QTDragon_hd with auto toollength measurement

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5 years 1 month ago - 5 years 1 month ago #220107 by ikkuh

Was the on screen probe help dialog not helpful?
Thanks Chris for taking the time to answer me.

The on screen probe help is great, but it doesn't help with the remapping at all. As I described before it is possible to do a sensible remapping of the M6 command and get auto tool length measurement. This may not be necessary if you work on gcode programs with just one tool. It is really handy if you have some toolchanges and make a long program that handles the complete workpiece.

I can't really fix examples all over the forum - but I can document a working example in the qtvcp docs if one is shown to me.
As soon I have it working again in QTDragon I will let you know. I already posted my config files for a working gmoccapy solution, just to make it available to others who also struggle with this.

toolchange routines are hard to document as it seems every integrator does things a little differently.

Chris

I have the impression that it is not the routines that are making trouble here. It is more the implementation in QTDragon where there is a 'special' hal_manualtoolchage module I suspect.
The routines are easily found all over the forum. It is the [RS472NGC] remapping command and the built in manualtool change routines that are not cooperating.


For the moment I gave up on the whole debacle, costs me more then I want in terms of time and mindset.
Even when I make a completly new qtdragon install with pncconf it still doesn't work. I attached the pncconf setting :


File Attachment:

File Name: qtZ0.pncconf
File Size:309.88 KB
Last edit: 5 years 1 month ago by ikkuh.

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5 years 1 month ago #220179 by JohnnyCNC
I found the text from a post I made somewhere about my remap. This was done using LinuxCNC 2.8 using QTDragon and not QTDragon_HD. I haven't looked at that or LinuxCNC 2.9 yet. Anyway here is the text of my post and it has more detail than I previously provided:Objective

My objective was to be able to use a mix of fixed length tool and variable length tools. I only want to measure the variable length tools like drill bits or other rarely user tools that I don’t keep in a dedicated tool holder. My setup is a Sieg X3 mill LinuxCNC 2.8 using the QTDragon screen with an ASUS 1920x1080 touch screen and 3D probe. I based my remap on the work done by Peter Dam that I found through this post  forum.linuxcnc.org/qtvcp/39423-qtdragon-...ange?start=20#190243  .

Workflow

Start machine and home all.
Touch off work piece X,Y,Z, using 3D probe. See note below.
Load G-Code file.
Cycle start
At each tool change the user is prompted to load the tool and indicate when this is complete.
If the tool is a fixed length tool indicated by the presence of a Z value other than zero in the tool table measuring will be skipped and machining will proceed.
If the tool is variable length the tool will move to the tool setter location and will probe the sensor to determine the tool’s length and then machining will proceed

Note: When the work piece is probed in the Z direction with the 3D probe, the value of the touch-off minus the length of the probe is stored in parameters #4001-4006 for G54-G59. This measurement would be as if the spindle nose is sitting on the work piece. The length of the probe is stored in the .ini file.

Setup

Place the m6remap.ngc file in the ~linuxcnc/nc_files/probe/basic_probe/macros directory
Place the measure_tool_inch.ngc and measure_tool_mm.ngc files in the ~linuxcnc/nc_files directory
Place the measure_toolsetter_inch.ngc and measure_toolsetter_mm.ngc files in the ~linuxcnc/nc_files directory

Add the following to the .ini file under [RS274NGC]
REMAP=M6 modalgroup=6 ngc=m6remap.ngc
SUBROUTINE_PATH = macros

Add the following to the .ini file.
[PROBE]
LENGTH=<probe length>

I made a slight change to the probe_z_minus_wco.ngc file. I added the bold line to save the Z touch-off value minus the probe length for G54 - G59 in parameters #4001 - #4006 respectively.

