54 Part Program commands G54 through G59 can be used to change the Fixture references instating the values that can be set up using this dia log The fields for each stage shown in th
165. ve When you snap the Job gt Reload icon on the G Code Controller s Toolbar the changes you had saved from Notepad will be imme diately loaded into your Job and will be visible on the screen and accessible for simulation See the heading in this chapter entitled Interacting with the Text Editor under this chapter s Programs section G Code Controller Design Reference JOB SIMULATION The Main Window Chapter 8 JOB SIMULATION File Job Production System Diagnostic RYE Help Hide Toolbar Hide Status Bar Show Position Show 3D Window Front View Left End View Saved View Zoom Full Zoom Hints G Code Controller Design Reference Page 77 The Main Window JOB SIMULATION The Main Window Page 78 Orthographic Display When you open a Job or select a Part Programinto an existing Job a static Orthographic Viewof the tool path is drawn to the Main Window The particular Orthographic View Top Front or Left side view as well as the zoom factor and pan positions conforms to the settings the last time the File gt Save or File gt Save As menus were used The name of the Orthographic Viewappears next to the name of the Job in the Title Bar and selections for alternative views appear in the context sensitive Viewmenu and Toolbar Line Types The graphical display of the Rapid Traverse G00 and Feed G01 G02 or G03 path represents the path of the tool s reference point Rapid Traverse is s
166. when manually generating simple cutting paths since the exact dimensions of the part can be more easily used when manually composing the Part Program D off set compensation can also be used in applications that must com pensate for the wear of the tool without having to change the Part Program Setting H Offsets H offsets are used in conjunction with G43 to alter the cutting path to automatically compensate for length of the cutting tool Length offset compensation is usually unnecessary unless more than one tool is being used in a Job since the tool length for a single tool can be easily compensated for as a Fixture Offset See the section of this chapter entitled Fixture Offsets Tool length compensation is less often applied by CAD CAM software when generating tool paths since the actual length that a tool pro trudes from its mount is more often determined at a later time when the Job is being set up to run on the machine The H value assigned to the tool represents the distance the cutting end of the tool is from a reference position located along its length One method for determining the H value for each tool is to select a reference location at the seat of the tool chuck and measure the distance from the seat to the end of each tool The values for each tool length can be subsequently typed into the D field for the associated tool index A more convenient method and takes advantage of measure ment capabilities built into G Cod
167. wish to have several default CAM Files one for each general type of operation which you anticipate Save your files under descriptive names As you carefully edit your first default CAM File make sure that each dialog box has reasonable entries even if you do not immediately foresee a use for a particular function Making default Tool Offset Table File When you make your default CAM File don t forget to replicate the installed Tool Offset Table file under another file name using Job gt Tool Offset Table gt Save Save As Change the name from SAMPTOOL OFF to something like TOOLS OFF DO NOT USE SAMPLE CAM OR SAMPTOOL OFF TO SAVE YOUR DEFAULT SETUPS SAMPLE CAM and SAMP TOOL OFF may be overwritten by the installation SETUP pro gram should you need to re install the software or when you per form subsequent upgrades Files that are not part of the initial installation will not be automatically removed by the installation SETUP program during the de installation procedure nor over written during upgrades You should nevertheless make backup copies of all your work G Code Controller Design Reference
168. y Position to Limit Switch Seek Set Home Instant Block Context Sensitive Similar to the Main Menu the sub menus that are accessible from the Production menu depend on the context from which it is accessed The illustration on this page shows selections that are available after a Job is opened but before it is Run Manual Stage positioning options such as Jog Move by and Position to are accessible but since a path had not been interrupted the Resume to positioning menu is absent Control dialogs for man ual positioning are explained later in this chapter G Code Controller Design Reference Page 91 Limit Switch Seek PRODUCTION OPERATIONS G Code Controller R_RECT CAM Top View Production View Help vL E pik Pos 3D RN A 2 Resume to Position to Instant Block This illustration shows how the Production menu may appear after the Run or Dry Run Tool Path dialog has been opened Manual motion dialogs are accessible including Resume to which provides assistance positioning the Stages to a resum ing position along the tool path Dialogs that affect initializing the Machine Home position Set Home and Limit Switch Seek are absent in this context G Code Controller R_RECT CAM Top View Job Petes View Help Resume Run Tool Path Cancel Run Operation Cai A A BLK POS 3D Jog a a Move by Resume to Position to Instant Block G Code Controller
