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inserting (comments) in the *.tap file

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 10:23 am
by albers
I have two questions really:
1. is there a way to insert comments in the tool path program?
2. if there were comments in the tool path program, would they show up anywhere?
Note: editing the gcode is the manual way.....is there an automatic way?

Re: inserting (comments) in the *.tap file

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 2:32 pm
by Kayvon
You could modify your post processor file to insert comments. The comments that already show up in the code? That's where they come from. That's why the top of the file shows info like the piece size and the bit choice.

Would they show up anywhere? Not unless you look at the code itself. You can scroll through the code in the Shark Control Panel, but you're unlikely to scroll down past the top of the file, anyway. I guess the file also scrolls through as it runs, but that usually happens too quickly to read.

Re: inserting (comments) in the *.tap file

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 3:28 pm
by Rando
albers wrote:I have two questions really:
1. is there a way to insert comments in the tool path program?
2. if there were comments in the tool path program, would they show up anywhere?
Note: editing the gcode is the manual way.....is there an automatic way?
1) Surround the comment in ( ... ). Be SURE to only have one closing paren, or it will
gum up the works. so do NOT do: (This here awesome (if I do say so myself) comment will not fly).
To have them come out automatically, you'd edit the post file. It's kind of a strange syntax,
but it's pretty simple, especially since you're just adding comments. Here's a chunk from a
GCode file:

(INSERT TOOL - T1)
(Machine Setup - 1 Pocket)
(P1-BACKPLATEMOUNTTOP)
(SET SPINDLE SPEED = 15600 RPM)
G90
G20
F100

2) There's usually a setting in the post file (it's just text, open with notepad), right at the top,
that says whether to include comments, system comments, or user comments, or something of
that nature. I'm almost certain VCarve and such have an options dialog where you can add job-specific
comments in the VCarve UI, that then comes out in the GCode. But, honestly, I used BobCAD
more, and don't have access to that computer :-( right now, and that's how they do it: a set of
user-settable comments that get output in the GCode.

Anyway, hope that helps

Regards,

Thom