Output to a Bandit?

[Chris64]

80 pounds!! Sheesh...i thought it was $80 US. Oh well.

Is there a way for the modal values to associate a Z command and a /Z as the same command? Non of my Z's are working because they all rapid up to zero and non-rapid down to 1". So basically the first rapid up and the first normal down appear and no others.

[HuFlungDung]

I don't see any Z-1. command in your code sample, so maybe that is why you are not seeing any output.

When programming in absolute, Z rapid moves can be modal, because any command to the same Z, whether rapid or feedrate, will be to the same position and is harmless to omit one command or the other.

I just realized if you get around to programming in incremental, then you would want to turn modal numbers off completely.

[Chris64]

No, I'm programming in absolute (which seems nice - except it resets to incremental with every reset). The samples I put up there are a little old (already).

The modalnumber function has a key & a value. If that value is the same for that key then it won't redisplay it.

What's happening is I'm actually trying to do this:

/Z1.
(move)
Z-1.
(cut stuff)
/Z1.
(move)
Z-1.
(cut stuff)
etc..

but only the first two Z & /Z are appearing because each following Z is considered an already completed move by that key. It doesn't know that Z and /Z are the same axis basically.

What I did to fix it for now is remove rapid Z. It takes longer but it works.

Now...if I can come full circle. I'm having communication problems with my CNC. I've never had programs this long before. I can see invalid characters appearing in the transmission (maybe 1 character every 3-4 pages). So it's randomly screwing up my program. They're usually popping up around line 450 but some have made it all the way to 600 and some at 100...same program (grrrr.)

Anyhoo, here's how I'm connecting...any thoughts?

1200 baud
7 data bits
even Parity
1 stop bit
Hardware flow control

It's always worked OK before. I'm on a new laptop so I'm going to go get my old one and try that too.

[locost_cam]

To keep rapid and feed Z moves synchronised do this:

rapid:
text("/")
modalnumber("Z",endz,"0.0")

move at feed:
modalnumber("Z",endz,"0.0")


Is your serial cable wired for hardware flow control? If not you could get strange things happening if the Bandit pauses to process incoming data.

[Chris64]

Originally Posted by locost_cam To keep rapid and feed Z moves synchronised do this: rapid: text("/") modalnumber("Z",endz,"0.0") move at feed: modalnumber("Z",endz,"0.0") Is your serial cable wired for hardware flow control? If not you could get strange things happening if the Bandit pauses to process incoming data.

I tried that - but then it would output "/" without the Z occasionally. I can't confirm if this would cause problems with the Bandit, but I suspect it would. Infact - it might make the next command become a rapid feed.

Your instincts on the serial were good. At least I think. I tried putting a 50 ms delay between sends and it took it ok. So I guess my new laptop is just too fast.

Anyway - It still had a few random tabs but the program made it in successfully. I'm still having a problem with it terminating after upload. I thought this used to resolved with the ASCII 19, but now I'm not so sure because even if I had it in there it would still terminate after upload.

[HuFlungDung]

I wonder how many instances of the rapid Z move would you get if you did not use the 'modalnumber' function for the Z rapid moves?

[locost_cam]

Originally Posted by Chris64 I tried that - but then it would output "/" without the Z occasionally. I can't confirm if this would cause problems with the Bandit, but I suspect it would. Infact - it might make the next command become a rapid feed.

Oops, I should have thought of that. Use nonmodalnumber for the rapids. It does mean that the Z will always be output but it will track the Z for feed rate moves.

[Chris64]

Just to give an update - The Bandit Post processor appears to be working great.

Now for the bad news...It appears I have some type of glitch. about half the time I send the program to the controller it has an error that crashes execution on the CNC. It's usually around line 400-500. Here's the strange thing - it's a valid entry. It's as if the commands stored in the controller aren't as they appear. One time, I re-entered the command manually and it worked (so it just didn't receive things quite right). I verified the math on the commands (they are correct) so I'm tempted to think it's maybe a memory problem with the bandit...but it's not always the same line number. Also it's always with arcs...but the math on the arcs is correct (I calculated the distance from arc center to start and to finish and the difference between the two are well within the .0001 requirement). Also I put a huge delay (200ms) in between each line to be sure that it wasn't running too fast for the controller but it didn't help.

I know this doesn't really have anything to do with this original topic...I'm just sort of complaining in the hopes that someone can suggest something I didn't think of.

A conversion may be in my future after all (darn!)