Positive Length (Gage Line) Tool Library and Measurement

[CL_MotoTech]

Hello All!

Excited new user of UCCNC products here, in fact according to tracking I’ll be receiving my EC300eth today. Over the last few months I have been fine tuning my milling machine and tooling with the goal of achieving what is for me an exceptionally difficult project. The idea is to start that project in the spring or early summer. Beyond spending many hours on the mechanical aspects of my machine I also decided that if I am to achieve my goals I need a better control system than my current Mach 3 arrangement. While I feel I have pretty good luck with Mach 3 compared to some, my upcoming project will use the most expensive tools and materials that I have ever used. As a result I think a more modern and reliable control system was in order. My day job is in IT and I see day in and day out that mated hardware and software is the most reliable, hence I landed on the UCCNC setup.

All of this in mind, I have spent considerable time looking at the UCCNC documention, I installed the demo and played with that, and I have researched and looked at a number of macros and screen sets. Despite this I have yet to see any adaption for positive tool length management.

Ideally this would consist of the function to log fixed length tools based on gage line into the tool library permanently. It should run a macro to measure tools against a fixed location touch plate. It would allow for non fixed length tools to be measured while running a program (M6T# unmeasured) and use that measured length in real time. It would also allow for probing of the z axis to establish the Z0 WC during offset setup. There could be a number of additional features, but that core set would cover most operations. For the uninitiated this covers the core operations of the Mach 3 Mach Standard Mill screen set. For runs where a significant number of tools are required, this type of measurement and logging is critical.

Yes this was long winded, but does this feature exist anywhere? If not, is there anybody willing to work on such a thing? I’d be willing to pay or support. Moreover, as I am new the UCCNC architecture, I welcome all suggestions and guidance.

Thanks in advance,
Chris

[cncdrive]

Welcome!

Take a look at the example M6 macro code for first.
And also check the G43 H.. and G44 H.. g-codes, one is to offset negative and the other is to offset positive tool length.
You could add a DRO on the screen with the screeneditor and use it as gauge height and you could execute a G44H is you want positive offsets.
Also you could write the measured tool length plus or minus the gauge height into the tooltable. It's simple to do math operations in the M6 macro and it is also simple to write DROs.

[CL_MotoTech]

Thanks!

Looks like I'm going to have to dig out my VB and C++ books from like 20 years ago.

I'm in IT now, but I haven't actively coded anything asides from maybe editing a Fusion360 Post in a decade or more. So this should be interesting.

[cncdrive]

Better dig out a C# book, however it is not much different from C++, so a C++ book can be a good start if you already have one.
It is basicly C language, but is more focused on object orientation, and simplifying pointers and some other things, but the basic syntax is C.
VB is a lot different in syntax and you can't write macros in VB, only in C#.
However you can write plugins in C# or VB or C++ or any other languages which are available in Visual Studio .NET 4.0

[CL_MotoTech]

I don't believe I have a C# book, I might have to buy one.

I have plenty of PHP, Java, HTML, books since I did a lot web stuff. I also forget most of that stuff.

I need to do a good bit of reading before I have a good idea on how to approach this. It seems like it could be fairly simple really. Make sure the post processor specifies G43H on the same line as the M6 and T#. Then after that I just need effectively a probing routine where each tool lowers and touches off the touch plate and the DRO values as used to enter a tool table offset. But for somebody well out of the programing game it's probably going to be tricky.

[ger21]

What you probably want to do is have a simple macro for measuring your fixed length tools, that writes there length to the tool table.

Your g-code would typically be like this, not on the same line.

T2 M6
G43 H2


Where it becomes problematic is mixing fixed length tools with non fixed length tools. If you want to automatically measure non-fixed length tools, and not fixed length tools, then you need the M6 macro to know which tool number are fixed length, and which are not.
Then, since you are using G43, you'll need to measure the non fixed length tools, and write the value into the tool table.

Unless you are concerned about saving time, just let the 2017 M6 macro measure every tool, and don't use the G43 offsets. It'll add 20 seconds to your fixed length tool changes, but you don't need to write any macros.

[CL_MotoTech]

Thinking about this problem further, it seems obvious to me that I can solve the mixed type tool issue by doing two things. Firstly, when in CAM I can separate operations with non-fixed length tools out into separate programs. That means when I load non-fixed tool lengths I turn on the measure feature. Secondly, I can reduce my reliance on non-fixed length tools by purchasing a handful of tool holders which really comes at very minimal cost.

I will of course need the macro for measuring the fixed length tools as mentioned.

All said and done that's a much easier project than attempting to write and built screen sets all from scratch.

I took a look at the some posted G-Code and it looks like it's calling out G43, so I assume I'm good there?

[cncdrive]

Here you can also find a video of touching off a plate. In the video description there is also a link to a page where the macro can be downloaded what macro he used in the video.

[CL_MotoTech]

That macro looks interesting. Unfortunately it seems to work without regard to tool number. Though maybe I'm missing something?

[cncdrive]

You can query the tool number in macros. Take a look at the example M6 macro which install with the UCCNC.
So, you could modify the macro making it to do different things depending on the tool number.
As you are a programmer I think I don't have to go into much more details now.
Also my collegue Dezsoe on the forum can help you if you stuck or if you will have a specific macro programming question.