topic NEED HELP! Fixture offset for all toolpaths within nc program in PowerMill Forum

NEED HELP! Fixture offset for all toolpaths within nc program

johnc4668 — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 16:40:19 GMT

Macro noob here! I am trying to create a macro that creates an nc program for all toolpaths within the project and use a fixture offset to sink them in the z axis. I am having trouble finding a command to select all toolpaths in the nc program window. Any help would be great!

Heres my macro so far....

CREATE NCPROGRAM ; EDIT NCPROGRAM ; QUIT FORM NCTOOLPATH
RENAME NCPROGRAM "1" "SINK_TRODE-.025"
NCTOOLPATH ACCEPT FORM ACCEPT NCTOOLPATHLIST FORM ACCEPT NCTOOLLIST
EDIT NCPROGRAM ; APPEND TOOLPATH ALL
EDIT NCPROGRAM "SINK_TRODE-.025" QUIT FORM NCTOOLPATH
EDIT NCPROGRAM 'SINK_TRODE-.025' SELECT\r 1 SERIES <<<<<< NEED A DIFFERENT COMMAND HERE TO SELECT ALL TOOLPATHS IN NCPRG
EDIT NCPROGRAM 'SINK_TRODE-.025' ITEM SELECTED COMPONENT SELECTED FIXTUREOFFSET "2"
EDIT NCPROGRAM "SINK_TRODE-.025" QUIT FORM NCTOOLPATH
ACTIVATE NCPROGRAM "SINK_TRODE-.025" KEEP NCPROGRAM ; YES
NCTOOLPATH CANCEL FORM ACCEPT NCTOOLPATHLIST FORM ACCEPT NCTOOLLIST

Re: NEED HELP! Fixture offset for all toolpaths within nc program

TK.421 — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 16:59:49 GMT

this will pull all the names from the nc program that is active:

STRING ncProg = entity('ncprogram','').name
STRING LIST ncP_toolpaths = extract(entity('ncprogram', ncProg).nctoolpath, 'Name')

FOREACH tp IN ncP_toolpaths {
     put your commands here
}

for more clarification, you can read this thread

Re: NEED HELP! Fixture offset for all toolpaths within nc program

johnc4668 — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 18:17:44 GMT

TK.421

Thanks for your help, Im almost there but its still not doing what i want to do yet. It is still only selecting 1 toolpath in the nc program window and not all of them. Heres my updated macro

CREATE NCPROGRAM ; EDIT NCPROGRAM ; QUIT FORM NCTOOLPATH
RENAME NCPROGRAM "1" "SINK_TRODE-.025"
NCTOOLPATH ACCEPT FORM ACCEPT NCTOOLPATHLIST FORM ACCEPT NCTOOLLIST
ACTIVATE NCPROGRAM "SINK_TRODE-.025"
EDIT NCPROGRAM ; APPEND TOOLPATH ALL
EDIT NCPROGRAM "SINK_TRODE-.025" QUIT FORM NCTOOLPATH
STRING ncProg = entity('ncprogram','').name
STRING LIST ncP_toolpaths = extract(entity('ncprogram', ncProg).nctoolpath, 'Name')

FOREACH tp IN ncP_toolpaths {
EDIT NCPROGRAM 'SINK_TRODE-.025' ITEM SELECTED COMPONENT SELECTED FIXTUREOFFSET "2"

}
EDIT NCPROGRAM "SINK_TRODE-.025" QUIT FORM NCTOOLPATH
ACTIVATE NCPROGRAM "SINK_TRODE-.025" KEEP NCPROGRAM ; YES
NCTOOLPATH CANCEL FORM ACCEPT NCTOOLPATHLIST FORM ACCEPT NCTOOLLIST

Re: NEED HELP! Fixture offset for all toolpaths within nc program

TK.421 — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 18:32:33 GMT

try this:

CREATE NCPROGRAM "SINK_TRODE-.025"
EDIT NCPROGRAM ; APPEND TOOLPATH ALL

INT item_num = 0

INT comp_num = 0
STRING ncProg = entity('ncprogram','').name
STRING LIST ncP_toolpaths = extract(entity('ncprogram', ncProg).nctoolpath, 'Name')

FOREACH tp IN ncP_toolpaths {
     IF !is_empty(components(entity('ncprogram',''))) {
          IF components(entity('ncprogram',''))[0].RootType == 'nctoolpath' {
               EDIT NCPROGRAM ; ITEM $item_num COMPONENT $comp_num FIXTUREOFFSET "1"
               }

}

$item_num = $item_num + 1

$comp_num = $comp_num + 1000

}

ACTIVATE NCPROGRAM $ncProg KEEP NCPROGRAM ; YES

changing settings for toolpaths in an nc program is kind of goofy. try the above and see how that works - i think it should. I also cleaned up some stuff that you dont need

Re: NEED HELP! Fixture offset for all toolpaths within nc program

johnc4668 — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 19:35:22 GMT

worked beautifully! cheers!