Vcarve Desktop V9.5 rotary post processor...?

This forum is for general discussion regarding VCarve Pro
Post Reply
Doug98105
Posts: 39
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2016 3:48 pm
Model of CNC Machine: Centroid knee mill with 4th axis

Vcarve Desktop V9.5 rotary post processor...?

Post by Doug98105 »

Glad to see V9.5 Desktop will now do rotary axis wrapping.

I see from the supplied post processor list some handle 4th axis. And the Desktop V9.5 upgrade list shows G93, inverse time feedrate, as being supported.

My question is, which of the supplied posts does G93? I tried a couple that handled the axis rotation correctly, but the feedrates were not in G93 mode.

My control is a Centroid M400 which uses pretty generic Gcode, but rotary feedrates have to be G93 mode or in degrees per minute. Either one is fine, I'd prefer G93 though.


Thanks....

User avatar
IslaWW
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 1402
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:42 pm
Model of CNC Machine: CNC Controller Upgrades
Location: Bergland, MI, USA

Re: Vcarve Desktop V9.5 rotary post processor...?

Post by IslaWW »

Doug...
I worked with Centroid techs and Vectric and have a G93 post for Vectric products. That said it has only been tested on the Acorn, so I cannot say with 100% certainty that it will be compatible with the M400 control.
Gary Campbell
GCnC Control
ATC & Servo Controller Controller Upgrades
GCnC411 (at) gmail.com

User avatar
IslaWW
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 1402
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:42 pm
Model of CNC Machine: CNC Controller Upgrades
Location: Bergland, MI, USA

Re: Vcarve Desktop V9.5 rotary post processor...?

Post by IslaWW »

Doug...
I worked with Centroid techs and Vectric and have a G93 post for Vectric products. That said it has only been tested on the Acorn, so I cannot say with 100% certainty that it will be compatible with the M400 control. Remove the ".txt" from the name
Centroid_X_to_B_Rotary_TC.pp.txt
(5.69 KiB) Downloaded 190 times
Gary Campbell
GCnC Control
ATC & Servo Controller Controller Upgrades
GCnC411 (at) gmail.com

Doug98105
Posts: 39
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2016 3:48 pm
Model of CNC Machine: Centroid knee mill with 4th axis

Re: Vcarve Desktop V9.5 rotary post processor...?

Post by Doug98105 »

Gary,

Thanks for the try, but that post does not use G93/G94. Also, I need Y to A. The post did correctly wrap X to B.

I'm aware of the acorn board and my understanding is it's supposed to be identical with the M400 control. The M400 is a powerful, full featured control, but unfortunately it doesn't have the internal capability to calculate rotary feedrates from linear feedrates. Centroid is by far not the only major control with this issue.

All is not lost though. I have Millwrite software that will accept the Gcode from flat layouts, wrap it onto to various, not necessarily cylindrical, shapes and output the proper feedrates in degrees per minute. A little more cumbersome than having a Vectric post. Since Vectric shows G93 support on the V9.5 upgrade list I suppose a post will be coming in the near future.

User avatar
IslaWW
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 1402
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:42 pm
Model of CNC Machine: CNC Controller Upgrades
Location: Bergland, MI, USA

Re: Vcarve Desktop V9.5 rotary post processor...?

Post by IslaWW »

Try this one:
Centroid_Y_to_A_Rotary_TC_G93.pp.txt
(5.92 KiB) Downloaded 237 times
Gary Campbell
GCnC Control
ATC & Servo Controller Controller Upgrades
GCnC411 (at) gmail.com

Doug98105
Posts: 39
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2016 3:48 pm
Model of CNC Machine: Centroid knee mill with 4th axis

Re: Vcarve Desktop V9.5 rotary post processor...?

Post by Doug98105 »

Wow, thanks Gary.

It appears at first glance your latest post works correctly. At least the Gcode looks good. If I have time today I'll try running the code on the machine.

Not a big deal, but I'll look through the post and see how to modify the decimal point accuracy of the XYZ coordinates from six places to four. Also, it's rare in my experience for decorative work to need more than two decimal places for A values.

In case you or others aren't aware there's a nice downloadable Gcode editor, the free version of CNC Syntax Editor. With it you can change decimal accuracy, scale and offset all the coordinate values. I use it all the time to modify feedrates in programs, for instance like speeding up all feedrates by scaling to 1.25. Or slowing down feedrates by scaling to less than 1.0. It can also add or remove line numbers, etc, etc. Pretty powerful editor for free and the pro version with more features like backplotting Gcode is around 50 bucks.

Thanks again... I'll let you know how the code works on the machine.

User avatar
IslaWW
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 1402
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:42 pm
Model of CNC Machine: CNC Controller Upgrades
Location: Bergland, MI, USA

Re: Vcarve Desktop V9.5 rotary post processor...?

Post by IslaWW »

Doug...
If it works, post it on the Centroid forum, where both X to B and Y to A have been attached for Vectric users
Gary Campbell
GCnC Control
ATC & Servo Controller Controller Upgrades
GCnC411 (at) gmail.com

Post Reply