G10 L2 P#5220 Z[#<z_minus_probed> + #<workspace_z>]
#[4000 + [#5220]] = [#<z_minus_probed> + #<workspace_z> - #<_ini[PROBE]LENGTH>]
o<probe_z_minus_wco> return

Add the following lines to linuxcnc.var file. This will make parameters #4001-#4006 persistent.
4001 0.000000
4002 0.000000
4003 0.000000
4004 0.000000
4005 0.000000
4006 0.000000

Edit: I made some changes and corrections. I made imperial and metric versions of the measure_toolsetter and measure_tool macros. I also made changes to m6remap.ngc to work with both imperial and metric and corrected and issue with restoring the G59.1 & G59.2 work offsets should they be is use at the time of the tool change.
 
The following user(s) said Thank You: Flyer007

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5 years 1 month ago #220188 by cmorley
In Qtvcp screens, it's preferred to use the builtin manual tool change dialog if you don't have a tool changer., but if you require to use an external one you can - just connect the appropriate HAL pins.

What is special about the external tool change dialog? - maybe it's something I could add to qtvcp.

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5 years 1 month ago - 5 years 1 month ago #220320 by ikkuh
>In Qtvcp screens, it's preferred to use the builtin manual tool change dialog if you don't have a tool changer., but if you require to use an external one you can - just connect the appropriate HAL pins.

Huh? This is all about the builtin stuff not working. I can not make sense of your remark.

>What is special about the external tool change dialog? - maybe it's something I could add to qtvcp.

I reinstalled the machine (apt purge linuxcnc), a fresh buildbot install of 2.9. Using my saved pncconf file I made a new machine and still no luck on the tool change.
Then I changed the display in pncconf to gmoccapy and it works. It just doesn't work in the dragon screens (qtDragon and qtDragon_hd.

I am still puzzeld by your remark, There is nothing showing up after a MDI command M6 T3 for example. When I change screens to gmoccapy it works straight out of the box.
I described what I expect to happen after a tool change, this is certainly not what is happening right now.

What can be wrong? I include my pncconf file for my 7i96 xyyz machine. Maybe you can try and make some configurations that work with the qt screens?
Last edit: 5 years 1 month ago by ikkuh. Reason: crappy editor doesn't let me move the [/quote]'s around

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5 years 1 month ago #220330 by cmorley
First - I understand your frustration - linuxcnc is a steap learning curve and caters to software engineers I suppose.

well I'll summarise where i think you are at - so you can point out if I am wrong.

You used to use gmoccapy with auto tool probing.
Since IFIAK pncconf doesn't set up auto tool probing, then you modified your config to get this to work. You alluded that you ( could/did) use several examples of this off the net.

Now you wish to use qtdragon with autotool probing and it doesn't work as Intended.
You think it has to do with the fact that qtdragon uses it's own version of manual tool change dialog.

You haven't posted your config files - that I can see - nor what instructions you used off the net to add auto tool probing.
You did post your pncconf files which helps but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have the modifications to do auto tool probing (which I believe requires remap code), but I haven't looked yet.

But you diagnosed that you thought the problem is qtdragon uses the wrong manual tool change dialog.

Which lead me to explain that you could change qtdragon to use the standard manual tool change dialog by loading it and reconnecting the tool change HAL pins from qtdragons to hal_manualtoolchanges ( I assume that's what you use)
of course you would need to do that manually (outside of pncconf)

But doing a quick look at gmoccapy sim configs it looks like gmoccapy doesn't use a dialog or maybe it;s optional. I don't know.

Since there is no standard/official way to set up tool height probing - you can't expect that every screen will work without modification - just as you can't expect every screen to support an automatic tool changer without some modification.
But once we understand what the actual problem is I'm sure we can fix it pretty easily.

On my side in master I have connected a tool height probe to my test machine and have continued on a remap code that could be a standard way to add tool probing but I haven't figured it out completely ( it is a all python remap so is different from an example on the net)
We could discuss how people wished/need that to work - maybe in a different thread?

