we currently seem to have a postprocessor that thinks it's running a router, rather than a waterjet table - it works fine, except for the fact that it only turns the head on and off once, but remains on through the whole operation

how do we know what postprocessor we need, and how do we get it?

nobody? any help is appreciated, even if it's just a guess for something to try

nobody? any help is appreciated, even if it's just a guess for something to try

Hi. Sorry for the delay. Mine is not an answer but rather a suggestion.
I suppose you are using Sheetcam and in this case you are luck because the source code of the postprocessor is easily readible and you can change it.

Basically you need to modifiy your postprocessor a little in order to add the logic of tool management.

If you current postprocessor turn the cutting head on (and leave it in this state) you will need to find in your post code the point where the the toolpath is ended and set there a "spindle off" command. Obviously I don't know which is the syntax used by sheetcam but I read that its post are LUA programs and LUA is a pretty easy language to learn.


All the best.
Sandro


PS: please ignore my English errors. It's not my mother language.