Post Processing error

[Anonymous]

I just built a new CNC so I'm switching from a Shopbot post processing file to a mach3 post processing file for the first time.

I'm just trying to do a test cut, so i have a small part with a hole in it. (I attached the sldprt file) I switched the Post Configuration to: mach3mill.cps - Generic Mach3Mill and left everything else default. When I run it, I get a long list of errors that I never saw using the shopbot post processing. I started looking through the code, but haven't figured much out yet. Anyone know how to solve this? Here is the error log output it's giving me:

Information: Configuration: Generic Mach3Mill
Information: Vendor: Artsoft
Information: Posting intermediate data to 'C:\Users\Steve Nelson\AppData\Local\HSMWorks\nc\2D Contour1.tap'
Information: Total number of warnings: 1
Error: Failed to post process. See below for details.
...
Loading locale from 'C:\Program Files\HSMWorks\locales\english_us.xml'
Code page changed to '1252 (ANSI - Latin I)'
Start time: Tuesday, November 15, 2016 2:43:29 PM
Code page changed to '20127 (US-ASCII)'
Post processor engine: 4.2.1 41078
Configuration path: C:\Program Files\HSMWorks\posts\mach3mill.cps
Include paths: C:\Program Files\HSMWorks\posts
Configuration modification date: Monday, August 15, 2016 12:01:06 PM
Output path: C:\Users\Steve Nelson\AppData\Local\HSMWorks\nc\2D Contour1.tap
Checksum of intermediate NC data: c44d69f2b28d8049d8b13f0305e89431
Checksum of configuration: 12b039c11340a330fd47f654e13305a6
Vendor url: http://www.machsupport.com
Legal: Copyright (C) 2012-2016 by Autodesk, Inc.
Generated by: HSMWorks 2016 R4.41148
...
Warning: Work offset has not been specified. Using G54 as WCS.
Error: Invalid coolant mode
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Error: Failed to invoke function 'onSection'.
Error: Failed to invoke 'onSection' in the post configuration.
Error: Failed to execute configuration.
Stop time: Tuesday, November 15, 2016 2:43:29 PM
Post processing failed.

[Anonymous]

I just made a little progress... possibly solved it. If I change the coolant from "air" to "mist" it generates some code.

I've cut 100 aluminum parts using air as the coolant, why would air be invalid?

[ivan.stanojevic]

That is because the Air is not included in that postprocessor so it will require a little post modification to get everything done.

[Anonymous]

With a bit of trial and error, I found the code fix. Change this: (line 57 of mach3mill.cps)

var mapCoolantTable = new Table(
[9, 8, 7],
{initial:COOLANT_OFF, force:true},
"Invalid coolant mode"
);

to this:

var mapCoolantTable = new Table(
[9, 8, 7, 1, 0],
{initial:COOLANT_OFF, force:true},
"Invalid coolant mode"
);

I don't fully understand why BOTH 1 and 0 have to be added, but if I added only 1 or only 0 it failed. When I added both of them, it worked.

[bob.schultz]

The coolant codes in mapCoolantTable are in the following order.

COOLANT_OFF

COOLANT_FLOOD

COOLANT_MIST

COOLANT_THROUGH_TOOL

COOLANT_AIR

COOLANT_AIR_THROUGH_TOOL

COOLANT_SUCTION

COOLANT_FLOOD_MIST

COOLANT_FLOOD_THROUGH_TOOL

In your case you added M00 as COOLANT_THROUGH_TOOL and M01 as COOLANT_AIR.  Just adding one value only defines the COOLANT_THROUGH_TOOL code and not the COOLANT_AIR code.  You should add the proper value for COOLANT_AIR to get the air coolant to turn on in your machine.

[Steinwerks]

---

@bob.schultz wrote:

The coolant codes in mapCoolantTable are in the following order.

COOLANT_OFF

COOLANT_FLOOD

COOLANT_MIST

COOLANT_THROUGH_TOOL

COOLANT_AIR

COOLANT_AIR_THROUGH_TOOL

COOLANT_SUCTION

COOLANT_FLOOD_MIST

COOLANT_FLOOD_THROUGH_TOOL

In your case you added M00 as COOLANT_THROUGH_TOOL and M01 as COOLANT_AIR.  Just adding one value only defines the COOLANT_THROUGH_TOOL code and not the COOLANT_AIR code.  You should add the proper value for COOLANT_AIR to get the air coolant to turn on in your machine.

---

I was also curious about this so I tried the following to add Air support to our Fadal post and using the empty comma space it seems to skip the COOLANT_THROUGH_TOOL value and set M7 for Air. Would this be the proper implementation?

var mapCoolantTable = new Table(
  [9, 8, 7,,7],
  {initial:COOLANT_OFF, force:true},
  "Invalid coolant mode"
);

[bob.schultz · Accepted solution]

This will work and leave COOLANT_THROUGH_TOOL as an undefined coolant code.  In the stock posts we typically use the value 'null' to specify an undefined coolant code, so your code would look like the following.

var mapCoolantTable = new Table(
  [9, 8, 7, null, 7],
  {initial:COOLANT_OFF, force:true},
  "Invalid coolant mode"
);