Problems with tool table and 2.6.0

garymcrobertpdx wrote:

So it appears that for the present I must place my tool holders in the rack in the same
order as they appear in the tool table.

Ah, yes, sorry, I got distracted away from your problem.

When the tool table file is read, the pocket number is used as the array index that the tool is stored in. However the Pocket number from the tool table is only used if the RANDOM_TOOLCHANGER ini-file flag is set.
The code that does all this is here:
git.linuxcnc.org/gitweb?p=linuxcnc.git;a...e4cb41d17dc166e9#l95

When the tool-table is saved, it is saved in pocket-order:
git.linuxcnc.org/gitweb?p=linuxcnc.git;a...7442c64;hb=HEAD#l266

It appears that it will all work OK if you use the tool table editor (tooledit) but not if you edit the tool table file directly with a text editor. You can use tooledit standalone:
www.linuxcnc.org/docs/html/gui/tooledit.html

I didn't find this mentioned in the docs, but I think the conclusion is that the Pocket number in the tool table file is only used for random toolchangers.
My first thought was that you could just set the RANDOM_TOOLCHANGER flag, but I think that might cause other (serious) problems with a rack-style changer.

If you do want to edit your tooltable in a text editor, then you need to have one-line-per pocket, in pocket order, and with entries for the empty pockets too.