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2000 Series Punch Control

Setup

The 2000 series punch control is initiated from a 2000 series Mill control with the 2x50 screen. Once the mill control is installed and functioning, the following steps can be taken:

  1. Make sure Mach is closed
  2. Add/merge in the attached profile section to the applicable profile Machine.ini

    Make sure only one instance of the section exists in the profile

  3. Replace the Dashboard.ini file in [Profile]/Dashboards/SidebarDashboard with the attached dashboard file

    The file must be named Dashboard.ini in order to be acknowledged by the control

  4. Modify the UserGUIModule to include the attached snippet

    Merge the functions if the UserScreenLoadScript already exists

  5. Copy the attached gcode file to the gcode folder
  6. Modify the O1001 subroutine in the gcode file to match the punch sequence of the machine
Changing the Number of Punch Parameters

The attached files are setup with parameters for ten punches in each job. To change that number, the following steps must be done:

  1. The UserGUIModule.UserScreenLoadScript snippet must have the correct range of pound variables in the "RangeString" table entry of the job file. The range always starts at 500. The range ends at 500 + 2*(number of punches).
  2. The punch parameter widget must have the extra parameters added to it. Right-click on the widget and select "Configure Widget". Enter the same range calculated in the previous step.

    The new parameters will not have a name associated with them. They can be named by right-clicking on them and selecting "Set Description". Names are not required for the control to work.

Running the Control

Loading a Job File

The sidebar dashboard has a widget for handling the job file. The text field shows the currently loaded job file. There are four buttons for loading, closing, saving, and saving as a new file. Job files are saved as .csv files. A new job file can be created at any time by using the "Save As" function, which will save the current parameter set to the given file.

Setting Parameters

The sidebar dashboard also has a section for setting the parameters of the punch job. The first parameter is the number of punches to do, and the rest of the parameters are the X and Y positions of each punch. The positions are programmed in absolute part coordinates (G90). There are sufficient parameters for doing 10 punches in each job, unless changed during the setup process.

There is no error checking in the punch control. If the Number of Punches parameter is set to a higher number then the number of parameters, the machine will attempt to move to and punch in unknown locations.

Running a Job

After loading/creating a job file and setting the parameters, press the "Regen Toolpath" button to verify toolpath. Once satisfied, press "Cycle Start".

Reposition moves will be made as rapid moves.

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