Now I need to figure out how to do circular interpolation on the YZ plane
instead of the XY plane in Mach 3. G2 G3 & G12 G13 are interesting and
each have their uses, but none of the documentation I have found shows how
to translate that to any plane other than the XY. Some says results will be
unpredictable if you try. I thought about just swapping my motor
connections. It might be simpler. And of course make sure that I change
the speeds to match.

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
Now I need to figure out how to do circular interpolation on the YZ plane
instead of the XY plane in Mach 3. G2 G3 & G12 G13 are interesting and
each have their uses, but none of the documentation I have found shows how
to translate that to any plane other than the XY. Some says results will
be unpredictable if you try. I thought about just swapping my motor
connections. It might be simpler. And of course make sure that I change
the speeds to match.

For anything more precise than engraving I am writing all my code by hand.

Bob La Londe wrote:

Now I need to figure out how to do circular interpolation on the YZ plane
instead of the XY plane in Mach 3. G2 G3 & G12 G13 are interesting and
each have their uses, but none of the documentation I have found shows how
to translate that to any plane other than the XY. Some says results will be
unpredictable if you try. I thought about just swapping my motor
connections. It might be simpler. And of course make sure that I change
the speeds to match.

Plane selection:

G17 - XY plane
G18 - XZ plane
G19 - YZ plane

Arc (circular interpolation):

G2 - Clockwise arc
G3 - Counterclockwise arc

Documented in the Mach3 documentation, G and M code reference.

There should be nothing unpredictable about selecting which plane to
circular interpolate in.

"Pete C." wrote in message
ter.com...

Bob La Londe wrote:

Now I need to figure out how to do circular interpolation on the YZ plane
instead of the XY plane in Mach 3. G2 G3 & G12 G13 are interesting and
each have their uses, but none of the documentation I have found shows
how
to translate that to any plane other than the XY. Some says results will
be
unpredictable if you try. I thought about just swapping my motor
connections. It might be simpler. And of course make sure that I change
the speeds to match.

Plane selection:

G17 - XY plane
G18 - XZ plane
G19 - YZ plane

Arc (circular interpolation):

G2 - Clockwise arc
G3 - Counterclockwise arc

Documented in the Mach3 documentation, G and M code reference.

There should be nothing unpredictable about selecting which plane to
circular interpolate in.

And yet there I was totally surprised each time with where my code went off
to. In fact the MACH documents didn't even document the various variables
of the commands. I had to search them out from other sources and
experiment. There seems to be this assumption by some that everybody who is
playing with Mach3 is an expert machinist with 20 years experience writing
g-code when in fact for some of us it's the exact opposite.

For example:

G02 = Right hand circular interpolation. This is meaningless to most
beginners.

Makes an arc from the current point to the point defined by X, Y, & Z
variables in the command line with a center of circle defined by I(offset
from current X) and J(offset from current Y). (Yes I know I truncated the
variable list. I did that for simplicity to illustrate the point.)

And then even without an example that doesn't mean much. The only reason I
understand that definition is because I figured it out by working backwards.
Not saying it was hard, but I am saying that the Mach documentation doesn't
define that. Certainly not the G-codes and M-codes definition in the
software itself.

Now when you try applying that with G18 or G19 it gets really complicated
because first off none of the documentation I have found indicates which way
is the top (positive direction) of the axis or how the plane is oriented by
default. Not insurmountable, be definitely undocumented in Mach. Add on
that you use I & K or J & K instead of I & J when working in one of the
other two planes it takes a great deal of experimentation to determine what
is going to happen with your code.

Without the help of a third party website that atleast listed all the
variables associated with the G-Codes mentioned I would not even have a clue
about where to begin experimenting. I would still be watching Mach3 lock up
on errors in my code because is wasn't complete. Not even because my math
was wrong.

While I don't wish to antagonize you, I wish to point out that whether you
thought I was too dumb to look at the code definitions documented in Mach or
whether you thought that was a useful answer neither was really the case.

This summary of G-Codes on the Stevensen Engineers website was very useful
and helped to atleast document the various G-Codes and applicable variables
more thoroughly. It is not on the Mach Support site anywhere that I can
find, and it certainly is not included with any documentation I received
with the licensed software.

http://www.stevenson-engineers.co.uk...&_G03_Arc_Move

It is probably the best single reference I found for G-code definitions,
variables, and some things you can do wrong in coding. It is not 100%
complete, but it is the best single on-line reference I have found for Mach
compatible coding. Without it I would have been more than just frustrated
with your pointing out the code definitions to me.

