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Units

wayne_sauderwayne_sauder Member, csevp Posts: 625 PRO
in CAM Studio
Looking forward to testing out all that cam has to offer. How soon can we expect imperial units? As a company that designs in inches and buys all tooling in inch dimentions. I can see the metric being a real pain. 

Comments

  • joe_dunnejoe_dunne Onshape Employees, Developers, csevp Posts: 198 image
    Its a priority.  We are fully aware of the need. 

    Right now the top priority is associativity. Would you agree that is a higher priority than implementing English units?  We are going to do both. But there will be an order to when they are implemented.

    Joe
    Joe Dunne / Onshape, Inc.
  • wayne_sauderwayne_sauder Member, csevp Posts: 625 PRO
    It's all good. I'm sure your priorities are on track. Just wanted to make sure the units were being considered. 
  • bill_schnoebelenbill_schnoebelen OS Professional, Developers, User Group Leader, csevp Posts: 130 PRO
    I finally finished my first program. While English is a really outdated system, I am dead in the water without English (G20) G-code. I cannot simply run Metric (G21) without getting an error.

    I now realize the reason. My probing programs are all in G20 without specifing G20. They don't want you to crash.


    I could easily get used to 6.35mm for my endmill diameter. Caming with metric units is not an issue. At some point, I would love to swith to metric!

    I would say to just output the g-code in imperial. This seems like it would be a lot less programming.

    G21
    G0 G90 G17 G40 G49 G69 G80
    ( Operation: Rough )
    T5 M6 (D6.35 End Mill)
    G43 H5
    S16000 M3 M8
    G0 G90 G54
    X-81.649 Y-0.654 Z15.25
    Z7.075
    G1 Z-2.925 F789.

    Would become 

    G20
    G0 G90 G17 G40 G49 G69 G80
    ( Operation: Rough )
    T5 M6 (D6.35 End Mill)
    G43 H5
    S16000 M3 M8
    G0 G90 G54
    X-3.2145 Y-0.0247 Z0.6004
    Z0.2785
    G1 Z-0.1152 F31.063

  • joe_dunnejoe_dunne Onshape Employees, Developers, csevp Posts: 198 image
    Hey Bill,

    Obviously the solution is to implement multiple units... which is very high priority.  In the meantime I am checking with the team to see how feasible it would be to have a unit output option....  Inches....

    Joe Dunne / Onshape, Inc.
  • Gabriel_SteinGabriel_Stein Member, csevp Posts: 7 ✭
    Hi @bill_schnoebelen,

    Can you inform which machine/post you would need the ability to output in inch?

    Regards,
    Gabriel Stein
  • bill_schnoebelenbill_schnoebelen OS Professional, Developers, User Group Leader, csevp Posts: 130 PRO
    Generic Fanuc

    Machine is a Brother S700X1  with C-00 control.


  • wayne_sauderwayne_sauder Member, csevp Posts: 625 PRO
    I had not even thought about the post. I am almost dead in the water just trying to program in metric. I had not even thought about or gotten to the post yet. I'm sure this will be a killer for my machine as well. 
  • Gabriel_SteinGabriel_Stein Member, csevp Posts: 7 ✭
    The "3-axis Generic - Fanuc" will have a option in "Post Settings / Program" for "Output Units" - this will convert any linear dimension at NC generation, allowing for Inch output.
    This Fanuc post will have this from version 1.175 onward.
    Other posts will also soon have that ability.
  • BRYAN_MEZCO_CAM1BRYAN_MEZCO_CAM1 Member, csevp Posts: 4 ✭
    Does the 3axis Generic-Fanuc have this post setting for inches available? I see the current version for CAM is 1.175.671.213877
  • John_P_DesiletsJohn_P_Desilets Onshape Employees, csevp Posts: 260 image
    @BRYAN_MEZCO_CAM1 Yes, the output for unit type is available for 3axis generic-fanuc.


  • BRYAN_MEZCO_CAM1BRYAN_MEZCO_CAM1 Member, csevp Posts: 4 ✭
    I can confirm that a Haas VF6 will accept a program written for a  3axis Generic-Fanuc. Thank you for that insight @bill_schnoebelen . Simulation on the controller was successful. I didn't run the part since we have a few jobs currently needing to get done. Should have a test run making chips soon. 
  • Curt_WelchCurt_Welch Member, csevp Posts: 42 ✭✭
    BRYAN_MEZCO_CAM1 said:
    I can confirm that a Haas VF6 will accept a program written for a  3axis Generic-Fanuc. Thank you for that insight @bill_schnoebelen . Simulation on the controller was successful. I didn't run the part since we have a few jobs currently needing to get done. Should have a test run making chips soon. 
    Oh, nice. Didn't grasp that that post might work on the Haas. I will try it on my old Haas.  Will be nice if I don't have to leave the Haas in mm mode. A quick check of some of the code it produces looks good for the Haas.
  • Curt_WelchCurt_Welch Member, csevp Posts: 42 ✭✭
    Sadly, I tested the generic Fanuc with inches on my old Haas VF-0e (1995 machine - pre NGC).  It doesn't work for me.

    Multiple g code errors.  Faunc used a G69 to reset rotation, the code isn't defined on my machine. Just had to remove the g69 to get past that.

    Faunc used S1000 M3 M8 on one line, which turns on the spindle and coolant.  My machine threw an Alarm because it didn't like the two M codes on the same line. Just had to split that into two lines (blocks) to make that work.

    Then I ran into a thrid error relating to a bad parameter on an arc and just gave up at that point. I didn't hunt down why it was a problem.

    If I work on it longer maybe the total list of what doesn't work (once you set all options correctly) might be short enough to make it useable.  Maybe I'll work on it again later to see how much else is wrong.
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