lathe programming

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09 Jan 2011 23:13 #6587 by HardinjMatt
Replied by HardinjMatt on topic Re:lathe programming
I've been struggling with this for some time...
I write my code for my Hardinge by hand, but it takes forever and tends to dampen my enthusiasm.

I've been looking for a Gibbscam post that gives me sane output, but so far I am not happy with it.


What I'd like to see is canned cycles like on the HAAS lathe I work with... It is tempting to imagine that a smart person could write some sort of macros that work similarly just using unix magic.

Can anybody suggest an avenue of approach for this programming problem? Assuming that the canned cycles amount to code that is parsed and replaced by reams of vanilla EMC instructions, there is no real reason why sed could not be used, right? is there any disadvantage to this?

imagine it: a sed script that you pour terse canned cycley gcode in and out pours the verbose equivalent. Such a program would be microscopic by today's standards. Different ones could be written to parse code meant for different sorts of control.

I am a very inexpert linuxer. Can somebody with more brains than me point me in a wise direction? Is there some advantage to using Python or something? Has someone done it already?

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10 Jan 2011 12:24 #6595 by BigJohnT
Replied by BigJohnT on topic Re:lathe programming
What I do for 99% of the work I do on my Hardinge CHNC lathe is use Dewey's ngcgui with embedded tabs and have subroutines for most things including profile cutting. Take a look in the Subroutines section for more info.

Developments in the yet to be released version 2.5 will have very powerful capabilities to add features like that using GladeVCP.

John

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10 Jan 2011 12:44 #6596 by andypugh
Replied by andypugh on topic Re:lathe programming
HardinjMatt wrote:

Has someone done it already?

I did something which addresses 90% of my lathe use.
www.bodgesoc.org/lathe/lathe.html
The ngcgui approach linked by John seems a bit more slick.
I will probably set up some form of hybrid approacj using the new gladevcp tabs option at some point.

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10 Jan 2011 12:51 #6597 by BigJohnT
Replied by BigJohnT on topic Re:lathe programming
The thing I like the best about ngcgui is the ability to "build" a complete program very fast with as many steps as needed the sort the order so it makes sense. The only drawback is the sheer number of tabs that can accumulate in Axis. And you can't set the size and position of Axis at start up in the INI file...oh I'm getting off the subject now.

Like
Face the end off and set Z zero.
Rough turn the OD
Turn a finish profile
Drill
Tap
Part Off
...

John

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28 Mar 2011 20:10 #8216 by RotarySMP
Replied by RotarySMP on topic Re:lathe programming
Hi Guys,

I have just converted my little CNC Lathe from TurboCNC to EMC2 (2.4.3 on Ubuntu 10.04).

Since I have always used the lathe in a similar manor to a manual tool room lathe, I don't normally use CAM software, but just stand at the machine and use the MDI.

TurboCNC has a fantastic canned cylce (G77) for multi pass turning or facing cuts.

I can see that I need to install either NGCGUI or Andy's pyvcp panel.

I have read through Andy's page www.bodgesoc.org/lathe/lathe.html and downloaded the files but couldn't get it to run for me.

I think the errors I get at EMC start are probably related to not having the same spindle config as Andy (have a separate request for help on that topic) , and maybe as I couldn't work out how to get EMC to load your special G code during start up.

Does the XML file just have to sit in the main machine file with the INI and HAL files, or does it need to be somewhere else?

When I set up my machine with the config widget, I added that one pyvcp Panel for digital spindle readout. Do I need to install some other pyvcp widget to get your dial system installed Andy?

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28 Mar 2011 20:37 - 28 Mar 2011 20:42 #8222 by andypugh
Replied by andypugh on topic Re:lathe programming
To really put the cat amongst the pigeons, I don't use that config any more.
I now use a system where buttons in the GUI call separate subroutines in the nc_files directory, so I can have G-code for a part loaded, and still use the primitives to square it up, for example. (I also have lead-out radius for the lathe OD turning).

I probably ought to update the page, but now that it is possible to set up a tab for each operation in Axis using gladeVCP there are rather neater and more elegant ways to achieve the same thing.
Here is a link to JT's config.
www.linuxcnc.org/component/option,com_ku...4/lang,english/#8223
(That does require EMC2 version 2.5 I think, and that isn't released quite yet)
Last edit: 28 Mar 2011 20:42 by andypugh.

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28 Mar 2011 20:40 #8224 by andypugh
Replied by andypugh on topic Re:lathe programming
Sorry, I didn't actually answer your questions, did I?

The XML file goes in the same directory as the HAL and INI files.
See section 1.4 here for how to get that panel to display:
www.linuxcnc.org/docs/2.2/html/hal_pyvcp...#sec:pyvcp-with-axis

You will need to tweak the HAL code to suit your signal names. If you start emc2 from the command-line (just type emc ) then you will get a message about what is wrong when it can't find a pin or signal name. Just keep at it until it stops complaining :-)

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28 Mar 2011 20:48 #8227 by RotarySMP
Replied by RotarySMP on topic Re:lathe programming
Do you know the planned release date for a live image of 2.5? If it is soon, I might wait, but I would really like to get some form of conversational programming running, as writing numerous turning or facing routines soon gets old.

I spent about three hours yesterday trying to work out what I needed to do to get NGCGUI or your pyVCP panel installed. It was time well invested, as I have not done much in Linux or EMC before. I didn't get to a result though.

I'd appreciate having your gladeVCP interface widget, if you'd help me with the setup steps.

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29 Mar 2011 10:41 #8253 by andypugh
Replied by andypugh on topic Re:lathe programming
I will try to pull the current config off of the lathe tonight, and update the web page.

However, when you watch Dewey and NGCGUI in action, that does look like a better solution.

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29 Mar 2011 22:08 #8269 by andypugh
Replied by andypugh on topic Re:lathe programming
RotarySMP wrote:

I'd appreciate having your gladeVCP interface widget, if you'd help me with the setup steps.

It's PyVCP, but there should be all you need here:
www.bodgesoc.org/lathe/lathe.html

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