Re: thanks, NC subprograms and tangential axis

[Ray Henry <rehenry-at-up.net>]

Max

Thank you for the excellent writeup on getting out of estop.  I'll see that
it gets to the handbook soon.

At 09:11 AM 4/30/2000 -0400, you wrote:
<snip>
>My next questions are:
>1.
>What would I have to change to add NC subprogram call to the rs274 emctask ?
>As an example on what I mean, here is a main program from a Schleicher CNC
>Controller:
>%1010
>N2G91F20000(*MSG, PLOTTERTEST1 - #GROESSE: 90.71 x 70.71 )
>N4G71
>N6G39
>N8G92X0Y0
>N10B%1000
>N12M30
>At N10 the program makes a branch "B%" to a subprogram at line 1000, on other
>machines the letter Q is often used for this.

You are right that subroutines are not implemented in either the current
interpreter or in the comming six axis version.  It has something to do
with the machine model that is used by the interpreter to develop the
cannonical calls but I'm no expert here!

I have experimented with with running NC files in sequence using a Tcl/Tk
popup.  

I'd modify your suggested program like this: 

N10 (gosub subfilename) g4 p0.5
N12 M30

The dwell gives Tcl/Tk time to read the comment and find the gosub.  When
it encounters "gosub" it pauses program execution and reads the current
line number of that file. Then the GUI resets the interpreter and loads the
subprogram and starts it.  

When EMC idles after the subprogram, the GUI again resets the interpreter
and restarts the main program from the last active line + 1.

Swapping programs this way costs about a second total but does provide a
way to accomplish what you are trying to do.

If you would like to try it out, I'll clean it up and email it to you.  It
would be easiest to use with the tkemc GUI but I could build a stand alone
that you could run with xemc as well.  This offer als applies to anyone
else on the list.

If the routine seems to be viable, after I get some initial feedback, I'll
release it as a script on the dropbox.

Ray