CNC Shark Forum

Hello All:

I need to place several parts on a sheet for manufacturing. To get the best packaging I need to place the parts with rotations of 90, 180 and 270 degrees.

My parts need to be cut one at a time and any other part can't be started until the current part is finished.
We have unreliable power and when it crashes I do not want to lose more than necessary.

I am a programmer by trade so it is rather simple for me to read in a Gcode file, strip out the header, part routine and footer.
Then reading another file that contains part positioning information I could generate a new output file that does what I need.

My question to the group is will the controller support subroutine calls. M98 and M99.
see: https://www.cnccookbook.com/m98-m99-g-c ... bprograms/

Will the shark controller support this feature.

Thank You in advance.

Nope, not at the GCode level. Creating Array patterns is available in VCarve, as is nesting. Then create separate sets of toolpaths for each panel, output them and run each one in whole before loading and moving on.
I know of truly sick ways to do it, but you don't want my post-processor. Is this a one-time thing? Or are you going to need to do that (pack and rotate and execute items in whole) on an ongoing basis for multiple products?

I have a sort of different issue.
1. We lose power quite often LOT at our shop. And I typically break a tool when that happens. I can put from 8 to 100 of my pieces on a standard sheet to be cut.
The VCarve software DOES NOT cut one part completely before starting another. SO power failures not cost 2 parts.

2. I'm trying to minimize programming errors and times. If / when I have one good part worked out I DO NOT want to program it ever again (introducing errors).
I want to just step and repeat. Trying to minimize programming time and dollars.

This product is mature and ready to be optimized. If I could fit 9 instead of 8 parts on a panel well that's 12.5% decrease in parts costs.
We have 2 products with 3+5= 8 different parts to be machined. Not a lot but It's become very difficult to make changes/ improvements to such old files.
We make several hundred of our tools every year.

I am a programmer by trade and do not fear rolling my own post processor. Or even using yours!!!

For power interruptions you might consider buying a Uninterrupted power source (battery back-up). You have to have one that will handle the amps on your router. Plus have capacity to give run time to finish the job if your power problems are very long.