Bob La Londe wrote:

"Pete C." wrote in message
ter.com...

Bob La Londe wrote:

Now I need to figure out how to do circular interpolation on the YZ plane
instead of the XY plane in Mach 3. G2 G3 & G12 G13 are interesting and
each have their uses, but none of the documentation I have found shows
how
to translate that to any plane other than the XY. Some says results will
be
unpredictable if you try. I thought about just swapping my motor
connections. It might be simpler. And of course make sure that I change
the speeds to match.

Plane selection:

G17 - XY plane
G18 - XZ plane
G19 - YZ plane

Arc (circular interpolation):

G2 - Clockwise arc
G3 - Counterclockwise arc

Documented in the Mach3 documentation, G and M code reference.

There should be nothing unpredictable about selecting which plane to
circular interpolate in.

And yet there I was totally surprised each time with where my code went off
to. In fact the MACH documents didn't even document the various variables
of the commands. I had to search them out from other sources and
experiment. There seems to be this assumption by some that everybody who is
playing with Mach3 is an expert machinist with 20 years experience writing
g-code when in fact for some of us it's the exact opposite.

For example:

G02 = Right hand circular interpolation. This is meaningless to most
beginners.

Makes an arc from the current point to the point defined by X, Y, & Z
variables in the command line with a center of circle defined by I(offset
from current X) and J(offset from current Y). (Yes I know I truncated the
variable list. I did that for simplicity to illustrate the point.)

And then even without an example that doesn't mean much. The only reason I
understand that definition is because I figured it out by working backwards.
Not saying it was hard, but I am saying that the Mach documentation doesn't
define that. Certainly not the G-codes and M-codes definition in the
software itself.

The version of the Mach3 doc I was looking at has a pretty decent
explanation of the G02/G03 command (section 10, G and M code reference,
in rev beta 7.57-a2 doc), it's two forms and the parameters. The best
thing to do of course is to fiddle with it running just the toolpath
simulation until you understand it.


Now when you try applying that with G18 or G19 it gets really complicated
because first off none of the documentation I have found indicates which way
is the top (positive direction) of the axis or how the plane is oriented by
default.

It's the same as the XY plane, your looking down at it from the positive
side of the rotation axis. Again, fiddling with it in the toolpath
simulation helps.

Not insurmountable, be definitely undocumented in Mach. Add on
that you use I & K or J & K instead of I & J when working in one of the
other two planes it takes a great deal of experimentation to determine what
is going to happen with your code.

The doc has nearly two pages of detail on G02/G03 and it's forms and
variables, as well as a full page on the coordinate system complete with
a chart listing all the letters and their meaning.


Without the help of a third party website that atleast listed all the
variables associated with the G-Codes mentioned I would not even have a clue
about where to begin experimenting. I would still be watching Mach3 lock up
on errors in my code because is wasn't complete. Not even because my math
was wrong.

While I don't wish to antagonize you, I wish to point out that whether you
thought I was too dumb to look at the code definitions documented in Mach or
whether you thought that was a useful answer neither was really the case.

I'm not sure which version of the Mach3 doc you have, perhaps a section
was omitted. Certainly the version that I printed out has a 33 page G
and M code reference section with plenty of detail.


This summary of G-Codes on the Stevensen Engineers website was very useful
and helped to atleast document the various G-Codes and applicable variables
more thoroughly. It is not on the Mach Support site anywhere that I can
find, and it certainly is not included with any documentation I received
with the licensed software.

You might drop Art a message on the machsupport forum about the docs. I
haven't looked at the newest docs so I'm not sure if they lost the G and
M code reference section or not, but it was certainly there in earlier
versions.


http://www.stevenson-engineers.co.uk...&_G03_Arc_Move

It is probably the best single reference I found for G-code definitions,
variables, and some things you can do wrong in coding. It is not 100%
complete, but it is the best single on-line reference I have found for Mach
compatible coding. Without it I would have been more than just frustrated
with your pointing out the code definitions to me.

I just looked on my system and I have a copy of the Mach3 docs that has
the section 10 G and M code reference section. Check your Mach doc (it's
the user guide, not the install guide) and see if you have the reference
section. If not grab my copy he http://wpnet.us/Mach2Mill_6.11.pdf

Here's an on-line reference to G-codes with sample code snippets:

http://www.tormach.com/machine_codes.html

Mike

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
"Pete C." wrote in message
ter.com...

