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booski
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Forgot to mention...

Post by booski »

Will there be an ability soon that the autoleveller will remember the probed points?

i.e. you probe the board, make the cut and say it's not quite deep enough or it's grazing the surface but not cutting but because you've made the cuts can no longer probe and therefore cannot re-create the cut and the board is wasted.

Is it possible in the near future that the autoleveller will remember the probe points allowing you to re-cut the board without having to re-probe?

Cheers!
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daedelus
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Re: Forgot to mention...

Post by daedelus »

Its planned, because, as you say, it would be an incredibly useful function.

I have not done it yet because I am not sure how to write to external files in different post-processors and from within the gcode itself, and I havnt had the time to investigate what is and isnt possible.

If I can write to an external file then I can use the autoleveller program to take that file and replace the probing stage with the real probe values. I know how to create a log file in LinuxCNC. But I dont know about other software like Mach3 etc. In LinuxCNC its:

Code: Select all

(LOGOPEN,filename.txt) 
(LOG, probe value #506) ; everything after the , is logged to filename.txt
(LOGCLOSE)
What I would like is an equivalent in Mach3 and others, so if anyone knows how to do it then please let me know.

What I am working on CNC wise now is a gcode parser (its going well so far :)). After that, I plan to make a toolpath optimiser to decrease milling time. When I will have time for all this, I have no idea ;)
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
booski
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Re: Forgot to mention...

Post by booski »

Sweet, sounds pretty cool.

Do you need a log file? Tell me if it's a thick Idea because I know nothing about coding, but, when your probing an area, those values must be stored somewhere anyway to be used later?

Would it be possible to like, set those values to read-only so that when you run the program again, you can just skip the probe section of the file and continue?

Food for thought :)
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daedelus
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Re: Forgot to mention...

Post by daedelus »

I think I read somewhere that Mach3 stores the parameter values after a restart for values between #500 and #1000 but I am not sure if thats true and even if it is I am not sure if you can do it in LinuxCNC.

One reason to log values to an external file would be that you could load the file into the autoleveller program and maybe draw some useful graphs to help visualise the probe data, i.e. to show you where all the pits and troughs actually are on the surface you just probed.

I did this a while ago in a basic text form before I made an autoleveller so I know its possible.
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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Re: Forgot to mention...

Post by Country_Bubba »

Ok, sitting here contemplating the past couple of posts and the more I think (thats dangerous), the more confused I get.

1. OK, James, I can see where it would be easy to create a file of the probe values and possibly the locations if that might be needed.
2. IF you create a post processor that uses that file, fine. BUT I don't see how Linuxcnc, Mach, or anything else that uses the standard G-code system is going to read it to make the necessary adjustments!
3. Reading the variables is not a problem and setting them in memory is not a problem (Doing that now) except I know of no gcode command for reading a file. So we are back to square 1.
4. The previous poster may be on to something with Setting an additional variable which is not used in the probe sequence to some specific condition. Then when you run the gcode through the second or multiple times, test for that variable and it will bypass the probe section. This of course will require that the controller not be exited or powered down which would erase the variables in memory. Also if your going to use multiple gcode files, it would require that probing be consistent between them as to its parameters.

Maybe I am all wet and missing something here, but just my confused thoughts.
Art
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Re: Forgot to mention...

Post by Country_Bubba »

Ah heck, once again your way ahead of my thinking :lol:

For the record, I just checked my documentation for Turbocnc and found the following:
"A variable is the name given to the contents of a storage location, which can be changed while a parts file is running. There are 10000 of these locations available, each named with its location from 1 to 9999. Variables numbered 1 to 999 are persistent, meaning that their values are stored in the configuration file upon exiting TurboCNC and re-loaded when TurboCNC is restarted. Variables with names from #1000 through #9999 are transient. These values are not restored when TurboCNC is restarted. Variables that are not set before being read are given a value of zero."

The persistent part might be fine for most users, but in MY case I use a CF card as the "hard drive" and as such, the values are NOT written to the config file upon exit as it is set to Read Only to conserve the life of the card. For my purposes, I use and external Thumb drive for all incidental files.
Art
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daedelus
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Re: Forgot to mention...

Post by daedelus »

I have probably been a bit unclear and I'm not sure if this is any better as Im nackered today.

For TurboCNC, if you made a separate log file to write the probe values on your thumbdrive it would be OK wouldnt it? Not sure if any of this is possible in Turbo? Forget about the config file for a minute.

Your control software would never need to read this log file either, as the autoleveller would do it. The plan was...
1. create the log file from the control software to store the probe values in the same way that LinuxCNC does
2. load the log file into autoleveller as an option
3. the autoleveller generates a new gcode file using the optional probe file.
The new gcode file is exactly the same as the original gcode file but without a probing stage and with all the variables replaced with real probe values from the log file.
4. Now, we can just take the new gcode file and load that into the control software.

So the control software never needs to read anything apart from a gcode file.
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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Re: Forgot to mention...

Post by Country_Bubba »

I have probably been a bit unclear and I'm not sure if this is any better as Im nackered today.

For TurboCNC, if you made a separate log file to write the probe values on your thumbdrive it would be OK wouldnt it? Not sure if any of this is possible in Turbo? Forget about the config file for a minute.
Well, as I tried to suggest, I'm really nackered also:})

To answer your question about writing the file to a thumb drive, I "think" the answer would be yes.

I like the idea, but am also playing "Devils advocate". I would rather raise questions now instead of half or more way through the process and really throw a wrench in the works.
Art
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Re: Forgot to mention...

Post by daedelus »

Art, advocating devils is a good thing for me :)

I am sure I will add some sort of "probe point remembering feature" to the autoleveller at some point but I am not going to rush into anything yet.

I have found my original post for the probing software i mentioned earlier over on the zen toolworks forums. Have a look if you are interested: http://forums.zentoolworks.com/viewtopi ... 11&t=14316

This was written a while ago, and all it did was probe and log an area in LinuxCNC. Then you took the resulting log file and loaded it into the same software. This, then told you what the highest and lowest points were. I always planned to build a similar feature into the autoleveller once I figure out how logging worked in the other post processors.
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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Re: Forgot to mention...

Post by Country_Bubba »

James,
Thanks for the info. Have downloaded it and will give it try to see how things work.
Art
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