VF0 Memory and floppy question:

[PEU]

A quick question:

If I have a stock VF0 unit with floppy drive, can I use a Gcode file that fills almost the whole floppy? or I need to upgrade the control memory to at least 1.4mb?

The question can be rephrased as: do the control unit reads the floppy & execute the machining at the same time (or with a buffer) the same way as when the code is feeded via RS-232?

Thanks


Pablo

[Ken_Shea]

Pablo,
It loads a disk file completely into memory, but will be less then the 1.4mb size it may occupy on the disk because disk storage is not particularly efficient.

You can decrease file size if necessary by breaking the machining operations into separate programs and load them as necessary.

Ken

[PEU]

but what if the G-Code is a long file generated by CAM? I need to redo the headers for all the chunks right?

Whats the best way of cutting a big CAM file into small parts?


Pablo

[Ken_Shea]

Pablo,
As an example, say you now are doing a part that requires machining operations on both sides and you programmed both sides in the one file with a M00 to stop the machine and flip your part.

Instead, program the one side as one program, say o0001 and the other side as another, o0002. Depending on the CAM you are using this can be very simple or you may need to reprogram each side again, only this time as totally separate files.

Ken

EDIT:
This is obviously not always ideal in regards to efficiency, but sometime you gotta do what you gotta do

[Geof]

Originally Posted by peu but what if the G-Code is a long file generated by CAM? I need to redo the headers for all the chunks right? Whats the best way of cutting a big CAM file into small parts? Pablo

What size is your control memory? Stock is 256k and you can get an upgrade to 1M or 16M. If you have stock or 1M this is less than a floppy and you cannot drip from a floppy; you would need to use the RS232.

If you have the 16M upgrade and for whatever reason cannot use the serial port, you could possibly load and assemble a CAM file too big for a floppy by loading chunks in the following way: (This is a bit hokey but I think it will work)

Open the file in a wordprocessor that gives you a page count, page through it for a few hundred thousand bytes and insert %%O08998.
Select forwards from between the %% and cut that text into Notepad, insert a % at the beginning, put in your program number Onnnnn if it is not already named and save this to a floppy labelled 1.
Now go back to the remainder of the main file open in the word processor, page through again, insert %%O08998, select forward and cut to Notepad. This segment already has % at each end and is named so it will load into the clipboard. Save this to another floppy labelled 2.
Continue to do this until the entire CAM file is in chunks on floppies.
Load floppy 1 into the machine; this establishes your program.
Load floppy 2 which will go into the clipboard.
Use the machine editor to paste the clipboard contents onto the end of your program.
Load floppy 3 which will overwrite into the clipboard.
Paste the clipboard contents onto the end of the program.
Repeat this for however many floppies you have and you have assembled the entire CAM file into the machine.

[Ken_Shea]

Geof,
That is a very interesting and useful approach, thank you.

However, that approach is applicable to a file too large to fit on a floppy correct ?

And assumes there is enough machine memory to accept it, correct ?

In Pablo's case I am understanding that his program fits on a floppy but he does not have enough machine memory to load it.


Standard Haas memory is now 1mb, thankfully, upgrade cost are brutal.

Ken

[Geof]

Originally Posted by Ken_Shea Geof, That is a very interesting and useful approach, thank you. However, that approach is applicable to a file too large to fit on a floppy correct ? And assumes there is enough machine memory to accept it, correct ? In Pablo's case I am understanding that his program fits on a floppy but he does not have enough machine memory to load it. Standard Haas memory is now 1mb, thankfully, upgrade cost are brutal. Ken

I was a bit confused as to exactly what he wanted. If his CAM file is bigger than machine memory the only choice is dnc via the RS232.

[Ken_Shea]

I was a bit confused as to exactly what he wanted. If his CAM file is bigger than machine memory the only choice is dnc via the RS232.

Or, break the machining operations into separate files and load them separately, making room in machine memory by deleting the previous program after that machining operation is completed.

Ken

[PEU]

This is what I wanted to know, if the file is bigger than memory but it fits inside one floppy. I hoped that the control box will read from the large file and machine like is done when you feed via rs232.

From your mini tutorial, I will need to slice it into chunks to fit the available memory (in one or many floppies)


Pablo

[Ken_Shea]

Pablo,
For your problem you have three options known to me,
1) Upgrade to 16MG memory.(here Geofs suggestion could become very useful)
2) Use RS232 to drip feed.
3) Break necessary machining operations into separate programs, with each program small enough to fit into machine memory, this may require two or more programs depending on the file size and machine memory.

Ken

[deanrach]

Pablo,

How much available memory do you have? If your control memory is 256k, how much of this memory is being consumed by programs stored in memory? Also, what is the size of the program you want to run? If it's less than 256k, you may want to consider removing programs from memory.

[PEU]

The available memory is 1mb, today we did some tests and from the size of the file in windows the haas uses around 30% less.

The machined part finished flawlessly, it was the first part machined that was generated by CAM

Tomorrow we will try RS232 drip feed, but I need to know which is the best program for windows to feed the Haas.

I have the whole night to receive some replies


Speaking of drip feed, I checked the Haas programming manual and it says that you can drip feed from the floppy, check the programming section after where it explains how to use a floppy to load a file.


Thanks !!!


Pablo