Does anyone here have any experience with g code translation programs

alloy said:
That's pretty cool. If it was just 4th axis I'd try to get the cad file and give it a try with my new to me 4th axis machine.

I'm not involved in the programming at work, my plate is full as it is. I just use Mastercam at home to try and make parts. I'm still learning.
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Looks like most of that was programmed via positioning and three axis 3D toolpaths. The Simultaneous 5 didn't really come in until the finer details were being done. Looked pretty good up until that point, too.

Guess what I am saying is that you can get pretty far on 4 axis, just need to do more than 1 setup.

Bonus if you have a full multi-axis license, as the basic and 3D mill packages only give axis-substitution and Rolldie.dll support for the 4th (which is quite limited).
 
I have Mastercam with 5 axis, lathe, and art. I used Smartcam for 15 years but that has been almost 20 years ago and I'm still trying to get a handle on Mastercam. I'm itching to try out my new machine with the 4th. It will be delivered next Wednesday and I'll have it up and running by the end of the weekend.
 
I think if you went to the boss and said, find me an expert who can come in here and quickly help me get this stuff going, he/she would appreciate that.

Frequently people think that asking for help is admitting a weakness or lack of skill...but really, you could do it, just not with the learning curve in the time that the business has available. Best to tell the boss now, rather than risk failing slowly, suffering all the time. You'll get some points for the suggestion.
 
It's not my boss that's the problem. He knew like all of us it wouldn't work like they said. It's the know it all owner that took one machine shop class in college that's the problem. He will fight tooth and nail to prove he's right no matter the expense, no matter how long it takes. And he won't call in outside help.

Eventually the company president (another brother) will overrule him and we will get what we need.
 
“Eventually the company president (another brother) will overrule him and we will get what we need.”

Then I’d just go talk to the brother from the get go. Just tell him like it is.... and let him know that the only reason you’re telling him you need an outside expert to come in and school you to get up and running to quick start your learning curve.... is because you’re trying to save the company time and expense.
Quite reasonable in my opinion for any owner to understand that. Common sense really. Hell.... almost everyone in this day and age understands that technology is moving at breakneck speed and it’s quicker and easier to have someone show you how something works than reading a bloated 200 page instruction manual.
 
We have told him, no use.

Had the program for about 2 months now and it's not what they advertised.

This morning I stuffed a 3" face mill into an expensive set of snap jaws. Took awhile but we figured out what happened.

The okuma doesn't use G54 tye commands for origin. It uses H numbers for tool height and origin. For height you have to put G56 H1. For origin you put G115 H1.

Checking through the program it put the G56 on 5 out of 6 tools, and that one tool it missed just happened to by my nice new face mill. I only hurt the inserts on the face mill, but destroyed the snap jaws.

Unfortunately I'll be dealing with this for years. We have almost 500 different part numbers and there isn't time to reprogram all of them, so we have no choice but to run them through the conversion program.

All the new programs that are generated are fine, it's just the old programs.

At this point I would welcome the Fadal's back. Thankfully I have one in my shop to run. Gives me a much needed break from the danged Okumas.
 
What's that worth? ;)

About half of my CNC program is a G-code translator, that's how I'm able to use many different posts. When you load a G-code file, the first thing that happens is that it gets translated & reformatted and outputs the G-code file in a format that the rest of my program can digest. Could do this with any G-code file, just need to know what the output needs to look like.
 
I wished you had of written the program we have.

I don't see why it's so hard to convert G54 to to G115 H1, and add G56 to any and all H numbers in the program. Until the program is converted it uses H numbers for just one thing.

Of course I could also get started on how much of a pain things like loading tools are in these machines. So many safety features all because of attorneys doing their part to keep us safe, and to keep from being sued.
 
alloy said:
I don't see why it's so hard to convert G54 to to G115 H1, and add G56 to any and all H numbers in the program. Until the program is converted it uses H numbers for just one thing.
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It's not that hard, but to automate the process would require a bit of software. Could be done in an Excel spreadsheet, or maybe in Notepad++, I think that has some VBA capability. My translator module would do it with a bit of modification. You might also be able to do it in Wordpad using the search & replace function, not sure about that one. I'd have to see the input file and the desired output, depends on what (if any) logic is required.

On the other hand, in this case it sounds like this functionality was already paid for. I can't believe that the techs can't figure this one out.
 
Well for now it is what it is. They seemed to have accepted it the way it is.

But as of yesterday we have much bigger problems. We were hacked, and I'm told its bad, very bad. They got $250k out of the company account. Thankfully the account is capped at a maximum of $250k per day for wire transfers. They ordered all new hard drives. But how do they get the data off the infected drives without copying the virus that allowed the hack?

And, they have all our personal information, SSN and bank account number on the system. Lifelock here I come.

I have enough parts to almost finish the day with the programs in the machines, but that's it. We use USB to load programs to the okumas, but they are windows 7 operating systems so they can be infected from what the tech told us.

Anyway going to be interesting here for awhile.
 
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