169. y adjusted to accord ing to the point that you had selected to appear in the center of the screen Press Page Down successively to increase magnification Zoom In Press the Page Up key to decrease magnification Zoom Out The cursor position has no effect when pressing Page Up to Zoom Out You can change the Pan position using the Scroll Bars simi lar to most Windows programs Panning over an irregular tool path at higher magnifications can be cumbersome since it requires working back and forth between the vertical and horizon tal Scroll Bars Alternatively you can locate the cursor over a any point and bring it to the center of the screen by pressing the End key on the keyboard By successively locating the cursor over the path that you are following and pressing End you can quickly pan G Code Controller Design Reference Page 79 The Main Window JOB SIMULATION Page 80 along an irregular shape Each time you press End the Scroll Bars are adjusted automatically Snapping File gt Save saves the current Orthographic View the current magnification and its Pan positions These settings will be reflected in the display of Main Window the next time you open the Job or when you select View gt Saved View Changing Views FRNT LEFT You can rapidly change from one RB D Orthographic Viewto any other Orthographic View by snapping over its button on the Toolbar or by selecting it via the Viewmenu Zooming in using the P
170. your hard drive and run SETUP from there Follow the menus in the SETUP program to install the appro priate files onto your hard disk After running the SETUP pro gram installation of G Code Controller is still NOT COM PLETE You must first review every field in every dialog of G Code Controller s System menu then make an appropriate CAM File template by reviewing every field in every dialog in the Job menu The best way to get started with this software is to become familiar with the menu structure and the meanings of all of the set ups Since many of the set ups are dependent on other set ups there is no quick way to configure a system without learning the implications of each set up field Fortunately the menus are logi cally arranged and easily accessible This manual is organized according to the appearance of the menus A good method of completing the installation is to systematically review each System dialog changing parametric set up values as per the instructions in this manual The initial values which appear in the Setup dialogs are arbi trary Since each machine design can vary in substantial ways and each set up field can potentially affect others there are NO default set up values Each and every field must be reviewed by the designer and replaced by a meaningful value After the first change is made the System gt Save System Setup menu becomes available The first time this selection is chosen G Code Controlle
171. ystem Configuration File and renaming the copy GIXA INI transfers all of your System settings from the older version to the new The older version will remain usable The Shortcut icon for the upgraded version is visibly different from the old making it easy to distinguish between them Once again please be mindful if you install to the existing installation folder that SAMPLE CAM and SAMPTOOL OFF will be overwritten and any information that you may have saved to these files will be lost Manual Upgrade Manually upgrading gives you the most control over how you want to transition from the older version to the new especially if you want to keep your older version intact until you are sure that any potential backward compatibility issues have been addressed Consider for example that you had installed your older version to the default folder C Gixw Proceed as follows Step 1 Install the new program Copy GIXA EXE to C Gixw Step 2 Transfer your existing system settings Use Windows Explorer to make a copy of GIXW INI and rename the copy to GIXA INI Locate GIXW INI in the C WIN DOWS folder Highlight it then press Ctrl C Pressing Ctrl V will create a file entitled Copy of GIXW INI Rename this file GIXA INI Step 3 Make a new shortcut Right snap on the Desktop and select New gt Shortcut Snap Browse and locate C GIXW GIXA EXE Follow the menus to complete the Shortcut You can access the new version from the

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