Looking for a dual head WinCNC post

[gfacer]

Hi everyone,

New user, at this shop......I run Mastercam normally and am planning on getting cut 2d running on our front counter computer for simple jobs and maybe later run Vcarve along Mastercam on the design computer.

We use Vcarve in our other office and back when I set that up I had to make a custom post for and old Camtech machine with a centroid control. My machine here is a CNT motion systems dual head setup running WINCNC, that should be similar to the Cammaster x3 setup or the old digital tool setups.

Essentially I need to output a G55 command, turn off spindle, turn on router, and issue an L12WZ (if I recall) for tool 2 and more or less the reverse for tool 1. The question I am a little lazy on is how do I pull code for a specific tool number in the post file. The logic being something like:

If nexttool = last tool, output "new_segment" code, if nexttool =! last tool, then if nexttool=T1, then do abs, if nextool=T2 do xyz.

I'm sure I could figure it out, but I'm equally sure there is someone with a very similar setup in place already.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but cud 2d / Vcarve always assume z=0 is the table surface.....is that right? I have most of my old Mastercam files as table is z=-2....and I'll need to put code in the header to reconcile the two....but I can figure that out easily enough.

Thanks, Greg Facer

[rscrawford]

WinCNC is very useful in that you can set up different macros to make your life easier. I would set up two macros in WinCNC for the 'toolchanges'. Call the macros something like Tool1 or Tool2. The post processor simply calls up the macro for the tool change (inserts a Tool1 or Tool2 command)

Set the macro up so it shuts the spindle off, raises tool 1, lowers tool 2, moves to the offset, turns spindle 2 on, etc.

[gfacer]

Ok,

I was wondering if I might have to use the macro functionality....wasn't sure how smart the vectric posting process was......Mastercams post file and processor is smart in that you can write code to check the tool against the last tool. But, it's also sort of a nightmare to understand too!

Maybe I'll make a macro to throw up a pause if I have a t3 or t4 called too.

Guess I'll get started then!

[rscrawford]

I can show you some of my macros, but they are specific for my Cobra. When I tool change, it checks the tool that is already in, opens the flap on the dust boot, then changes it if needed, then checks to make sure its the right tool, etc. All done with macros. I have separate macros to clamp the tool in the ATC, release the tool, etc. You can also program in commands. I put in a vacuum, and connected it through a relay on the red panel. Then I assign M11C2 to turn on the vacuum, and M12C2 to turn it off.

[gfacer]

Yeah......that wasn't what I expected.

Turns out Cut2D doesn't do tool changes. The post changes, macros and resulting code all seem to work fine, but hard to tell for sure when the program won't do tool changes. I get that it's the baby brother, and when I saw how bad the geometry creation tools were I figured it had to be limited on purpose, and now that is very clear.

It's trivial enough to splice the two parts in notepad, especially after putting notes in the post for exactly where to cut, so I'm a little at a loss as to why the guys at Vectric bothered with this particular limitation, particularly as there must be some other users using it as a test for posts that can work with Vcarve down the line.

Oh well, it'll work for what I am planning to use it for OK I guess, getting used to how Vectric's stuff works versus Mastercam and doing the odd small job from the sales desk.

Thanks for the help.