Multicam HPGL post fails - sOutput is not defined.

[chmed]

I'm just starting to spin up using F360 to create content for a Multicam M Series CNC.  I'm having some trouble with the HPGL Post.  I got some of these lines from the resulting file:

ReferenceError: sOutput is not defined

Failed while processing onSection() for record 1145.
Error: Failed to invoke function 'onSection'.
Error: Failed to invoke 'onSection' in the post configuration.
Error: Failed to execute configuration.

Is this a mistake on my part or a problem with the generic HPGL Post in F360?  

[jeff.walters]

have you tried the Multicam ISO post?

[chmed]

Yes I did try the ISO post processor with moderate success.  It created files without error messages.  But let me lay this out with some more info. 

A)  This MultiCam M series machine (50x100 inch table) has only ever run on .plt files created by ArtCam (Pro, I believe).  A little googling revealed that the .plt files are supposed to be HPGL files so I wanted to start experimenting with them.  But on account of the error I used the ISO post and named the files with a .cnc suffix.  The jobserver on the router computer picked up these files just fine and the machine loaded them without trouble.

B)  I had a problem with the machine losing Home 1 (the starting corner of the material) while running the first file.  Everything seemed to be going fine when about 80% of the way through the job it moved to a position almost 2 feet away from my piece of material!  It took me a while of loading new files to realize the problem was that home was no longer where I had set it.  At first I thought there was only 1 home jump during that job but after assembling the pieces I realized that a few other elements were perhaps a half inch off of where they should have been so there may have been other jumps.  

C)  I cut 3 more pieces of material with minor tweaks to each of them so I loaded several different .cnc files into the machine.  2 of them seemed to cut perfectly but the last one cut about a 1/4" off in the x dimension (the big jump earlier was I think entirely in the y axis).  It seemed like this shift must have happened right at the very beginning because the entire thing was correct with itself, just off about a 1/4".  I had just set the Home 1 immediately before running the job so I know it was "correct" with regard to the piece of material.  

D)  Can a cut file actually change the machine home?  I wasn't aware that this could happen.  I would like to do more experimenting but it's awfully time consuming and so far hasn't inspired confidence in Fusion 360 in the eyes of the machine owner.  

E)  The owner of this machine was kind of freaked out by the difference in the way the machine moved compared to the files from ArtCam.  I was particularly impressed by the slow downs in the "corners".  I wasn't expecting it to return to Home 1, pause and then put the tool away after the job (this has a 4 tool changer) and the owner almost jumped when he saw it moving to unload the tool since it's motion was so different than normal.  I guess he thought it was going to crash into the table. (But all the motion for picking up and dropping off tools should be programmed into the table hardware so I wouldn't expect that to be any different.)

F)  Having the CAM integrated was so much nicer than my old way of bouncing between at least one CAD package and the ArtCam software to iron out fixes with material on the table.  

The first ISO (.CNC) file that I had the homing problems with is attached.  

[chmed]

Any comments on this?  Can someone perhaps outline some troubleshooting steps that I should take?  BTW, the problem I'd like to address is the machine changing home in the middle of running a file.  

Thanks, 

[AchimN]

Thanks four your feedback, I´ve fixed the issue you reported and it will be updated soon into the post library.

For now take the one attached please.

[chmed]

Thanks AchimN!  At first I wasn't sure which problem you fixed (HPGL fails or the losing home issue with the ISO post) since the cps file name doesn't say anything about hpgl.  But once I opened it in Fusion I found that it does say HPGL in the post browser.  It does indeed appear to fix the problem.  Btw, I think the problem may only exist when trying to combine multple operations in one post file.  I found that both the old Multicam HPGL and the new one you posted here worked with individual operations.  But the old HPGL failed when I combined to 2 operations.  I won't get a chance to try this out on an actual machine for at least a couple days but I'll write back as soon as I have some data.  

Thanks!  

[AchimN]

Exactly right, this only happens if you are posting several operations. The post does compare the current spindle speed with the spindle speed from the previous operation but there was a bug in the code.

Should work as expected now.

[chmed]

Well, it only took me 6 months to get back to testing this... 

It seems that there is a units issue with the HPGL Multicam post.  Using it I created a toolpath file, added the .plt suffix and loaded it into the machine's file server.  The machine moved very slowly and started cutting very tiny features.  So, I decided to check it out in the job preview and the workspace size was completely wrong.  It should have been around 24 inches wide but was listed as something in the 0.9 range.  My Fusion 360 file was using inches for units.  I checked the file in an editor to see if the units were set incorrectly.  The very first line included the letters "IN" but they were behind a semicolon. So I edited it to remove the semicolon.  But, this change did not seem to change anything.  The preview was still the wrong size.    

So then I experimented with changing the units for the Fusion design to mm.  This caused the workspace to show up with the correct dimensions in the preview but when I ran the file on the machine I found that it was still moving very slowly.  For comparison, I also tried the Multicam ISO post which worked correctly right out of the gate both for dimensions and for feed rate etc using inches for units. 

At this point, I'm not sure what the differences are between the HPGL and ISO posts and why one would be preferred over the other although the HPGL appear to be smaller files.  And, I did have that issue with a previous ISO post where the Home position somehow changed at some point while it was cutting.