Understanding Postprocessor

[nikonwalker]

Hi Guys,
I have a Probotix Asteroid CNC ( fitted with a Rotary Axis ), with Linux installed , I am using VCarve Pro.
I have made some nice projects and understand the basics of carving and cutting out stuff. I am giving myself a different project each weekend to practice and become familiar with new stuff.This weekend I tried to familiarise myself with Rotary Machining , i downloaded the instructions from Vectric, I understand the principal of whats needed but I cant get my head around the post processor.
I tried some from the vectric site but didn't work, how do I work out what I want , then how do I work out where to get it from .
Any help would be very much appreciated
Thanks
Terry

[Rcnewcomb]

Start out by making a copy of your current post-process file that you use for flat work. Note that if you are doing rotary work you will probably not need to support ARC commands.

For rotary work you are still only doing 3 axis work, it is just that X or Y (depending on your setup) will instead be handled by the A axis. You will use ROTARY_WRAP_Y or ROTARY_WRAP_X.

In Vcarve (or Aspire) go to File/Open Application Data Folder
Open the PostP folder
You should see another folder labeled something like 05-Wrapped, open that folder.
You will then see folder for different control systems. Almost any of them will provide examples.
Let's look at DeskCNC as an example. There is a file under there called DeskCNC_Gcode_Y2A_inch.pp that you can open in Notepad.
Towards the top of the file there is a line:
ROTARY_WRAP_Y= "-A"

This will take any Y movement and turn it into an A axis movement.

Compare this post process file to the DeskCNC_GCode_inch file that is in the PostP folder.

After you have looked those over see if that helps you understand how you would modify your post process for LinuxCNC.

Come back with some specific questions.