NGCGUI - Lathe integration in 2.5

Hi all,

I have just upgraded from EMC 2.4.3 to linuxcnc 2.5.1, and would like to offer a big THANK YOU to those involved in integrating NGCGUI into 2.5.

I had tried to get my head around NGCGUI a couple of times, but each time gave up frustrated after hours of getting no where.

This time I just installed the sample NGCGUI sim for lathes, and then read up the user guide, copied the main commands over from the sim's .INI to mine, and got it going in a couple of hours.

The bits I hung up on were:
1/ copying everything new from the sim INI into my lathe INI, without trying to understand it. Didn't work of course

2/ started again, read the user guide section, and understood which, config lines I needed, and which library calls. Took a few attempts, but got it working.


While I was in the user guide I learnt the RS247 config line to add default G codes, as I want my machine ot default to G7 diamter mode.

The sample canned cycles are a great starting point. I edited them for metric and to give a 45° retract at the end of each pass in OD and ID.

When I use OD, it leaves the Lathe in G17 (XY) rather G18(XZ) which is the default. I hav not yet found which .NGC widget is being called which causes that. Any help would be appreciated.

I used to use TurboCNC, which had a canned cycled G77 which was really handy for facing, turning and boring. I probably used my lathe about 80% with just that. I swapped to Linux CNC about a year ago, as I really don't like TurboCNC handling of tool tables. It is nice to be able to do something similar to G77 with LinuxCNC now.

Regards,
Mark

When I use OD, it leaves the Lathe in G17 (XY) rather G18(XZ) which is the default. I hav not yet found which .NGC widget is being called which causes that. Any help would be appreciated.

With ngcgui you can select a preamble and postamble file, one to run before and one after the main file.
Look for the G17/G18 in the main file, if not there try the preamble or postamble file, or add the line to your postamble file to set it to what you want when the program is done.

Rick G

Thanks for your help.

My .ini calls the Lathe_Std.NGC as a preamble, but calls no postamble. None of the .ngc (neither lathe-std nor the other files) calls a G17. All explicitly call a G18.

G18 is the controllers default at start up.



As soon as I hit the program run button it swaps to G17. It also jumps out of Metric (G21) into G20 imperial.


This happens regardless of whether a G-code program is loaded, or run an NGC_GUI makro. If I run an NGC_GUI makro like OD, which explicitly calls G18, the machine runs the makro perfectly, but ignores the G18 call and stays in G17. The following is a screen shot after having run the OD_Taper.NGC makro.



Here is my .INI, I'll post the other two files in the next posts, as it looks like I can only attach one file here

What are the M_Files supposed to be used for?

Here is the lathe_std.ngc

3rd time lucky....

taper_od.ngc