AutolevellerAE Definitions of Terms

Help for setting up and using
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daedelus
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AutolevellerAE Definitions of Terms

Post by daedelus »

In preparation for the release of AutolevellerAE 0.7.5 I thought I would add a sticky to this forum to explain and define the acronyms and terms used in this release. These terms are needed so that we can differentiate between an RPG and a PFG etc. and make it easy to refer to the file we mean.

I have done this before in a previous post but this was a long time ago and is not very prominent. Plus there are a couple of additional ones which I needed to add.

First of all, there are 2 main stages in the Autolevelling process. The probing stage and the levelling stage.

The probing results can be provided 1 of 2 ways. ‘On-the-fly’, i.e. your CNC Software performs the probing and stores the results in parameters, or you can probe and store the results in an RPF log file.

In the levelling stage calculations can be performed ‘on-the-fly’, by the CNC software again, i.e. levelling takes place in the same GCode file that the probing stage took place in. Or you can provide an RPF to Autoleveller so it can pre-calculate the Z heights.
  • Original GCode File (OGF) = The GCode file, unmodified by the Autoleveller and produced by some CAM program or tool unrelated to Autoleveller.
  • Autolevelled file = The file produced by Autoleveller from the OGF which makes adjustments to the Z values i.e. levels a file using the probed values from either the software parameters or using a provided RPF.
  • Raw Probe File (RPF) = The file which contains a list of probing results (a log, not a GCode file) produced by your controller software during probing. Different CNC software logs the results in different formats but any supported software format is fine to use. The lines of a typical Mach3 RPF for example would look something like this…

    Code: Select all

    0.00000,-0.00000,0.00020 
    0.38984,-0.00000,0.00215 
    0.77968,-0.00000,0.00517 
    1.16952,-0.00000,0.00695 
    1.55936,-0.00000,0.00850 
    1.94920,-0.00000,0.00898 
    2.33904,-0.00000,0.00889 
    2.72888,-0.00000,0.00823 
    3.11873,-0.00000,0.00729 
    3.50857,-0.00000,0.00547 
    3.89841,-0.00000,0.00303 
    3.89841,0.38746,0.00258 
    3.50857,0.38746,0.00444 
    3.11873,0.38746,0.00574 
    2.72888,0.38746,0.00649 
    2.33904,0.38746,0.00687 
    1.94920,0.38746,0.00689 
    1.55936,0.38746,0.00660 
    1.16952,0.38746,0.00583 
    0.77968,0.38746,0.00415 
    0.38984,0.38746,0.00245 
    0.00000,0.38746,0.00097 
    0.00000,0.77490,0.00232 
    0.38984,0.77490,0.00268 
    0.77968,0.77490,0.00397 
    1.16952,0.77490,0.00460 
    1.55936,0.77490,0.00488 
    1.94920,0.77490,0.00509 
    2.33904,0.77490,0.00514 
    2.72888,0.77490,0.00461 
    3.11873,0.77490,0.00432 
    3.50857,0.77490,0.00332 
    3.89841,0.77490,0.00260 
    3.89841,1.16236,-0.00975 
    3.50857,1.16236,0.00386 
    3.11873,1.16236,0.00441 
    2.72888,1.16236,0.00472 
    2.33904,1.16236,0.00495 
    1.94920,1.16236,0.00492 
    1.55936,1.16236,0.00508 
    1.16952,1.16236,0.00472 
    0.77968,1.16236,0.00426 
    0.38984,1.16236,0.00398 
    0.00000,1.16236,0.00438 
    0.00000,1.54980,0.00495 
    0.38984,1.54980,0.00421 
    0.77968,1.54980,0.00435 
    1.16952,1.54980,0.00463 
    1.55936,1.54980,0.00432 
    1.94920,1.54980,0.00434 
    2.33904,1.54980,0.00449 
    2.72888,1.54980,0.00412 
    3.11873,1.54980,0.00395 
    3.50857,1.54980,0.00364 
    3.89841,1.54980,-0.01173 
    3.89841,1.93725,0.00429 
    3.50857,1.93725,0.00420 
    3.11873,1.93725,0.00474 
    2.72888,1.93725,0.00501 
    2.33904,1.93725,0.00488 
    1.94920,1.93725,0.00486 
    1.55936,1.93725,0.00529 
    1.16952,1.93725,0.00503 
    0.77968,1.93725,0.00478 
    0.38984,1.93725,0.00497 
    0.00000,1.93725,0.00546 
    0.00000,2.32470,0.00523 
    0.38984,2.32470,0.00471 
    0.77968,2.32470,0.00489 
    1.16952,2.32470,0.00514 
    1.55936,2.32470,0.00537 
    1.94920,2.32470,0.00527 
    2.33904,2.32470,0.00518 
    2.72888,2.32470,0.00512 
    3.11873,2.32470,0.00529 
    3.50857,2.32470,0.00508 
    3.89841,2.32470,0.00503 
    3.89841,2.71215,0.00566 
    3.50857,2.71215,0.00643 
    3.11873,2.71215,0.00654 
    2.72888,2.71215,0.00672 
    2.33904,2.71215,0.00663 
    1.94920,2.71215,0.00652 
    1.55936,2.71215,0.00643 
    1.16952,2.71215,0.00646 
    0.77968,2.71215,0.00606 
    0.38984,2.71215,0.00514 
    0.00000,2.71215,0.00541 
    0.00000,3.09959,0.00547 
    0.38984,3.09959,0.00584 
    0.77968,3.09959,0.00718 
    1.16952,3.09959,0.00795 
    1.55936,3.09959,0.00843 
    1.94920,3.09959,0.00834 
    2.33904,3.09959,0.00869 
    2.72888,3.09959,0.00838 
    3.11873,3.09959,0.00820 
    3.50857,3.09959,0.00766 
    3.89841,3.09959,0.00637 
    
  • Probe File Generator (PFG) = The GCode file which, when run through your CNC software probes and logs the results to a separate file. This separate log file can be referred to as the RPF. The PFG is the probing stage only.
  • Mesh = A mesh is the rectangular grid of points where each point is a probe point. Generally, this is the area surrounding your job and can be thought of as the metadata describing the probing stage.
  • 3D probe model = This is a 3D model generated if an RPF has been provided. It shows visually the state of the RPF, it is useful for spotting problems in probing which may in turn lead to problems when levelling and etching. You can rotate, zoom and amplify the points in order to give you a better view of the RPF and its state.
Please let me know if there are any questions about this, or if you want to see any changes to this list. :) :)
http://www.autoleveller.co.uk/. Software to probe and adjust a GCode file for PCB's or any probe-able surface.

http://www.autoleveller.co.uk/cnc-probe-guide/. A short guide to setting up the probe.

-James
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