Vectric Post Processor

[shane@madrt.com]

I currently have 10.019 installed which is the most up to date and Buildbotics is still not in the post processors. Is it under another name perhaps?

Thanks,
Shane

[Doug]

I don't know. As a Vectric customer, it would be great if you contacted their tech support to find out when they will add it to their software. Feel free to give them our github link where we have the vectric post processors that we created.

https://github.com/buildbotics/bbctrl-p ... ter/vetric

Also, if they need information from us, please get a contact name and number and I'll get in touch with them.

[missionarymike]

Hello all!

So I made a few small changes to the Vectric post processor to fit my needs. To those of you who don't understand what the post processor does, it just formats the output of the toolpaths from Vectric into GCode that is readable by the BuildBotics controller.

The changes I made are below:
1. Remove the lines of code that reference change tool. After the program is started, the tool should already be installed so this is really unneccessary unless you use multi-toolpath GCode which has its own isses.

2. I added "M7 (Start coolant pump)" in the header portion which automatically starts the coolant pump system (for my water cooled spindle).

3. I added "M7.1 (Stop coolant pump)" in the footer section to stop the coolant pump system (for my water cooled spindle).

I know you can add the M7 and M7.1 codes on the BuildBotics -> Settings -> Begin/End Program areas, but those also run when homing or doing non-cutting operations.

Just a tidbit to help the community.

Also, as Ben Myers pointed out, if/since Vectric doesn't currently have the BuildBotics post processors on their download site, you have to download it from the GitHub site. Just make sure you create a new text file and download the "Raw" data from GitHub.

Good luck!

[heebie]

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Rotary milling question here. I believe I've worked out the correct motor tuning values for the A axis, but I'm curious about the Buildbotics post processor. I'm using Vectric Aspire to generate g-code using the uploaded buildbotics_mm.pp file on GitHub for the post processor. Will this work for rotary machining as well? I see that other post processors for other controllers have "wrap" versions specifically for this. But, I'm hoping that "wrapping" the X-axis linear operations for the A axis as Vetric does shouldn't really matter in the end. Or am I missing something?

Thoughts? Thank you!

[Doug]

What happens when you try to generate gcode of this type using the buildbotics_mm.pp?

[heebie]

Hey Doug, thanks for the response. The standard Buildbotics post-processors don't seem to be working for 4-axis gcode generated by Vectric. The program runs runs just like a standard 3 axis job. It seems to be moving the X and Z axis in the correct proportions, but the Y-axis never "wrapped" for the A axis.

Has anyone ever used Vectric Aspire generating gcode for rotary axis machining?

[donramsey]

I just tried my first project with Vcarve Pro. I have 3 toolpaths using the same tool. When I save the toopaths to one file, after each pass is run, the machine stops for a (I guess) tool change. I would think the entire file should run since the tool did not change. If a tool change is needed this would be a great feature.

Is this the intended process. I don't want to have to baby sit the entire project for it to complete. Do I need to modify the gcode manually for multiple toolpaths?

[Doug]

The actions that the Buildbotics Controller will take are programmed into the 'tool-change' box on the SETTINGS->General page.

The 'tool-change' box will contain a set of gcode commands that get executed every time a tool change is encountered in the gcode program. If you don't want the program to pause when a tool change is encountered, you can just remove the commands in the tool-change box. You may also be able to set it up so that if the existing tool number is the same as the tool number that you want to use, then the commands would be bypassed.

Alternatively, you can remove the tool changes in the gcode file. This could be done manually, or by modifying the post processor.