reading .sbp files created by Vcarve pro

[tooldad]

I am a shop teacher wanting to teach the students how to make parts, signs, and trays on the CNC. I am trying to decipher if there is a way to tell if the students created a toolpath file correctly by reading the code in notepad or something similar. Otherwise I have to be over their shoulder to make sure settings are correct.

I already have a format to save the file name as (student last name - part name - board size - bit type - head #). We have a 2 head CNC, an example of that file name is "student-vcarve sign-17x6-60v-h1"

other than that and trust, I can't tell if it's correct.

Any suggestions?

[Adrian]

There is a lot of information that you can add to a code file by adding commands to the post processor. Things like job dimensions, z-zero settings, tool names etc. The Post Processor Editing guide on the Help menu will tell you whats available.

Without that it's a matter of what is in the default post processor and how good you are at reading the code. Things like incorrect Z zero setting and XY origin are easy enough to see by looking at the XY moves used and tool changes should be obvious.

[Mikehell]

I've found V-Carve to be quite lacking in 2 headed CNC control.

Is this a 2 headed Shopbot?

[Adrian]

There are two headed Shopbot post processors supplied with VCarve. The handling of the second head is primarily down to the ShopBot control software via macros and shopbot variables rather than VCarve. The post processor uses those variables as offsets for the heads.