Roger and I spoke on the phone, and at least for the moment, it looks like inserting a simple "pause" file of GCode into the cut file may get him where he needs to go.
In my various projects, I've found I'm impatient, and I don't feel honored to be the machine's part loader and automatic tool change. So, I use human ingenuity to slice-and-dice my toolpaths to minimize tool changes, part movement, etc. Whenever I need to make the machine get out of my way so I can move the part in the vise (or clamps, etc.), but I don't want load yet another file, I have it insert a "pause" command.
That works through a quirk in (some of?) the Shark controllers, in that a standard tool-change command will instead cause the controller to pause at that line, and wait for the continue button. M06 T01 is the thing.
Because Roger is already doing some manual editing of his GCode file to meet his own project needs, having him insert the pause file manually won't be an issue. So, for the rest of us, below is the text from my email to him, and the attachment is the simple (template!) Pause file.
Regards,
Thom
- __Pause--Generic.tap
- template of a pause file you can (maybe) insert
- (244 Bytes) Downloaded 272 times
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Roger:
Great talking to you. I'm seeing more and more like you and me, who are demanding better automation out of these beasts. Automation that HELPS get the work better, not get in the way of it
.
The first file is kind of a "template" I use when creating a new pause file. Each project has it's own customized (set of) pause files.
The M05/M03 commands turn off and on the spindle. I do this because that signal also enables the chip blower. For obvious reasons, I don't want it blowing chips all over the place as it moves out of the way...since that's exactly where the chips have been landing during the cut! You might or might not need to do that. If your spindle does that, you might want to include a dwell (G04 P3.0, or whatever the spin-up time is) after the M03 toward the end. And yes, the M06 T01 in the middle is the magic.
Please TEST this code chunk by itself in your machine. They've changed controllers over the years, and I cannot claim to know whether the M06 T01 will do the same thing on your machine. Fingers Crossed!
Any of those distance measurements in the file are to be verified, and of course, make sure the path from the pause location out of, and back into the part don't hit the clamps.
NOTE: one thing we didn't speak about was the "jog it a little up or down" while that pause is there. I'm pretty sure that's still not going to be possible. I suspect that the M06 T01 is really the same as pushing the pause button, from the controller's perspective, but you get to say exactly where and when in the TAP it happens.
I'm post this mail up into the Shark forums as well, including the file below.
Cheers!
Thom
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