Bob La Londe wrote:

Now I need to figure out how to do circular interpolation on the YZ
plane
instead of the XY plane in Mach 3. G2 G3 & G12 G13 are interesting and
each have their uses, but none of the documentation I have found shows
how
to translate that to any plane other than the XY. Some says results
will be
unpredictable if you try. I thought about just swapping my motor
connections. It might be simpler. And of course make sure that I
change
the speeds to match.

Plane selection:

G17 - XY plane
G18 - XZ plane
G19 - YZ plane

Arc (circular interpolation):

G2 - Clockwise arc
G3 - Counterclockwise arc

Documented in the Mach3 documentation, G and M code reference.

There should be nothing unpredictable about selecting which plane to
circular interpolate in.

And yet there I was totally surprised each time with where my code went
off to. In fact the MACH documents didn't even document the various
variables of the commands. I had to search them out from other sources
and experiment. There seems to be this assumption by some that everybody
who is playing with Mach3 is an expert machinist with 20 years experience
writing g-code when in fact for some of us it's the exact opposite.

For example:

G02 = Right hand circular interpolation. This is meaningless to most
beginners.

Makes an arc from the current point to the point defined by X, Y, & Z
variables in the command line with a center of circle defined by I(offset
from current X) and J(offset from current Y). (Yes I know I truncated the
variable list. I did that for simplicity to illustrate the point.)

And then even without an example that doesn't mean much. The only reason
I understand that definition is because I figured it out by working
backwards. Not saying it was hard, but I am saying that the Mach
documentation doesn't define that. Certainly not the G-codes and M-codes
definition in the software itself.

Now when you try applying that with G18 or G19 it gets really complicated
because first off none of the documentation I have found indicates which
way is the top (positive direction) of the axis or how the plane is
oriented by default. Not insurmountable, be definitely undocumented in
Mach. Add on that you use I & K or J & K instead of I & J when working in
one of the other two planes it takes a great deal of experimentation to
determine what is going to happen with your code.

Without the help of a third party website that atleast listed all the
variables associated with the G-Codes mentioned I would not even have a
clue about where to begin experimenting. I would still be watching Mach3
lock up on errors in my code because is wasn't complete. Not even because
my math was wrong.

While I don't wish to antagonize you, I wish to point out that whether you
thought I was too dumb to look at the code definitions documented in Mach
or whether you thought that was a useful answer neither was really the
case.

This summary of G-Codes on the Stevensen Engineers website was very useful
and helped to atleast document the various G-Codes and applicable
variables more thoroughly. It is not on the Mach Support site anywhere
that I can find, and it certainly is not included with any documentation I
received with the licensed software.

http://www.stevenson-engineers.co.uk...&_G03_Arc_Move

It is probably the best single reference I found for G-code definitions,
variables, and some things you can do wrong in coding. It is not 100%
complete, but it is the best single on-line reference I have found for
Mach compatible coding. Without it I would have been more than just
frustrated with your pointing out the code definitions to me.

"Mike Henry" wrote in message
...
Here's an on-line reference to G-codes with sample code snippets:

http://www.tormach.com/machine_codes.html

Mike

I am looking at it now. I've only skimmed the few codes I already been
trying to figured out to see if it makes sense, and its awesome. Its
getting added to my favorites and I may even print it out to go along with
the stack of references I keep on my machine bench. Wow!

On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:26:58 -0600, "Mike Henry"
wrote:

Here's an on-line reference to G-codes with sample code snippets:

http://www.tormach.com/machine_codes.html

Mike

SNIP

Hey Mike,

Neat stuff. Likewise, I've "bookmarked it".

I do think that there is a typo under the heading:

=============================================

Other Codes

sub Order of Execution Table

sub sub Order Item

11 Set Active Plane ( G17, G18, G18 )



I believe this last should be


11 Set Active Plane ( G17, G18, G19 )

=============================================


Further along it is correctly shown in the next sub table under

============================================

Modal Groups Table

sub The Modal Groups for G-Codes are

sub sub * group 2 = { G17, G18, G19 } plane selection

============================================


I only comment on this as this was part of the critical question in
the OP's query.

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.

"Bob La Londe" wrote:

Now I need to figure out how to do circular interpolation on the YZ plane
instead of the XY plane in Mach 3. G2 G3 & G12 G13 are interesting and
each have their uses, but none of the documentation I have found shows how
to translate that to any plane other than the XY. Some says results will be
unpredictable if you try. I thought about just swapping my motor
connections. It might be simpler. And of course make sure that I change
the speeds to match.


I'm assuming this is a mill. Look at G17, G18, G19. I think it is called plane select.
The examples for G2/3 G12/13 will work, just use the right axis letters.

Wes