topic Sort toolpaths by workplane position or boundary in PowerMill Forum

Sort toolpaths by workplane position or boundary

Sean570 — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 14:18:44 GMT

So I have a macro that I use to split up a toolpath folder of drilling paths using the active boundary and keeps both paths. Is there a way to sort the resulting paths into separate folders, depending on if they were inside or outside of the boundary? Also, I'm using powermill 2015.

GRAPHICS LOCK DIALOGS MESSAGE OFF STRING activeBoundary = "" IF ENTITY_EXISTS(ENTITY('BOUNDARY', '')) { $activeBoundary = ENTITY('BOUNDARY', '').Name } ELSE { MACRO PAUSE "Activate a boundary!" } STRING fld = active_folder() IF POSITION($fld, "Toolpath") == -1 { GRAPHICS UNLOCK MACRO PAUSE "Please activate a toolpath folder" GRAPHICS LOCK $fld = active_folder() } FOREACH tp IN folder($fld){ ACTIVATE TOOLPATH $tp.name EDIT TOOLPATH LIMIT BOUNDARY EDIT TOOLPATH LIMIT BOUNDARYNAME $activeBoundary EDIT TOOLPATH LIMIT DELETE Y EDIT TOOLPATH LIMIT BOUNDPLANEOPTIONS ACTIVE_WORKPLANE EDIT TOOLPATH LIMIT KEEP BOTH PROCESS TPLIMIT } GRAPHICS UNLOCK DIALOGS MESSAGE ON

If I can't use the boundary itself, using the workplane coordinates to sort them would be the next best option. Since most of the toolpaths I am splitting are drilling toolpaths, I can't use boundaries while calculating them either. Any thoughts?

Re: Sort toolpaths by workplane position or boundary

cfastNJWK6 — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 17:52:45 GMT

When the toolpath is split using a boundary, a new toolpath is created. That toolpath name should be recognized by the new_entity_name() function.

FOREACH tp IN folder($fld){ ACTIVATE TOOLPATH $tp.name EDIT TOOLPATH LIMIT BOUNDARY EDIT TOOLPATH LIMIT BOUNDARYNAME $activeBoundary EDIT TOOLPATH LIMIT DELETE Y EDIT TOOLPATH LIMIT BOUNDPLANEOPTIONS ACTIVE_WORKPLANE EDIT TOOLPATH LIMIT KEEP BOTH PROCESS TPLIMIT //get the new toolpath name STRING $NewTpName = new_entity_name('toolpath', $tp.name) //put new toolpath into different folder EDIT FOLDER "Toolpath\Folder1" INSERT $NewTpName }

You should also add to the macro to either save the inner or outer portion. That should guarantee which side of the boundary the new toolpath will be on.

Re: Sort toolpaths by workplane position or boundary

artur.boszczyk — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 14:58:05 GMT

Thanks for sharing @cfastNJWK6 . Few things to make it work:

STRING $NewTpName = new_entity_name('toolpath', $tp.name) // do first before PROCESS TPLIMIT
PROCESS TPLIMIT

EDIT FOLDER $folderName INSERT $NewTpName LAST //put new toolpath into different folder

I would also add folder creation as it may not exist

STRING folderName="Toolpath\" + $activeBoundary

IF NOT folder_exists($folderName) {
CREATE FOLDER "Toolpath" $activeBoundary
}

Re: Sort toolpaths by workplane position or boundary

artur.boszczyk — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 14:59:07 GMT

Thanks for sharing @cfastNJWK6 . Few things to make it work:

STRING $NewTpName = new_entity_name('toolpath', $tp.name) // do first before PROCESS TPLIMIT
PROCESS TPLIMIT

EDIT FOLDER $folderName INSERT $NewTpName LAST //put new toolpath into different folder

I would also add folder creation as it may not exist

STRING folderName="Toolpath\" + $activeBoundary

IF NOT folder_exists($folderName) {
CREATE FOLDER "Toolpath" $activeBoundary
}

Cheers