Is it Vectric...

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NewAtThis
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Is it Vectric...

Post by NewAtThis »

...that doesn't support tool changes with the M6 gcode command, or the machine's manufacturers, please?

I'm getting help (!) with editing a PP to include a tool change option, as per the guide available via in the File... menu in the program, so it's just me wondering why, really.

Thanks.
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Adrian
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Re: Is it Vectric...

Post by Adrian »

You can put any code you like into the post processor. Whether the control software knows what to do with it is another matter.

So my reply would be start with your control software, work out what you need to do tool changes and then implement that code into the post processor. You can look at an existing tool change post processor to see what sections are required.

If your control software can't accept tool changes via code then you're stuck.

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Re: Is it Vectric...

Post by Leo »

I could easily be wrong but I do not see M6 in the code listing. Maybe they use a different code.

Can you call them on the phone and ask the question?

They have a user forum.
https://forum.duet3d.com/

You can ask them if M6 is supported for tool changes.
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Re: Is it Vectric...

Post by NewAtThis »

M6 isn't directly supported by Duet at the moment, no.

It does allow macros, though, and it would be fairly straightforward to initiate tool changes through a macro named M6.g. This would be called by the M6 command in the gcode file.

Following that thought through though, if M6 was supported the information relevant to the subsequent tool would be in the cgode file anyway, so an external macro might affect those settings. What would be necessary is a routine to measure and adjust the new tool length...

Hmm.
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Re: Is it Vectric...

Post by Adrian »

You don't really need a routine to adjust the new tool length. It's down to how automatic you want the process to be and how much hardware you have.

If you have a tool carousel which the machine can select a new bit from then automatic length adjustment and/or automatic zeroing is obviously important.

If you just want the machine to tell you when it wants a new bit and then you change it and carry on with the cutting then that's a different thing.

This is how the tool changing works on my particular custom processor and custom macros in the control software.

1. I save one file with all the toolpaths in it from Cut2D/VCarve/Aspire. Each tool has a different tool number otherwise you can't save to one file.

2. When I load that file into my control software the first thing it does is look to see if the first tool number matches the last tool number used. Variables are stored from session to session. If it's the same tool then it starts cutting after asking me to start the spindle.

3. If it's not the same tool then it asks me to change it after asking if I want to move the spindle to a location to make bit changing easier. Once I've confirmed it's changed then it asks me if I want to zero the bit. If I do then it uses the Material Surface/Table Surface information that my post processor placed in the file to determine whether to zero to the fixed touch off point that I made on my machine or whether to use the surface plate. Once zeroing is done it asks me to start the spindle and starts cutting.

4. Once a tool change is needed in the file the machine will go through the routine in step 3 over again and does it as many times as there are tool changes in the file.


Although I haven't used other control software in a similar way I'm sure it's pretty much the same for any tool change routine on any machine without a tool changer.

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Re: Is it Vectric...

Post by NewAtThis »

I haven't anything like the tool changing equipment you have, but for me this was just about saving a single toolpath with multiple tools, where there'd be a prompt when the tool needed changing, and then a process to take account of the tool length (probably) being a different, that's all really.
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Re: Is it Vectric...

Post by Adrian »

Nightowl4933 wrote:
Sat Jun 04, 2022 2:16 pm
I haven't anything like the tool changing equipment you have, but for me this was just about saving a single toolpath with multiple tools, where there'd be a prompt when the tool needed changing, and then a process to take account of the tool length (probably) being a different, that's all really.
I don't have any tool changing equipment. That's the point I was trying to make. My machine is totally manual. All I've done is to write macros to streamline the process.

What you're describing you want to do is exactly what I do. As I say the tool length is not needed. You re-zero the Z at each tool change.

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Re: Is it Vectric...

Post by NewAtThis »

My apologies, I misread what you'd written :oops:

I'm doing what you're doing. The only different thing I was looking at is using something like Carbide3D's BitSetter to automate the Z height adjustment. This was something I used on my old machine and wanted to try and do the same again, but the more I think about it - and listen to helpful comments such as yours - why bother? It's not difficult to do, after all!
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