ATC screen with tool assignments?

[atlantis]

Hi

I don't know much about UCCNC yet, however there is one question that decides from the start whether it could be for me or not at all: Is there the possibility to have an ATC screen in UCCNC? If your machine has a turret type tool changer you need a screen, preferrably with a visualization of the turret too, where you can assign tools from the tool library to the turret positions, i.e. tool 37 to position 1, tool 12 to position 2 etc. so that the software knows that if tool 37 is called it has to be changed in from position 1.

After installing the test version and consulting the manual - though not reading it front to back - I still haven't found anything the like. There's the possibility to edit and create screens but I don't think I could make one quickly enough.

Kind regards
Martin

[Robertspark]

you can create a custom screen tab / number of tabs to do what you require but I don't think it would be easy to do, maybe showing an image of the tool number or slot.

no such tool turret arrangement exists within a published screenset I have seen which you can download or purchase, but I suspect that someone may have created one though.

[ger21]

Yeah, I've never seen one.

You'll need a custom screen, and custom macros to handle the tool changes and tool positions.

[atlantis]

Thanks guys, that pretty much answered my questions. It seems that tool changers are not a speciality of UCCNC, at least not until someone who is able to provides the necessary pieces.

[cncdrive]

The M6 macro which installs with the UCCNC is an example macro for a linear toolchanger, but it could be easily converted to different type of ATCs.
You could extend it with for example placing graphics and LEDs on the screen and handle the LEDs from the macro, if you really want to see things graphically.

[laki]

Hi Balazs,
What exactly LEDs did you mean?
Can we get LEDs related to SLOT # or TOOL #?
By adding these LEDs it would be possible to graphically represent which slot and tool is used and handle these LEDs from the macro.

[CL_MotoTech]

I have a 10 spot ATC. While I think an ATC screen would be nice, I'm not sure it's necessary. You can see what T# you have, you can see which one is queued once change is initiated, and hopefully the right one is in the spindle after the change. If you have questions, reference the tool table. I just keep my tool slot and Tool # the same. So basically I only run T1 through T10 when I need the ATC. If I need extra tools, they are T12 and up, T11 is reserved for my touch probe, but all of these tools require manual tool change (with PDB). If I use 6 or 7 tools for a part that's a lot for me, perhaps I spent too long running a machine with R8 collets and manual tightening, but I tend to design around using less tools rather than more even with the ATC.

[ronthomp]

This has been frustrating for me, as well. I use PathPilot at work on a Tormach. Their screen has everything you need. I just converted a 1990 Haas with a 16 tool ATC driven with a geneva wheel to UCCNC. 4 outputs and 4 inputs control everything via relays. Shuttle in, out, Platter CW, CCW. This is a photo of the one at work. I have most everything working, but need to tackle the ATC. I wrote a macro to home the ATC, but that's as far as I have gotten. I did write 2 macros the shift gears, low to high and high to low. The fist video is manually activating the atc functions with a key press. The second demos the ATC homing macro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8bUYnwLxng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDBqaIUyhRI

[Vmax549]

I did this a good while back when testing with UCCNC. The Main problem was you could not read write or update teh tool table in real time. So making it work inside of UCCNC was out of teh question. That said you CAN create and support an outside tool data table and work from there. But that was a beast in itself. The other option was to work with the ATC and use tool # as slot numbers and not have variable slot numbers.

To make it all work as planned took over 1500 lines of code. A version that had visual updates( copied the Tormach tool page as a simple test) the code line count went over 2000 lines of code. BUT once it was working it is still working today.

I also had a look ahead hot swap dual arm ATC working code wise.

IF UCCNC did a few modifications for ATC support it would be a piece of cake to work with an ATC and have Slot # support. But it is what it is (;-)

(;-) TP

[CL_MotoTech]

Just out of curiosity, has there been any more community progress on this front?

I know UCCNC has been through many updates since...