I've put on the random_toolchange branch support for machines that do tool changes by exchanging the spindle tool and a carousel tool.
This kind of tool changer does not (can not) always put the old tool back in the pocket it came from, so tools move "randomly" among the pockets. My design, which seems to work, is to call the spindle pocket zero. The tool table has a column for tool number and a column for pocket number. When Tn is issued, tool n is found in the tool table and translated to a pocket number. This is sent to HAL for the tool prep request. M6 then activates the tool changer. When the tool-changed loopback is done, the tool table entries for the prepped pocket and pocket zero are exchanged and the tool table is rewritten. In this way, the tool in the spindle is remembered across EMC runs, and when you place it back in the carousel (by loading any other tool), the tool table entry goes along with it. To add a tool to the machine, you could either 1) If you have direct access to the carousel, place the tool in any empty carousel pocket and add a line with that pocket number and the new tool number to the tool table. In EMC, reload the tool table. 2) find any currently-empty pocket and add a tool table entry like above. Issue Tn M6 to move the not-yet-there tool to pocket zero (the spindle). Insert the tool into the spindle. This change also has the happy side-effect that tool numbers can be any positive integer. Previously they were limited to 55 or 56 or so. This work is currently on the random_toolchange branch. I have not yet decided how it should be enabled/disabled and how a non-random machine should work. Currently the tool number is in the interpreter only, so things like hal_manualtoolchange don't have access to the tool number, only the pocket number. Thoughts? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Enter the BlackBerry Developer Challenge This is your chance to win up to $100,000 in prizes! For a limited time, vendors submitting new applications to BlackBerry App World(TM) will have the opportunity to enter the BlackBerry Developer Challenge. See full prize details at: http://p.sf.net/sfu/Challenge _______________________________________________ Emc-developers mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers
