Hey Openbuilds. Is it possible or is there a plugin for the Openbuilds controller which allows manual programming, just like teach mode on industrial robots. It would facilitate my work with the way we use our CNC milling machine in the company I work for, We mill plastic items that are not always the same in size, so a teach mode would be great. So far I have just manually taken the coordinates and made my own gcode file with tool path. I would wish there was a plugin or a way to jog the router and save the position to the gcode in the controller, like step by step. Best Regards Stig.
You can do that with bCNC GitHub - vlachoudis/bCNC: GRBL CNC command sender, autoleveler and g-code editor I mapped some function keys to the save point functions, cant recall exactly how to do that, once set it just works (for some years now). I use it with the camera function for digitizing drawings (-: Looks like the relevant buttons are not documented (yet, I will try to edit the wiki) I have F7 as RRAPID and F8 as RFEED in the shortcuts setup. These keys then save the current position as a 'rapid to here' or 'feed to here' respectively.
note that bCNC also has a bunch of buttons for adding drilling, pocketing etc, so you can digitize an outline and then add a pocket or flatten operation to that outline.
Thank you again for showing me this software. But it still not do what I want, I want a Coordinate recorder, I want to jog my cnc router to a position and press on a button to log the position to af sheet, and go to another point and again log the position. I think its some like a macro recorder I looking for, it will do the manual programming much faster for me.
I found a plugin for Mach3 are what I´m searching for. Mach3 have a plugin called Jcode, it do that I want. You can jog around and record the coordinates. Some like that for Openbuilds controller I want ->
hehe, technically it does log the position, just in Gcode (-: (I convert the Gcode to a DXF then modify that in Sketchup before generating new Gcode) It is possible to write (or have written for you) a plugin for bCNC that does the logging to a CSV file, it is all open source Python so it is quite doable. Even hacking the core source to do it can be done, just change the target of the point save from the internal editor to an external file. Another way to do it is by thinking about the reference surfaces and splitting the code into chunks that run on different WCSs. You can then 'probe' and set the different WCS off the actual part without having to redraw for each one. So if you need machining on the left side and right side that are relative to the (left/right) edges of the part but not relative to each other, then the left can be G54 and the right G55 and the actual length of the part no longer matters. (just be very careful about setting the WCS when you probe and make sure you are doing the correct one!) Watch this for details on doing this on a steel casting, all the castings are different so require special care.
It doesnt exist in Control, but it can be done with a javascript macro and the gcode editor. If I have time today, I'll take a look at it.
Simple proof of concept using the capture point method. It obviously would need to be more robust, but a working starting point for sure. Need to think about this, but might make the simple version free on my website and the more advanced tracing available at a small cost.
Oh man that is perfect and all I want. Is it something you want to go ahead with or is it something I can be instructed on how to set up in the openbuilds controller software? I open for make a payment for that Best Regards Stig.
I think I got it now. I need to test on the machine tomorrow. There were a lot of little things that had to be programmed in which wouldnt have to be if I were the only one who would be using it. The big ones were support for mm or inches and dont record the coordinates if the machine it still moving. Anyhow, I should have something posted tomorrow.
That sounds really good, many thanks for your work. I will look forward to see your project. Many Thanks.
