DX-32 questions about programming, etc (Torq Cut 22)

[vettespeed]

I've just started setting up jobs and coding on a 95 Bridgeport Torq Cut 22 after 12+ years running pretty typical mills with typical controls. After pulling my hair out learning all the little quirks and rules I must follow on the DX-32 I've pretty much got the hang of this thing, I have a couple of questions, though.

1st of all how the heck do I delete a program off of the hard drive. It looks to have many hundred programs on if from the previous owner and it still says it has 509,000,000 bytes of remaining space left, can this be? How many meg does that equate to? I thought these machines only had 256 KB of space?

2nd question refers to actual programming. I was making some soft jaws and wanted to drop inside a drilled hole with an end mill and interpolate some counterbores and no matter how many J's I added to the G3 interpolation it would only go around 2 times, what's up with this and how do I make it go around more than twice. I'm sure it's just some little rule I'm not following but I can't seem to figure it out. Here's an example of the code I wrote, and as you can see the endmill should go around the inside of the hole 3 times:

T1M6
G0G17G40G80G90G54
X0Y0Z7.H1S5000M3
Z1.M8
G1G41X0Y0Z-.5F20.0
G1Y.375
G3I0J0
J0
J0
G1G40X0Y0
G0Z7.0M9
M2

[NC Cams]

I loaded DOSSHELL onto my HDD. To prevent the OEM VMC software from loading, press the F8 key at boot up. This allows you to selectively load or reject any program in the AUTOEXEC.BAT and/or CONFIG.SYS files.

ANY program that isn't a generic DOS program can be said "NO" to and it won't load thus you won't load the TorqCut operating software. You might have to play around a bit and say no to everything which should give you a pretty basic DOS only O/S.

If you have DOSSHELL loaded on the HDD, you can go into it and use its GUI function simply by loading it by typing in "CALL DOSSHELL"

Once it loads, you can delete files or otherwise do file moving/maintenance. If you don't use DOSSHELL, you can get to a C:\ prompt via the same means and use DOS commands to perform file maintenance as you see fit.

You should then be able to use "DEL *.pgm" from the C:\ prompt to delete any/all PGM suffixed files. This is not selective as it will delete ANY/ALL with the PGM suffix or any other files that you may specify.

IT is frankly easier/safer to tag what you want deleted via DOSSHELL and only dump or download what you choose.

After you download/delete the junk, run DEFRAG while in DOS afterwards to clean up/unragment the HDD. You may also want to run SCANDISK to check the drive for errors or bad sectors.

NOTE: if the drive was properly formatted, you should only be able to "find" 509kb as this was the standardized format that BPT used regardless of the true HDD formattable size.

[NC Cams]

I loaded DOSSHELL onto my HDD. To prevent the OEM VMC software from loading, press the F8 key at boot up. This allows you to selectively load or reject any program in the AUTOEXEC.BAT and/or CONFIG.SYS files.

ANY program that isn't a generic DOS program can be said "NO" to and it won't load thus you won't load the TorqCut operating software. You might have to play around a bit and say no to everything which should give you a pretty basic DOS only O/S.

If you have DOSSHELL loaded on the HDD, you can go into it and use its GUI function simply by loading it by typing in "CALL DOSSHELL"

Once it loads, you can delete files or otherwise do file moving/maintenance. If you don't use DOSSHELL, you can get to a C:\ prompt via the same means and use DOS commands to perform file maintenance as you see fit.

You should then be able to use "DEL *.pgm" from the C:\ prompt to delete any/all PGM suffixed files. This is not selective as it will delete ANY/ALL with the PGM suffix or any other files that you may specify.

IT is frankly easier/safer to tag what you want deleted via DOSSHELL and only dump or download what you choose.

After you download/delete the junk, run DEFRAG while in DOS afterwards to clean up/unragment the HDD. You may also want to run SCANDISK to check the drive for errors or bad sectors.

NOTE: if the drive was properly formatted, you should only be able to "find" 509kb as this was the standardized format that BPT used regardless of the true HDD formattable size.

RE: programming issues = you need to get a copy of the DX32 programming manual #11042638 if you don't already have it. This should address your questions about the use/interpretation of Bridgeport suitable G code.

[machintek]

There are canned cycles that will do pockets (rectangular or circular) where you specify step over, spring cut, etc. i remember this from the BOSS 9 I used to own. Do you have a programming manual?

Programs can be stored in more than one directory. As mentioned you can delete the specific folder or a file in it or using a wild card like *.txt will with the DOS command of delete, will wipe out all programs in a directory for the machine. I still own my DOS FOR DUMMIES book.

George

[edspert]

add an X0 into your G3 lines and it will work. Note 2. on page 3-8 1998 programming manual.

[vettespeed]

Adding an X0 to the J0 lines solved the programming problem, and as far as deleting files I figured out hitting (5) "Files" gives you many options including the ability to delete files. Thanks, Mike.

[edspert]

Veetespeed, glad to be able to help. These forums are a great tool to share info. F.Y.I. if you haven't already found out the hard way, The directories will each hold only so much data. If you are creating a new program manually. When typing or cut and paste, when you go to save it you will not be able to find it if the directory(folder) is full. There is no alarm /error message to let you know you are out of space. You will need to create a new Dir. or erase some unwanted programs. The safest thing is to ALWAYS have a backup off the machine. If you run into any strange stuff please share to see if anyone has a fix. thanks, edspert

[jtree83]

try using G79 i think its g79 i use it to mill soft hartford head jaws all you do is take the radius of the pocket and minus the radius of the cutter and enter it as a "j" interger and you have your circular pocet milled for you. you can also create a macro the continuously mills the pocket by step too but its going to take you a little while.... also before you use g79 make sure you have a hole drilled in the center of the circular pocket to be milled to cmake some clearance for the endmill that is going to mill the circular pocket or your cutter will STUFF your part!!!!!