For those of you with Vectric products. An inquiry to Vectric has produced the machine posts for Path Pilot.
E-mail below:
"Please download this attached files and save it to your PostP folder.
This can be accessed via the software by going to File Menu -> Open application Data Folder
Once the .pp file is saved into your PostP Folder, close the software and restart it to load the new Post Processor.
With all new Post Processors we recommend doing a dry run before using it in any important projects, to ensure it is working as fully intended.
I've posted the downloaded attachments for convenience. The site requires posting as .txt; simply delete ".txt" before movinng to PostP file.
Thanks to Adam for the fast reply
Comparing these to output from the Path Pilot conversational g code generator, I think it may be worth adding a more extensive safety block to the header section, at least. In the meantime, hope this is useful.
I modified the old Mach3 post to work with PP and have had good results since the beta. I've added coolant on/off, G30 before tool changes and rearranged the comments at the beginning of the file to better show the tools that are used. I'm curious that the new post appears to have the line numbers deleted.
I was in the midst of modifying the Mach3 post, and had one of those flashes of the obvious- why not ask the developer if a post has been written? So I asked, and it had been.
But. Like you, I was surprised at the lack of line numbers, and there are several things (like G30 usage and the weird comments structure) that don't seem quite right. Comparing with output from the PP conversational gcode generator has identified one or two other things. Overall, the Vectric post works, but it's not elegant. That said, kudos to Vectric for user support!
Would you consider putting your modified Mach3 post on the board? I for one would appreciate the opportunity to learn from it.
I doubt that you can learn much from it but... If you have any suggestions please let me know. I have used my post for dozens of different parts so it works for me but no guarantees!
A few comments:
I am using Cut2d v8 and have done very limited testing with previous versions
If you put the post(s) in the My_PostP folder you will avoid the clutter of the dozens of extraneous posts.
I have a PDB but no ATC so I have done nothing about automatic tool changes
I changed the extension on the post from .pp to .txt since this website wouldn't let me upload the original
Has anyone found a way to make the various advanced tool path settings "sticky"? I would love to have the Ramps and Leads settings retained from day to day. What about how to use canned cycles for drilling?
I tried out the Path Pilot post processor and found the G0 [ZH] in the header section caused a problem. Tool offsets are turned off by this time so if you have a tool in the spindle it might get plunged into the work. Path Pilot itself and F360 just use a G30 command, so I think the G0 [ZH] G0 [XH] [YH] are not required.
If you are referring to the post that I posted the only G0[zh]G0[xh][yh] is in the footer section rather than the header section. It has never caused a problem for me. However, you are correct that a G30 should be sufficient and perhaps preferable.
No, I haven't looked at yours. I'm using the one included with Cut2D. That one has those moves in the header and they can crash the tool if it is longer than the ZH! I'll try my fix later, which was to change the header to be the same as the F360 one.