Chris

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5 years 1 month ago #220343 by ikkuh

First - I understand your frustration - linuxcnc is a steap learning curve and caters to software engineers I suppose.

Thanks Chris for understanding. I do not mean to be ungrateful, it's just the frustration of trying to upgrade to a new version of software and screen and not succeeding.

>well I'll summarise where i think you are at - so you can point out if I am wrong.

>You used to use gmoccapy with auto tool probing.
Since IFIAK pncconf doesn't set up auto tool probing, then you modified your config to get this to work. You alluded that you ( could/did) use several examples of this off the net.

Kinda true. As I mentioned in my last posting I used just pncconf (no editing) to get a working example using gmoccapy as a screen. Exact same pncconf file , only difference qtDragon in stead of gmoccapy, doesn't work.
Not working as in: the dialog box about changing the tool doesn't appear in the Qt version, it does however in gmoccapy.

>Now you wish to use qtdragon with autotool probing and it doesn't work as Intended.

Exactly

>You think it has to do with the fact that qtdragon uses it's own version of manual tool change dialog.

It is one of the differences, QTDragon even complains if I want to use the 'official' one.

>You haven't posted your config files - that I can see - nor what instructions you used off the net to add auto tool probing.

To see what is happening I posted the pncconf files. You can recreate my *.ini files yourself, they will be not different then mine.


>You did post your pncconf files which helps but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have the modifications to do auto tool probing (which I believe requires remap code), but I haven't looked yet.

The strange thing is that gmoccapy works, just qt not.
Maybe there is a powerfull new setting in pncconf that makes magic config files?


>But you diagnosed that you thought the problem is qtdragon uses the wrong manual tool change dialog.

No, that's not my conclusion. Conclusion is that even with a standard way of manual tool changing the QT versions do not work, whereas the versions based on the 'old' screen methods do work.
I described the workflow, same workflow as many others use and are used too. All I want is to be warned if a tool change is imminent (an M6 T* command in the gcode), then a move to my toolchange position, after an acknowledgement from the operator the spindle goed up and moves to the toolsetter position. There the tool is measured and the offset is inserted into the tool table. Pretty standard way and it has functioned for two years here.

>Which lead me to explain that you could change qtdragon to use the standard manual tool change dialog by loading it and reconnecting the tool change HAL pins from qtdragons to hal_manualtoolchanges ( I assume that's what you use) of course you would need to do that manually (outside of pncconf)

That's what I started with, that was when in the days when I was happy and looking forward to an upgraded machine. I soon gave up on trying to get QTdragon to do what I want, no luck at all. I was willing to do it QTDragon's way, but QTDragon doesn't have a way as I have been trying to say all the time.

>But doing a quick look at gmoccapy sim configs it looks like gmoccapy doesn't use a dialog or maybe it;s optional. I don't know.

It's all in the remapping and the stdglue file. I know how it works, and in gmoccapy it works great. I just want it to work in QTDragon.

>Since there is no standard/official way to set up tool height probing - you can't expect that every screen will work without modification - just as you can't expect every screen to support an automatic tool changer without some modification.
>But once we understand what the actual problem is I'm sure we can fix it pretty easily.

I hope I made things a little clearer for you, I get the impression that we talk about different things sometime. Please read the workflow again (it's the same as JohnnyCNC's), that is what would make QTDragon even nicer if we could get it to work easily.

>On my side in master I have connected a tool height probe to my test machine and have continued on a remap code that could be a standard way to add tool probing but I haven't figured it out completely ( it is a all python remap so is different from an example on the net)

Please do not add some python code. You can adjust stdglue and toplevel, but please make all the routines in gcode. Would be superduper if the variables could be set from within QTDragon (Like G30 and toolchangeposition, toolsetterposition and speeds and feeds). That way people can adjust for their needs much easier.


>We could discuss how people wished/need that to work - maybe in a different thread?
Chris

I would be honored. Thanks for being a gentleman.

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