Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] What is wanted in a controller,

ballendo wrote:

> Alan,
>
> YES.
>
> Ballendo
>
> P.S. I've been tooting this horn since I joined this list. (and
> trying to help those who had not seen/used a REAL control. And
> pushing for "standard" gcode usage; in the same vein)
>
> --- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., Alan Marconett KM6VV <KM6VV@a...> wrote:
> > I've never seen a "Real CNC mill" (well, maybe just a little at a
> > trade show), so TRUE, I don't know what it looks like and how it
> > operates. But then, I haven't been trying to "duplicate" an old
> > mill controller (perhaps we should??)!
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Yes, 9-to-5 professional machinists have some things on their controls
that make their life easier. Mostly the ability to interrupt a CNC program
and repeat a few blocks of code or even move the machine in manual to
do a tool change, re-set the axis offsets and then continue the program
without a bunch of hassle.

I'm using EMC, which has a few problems in this regard. My old
Allen-Bradley
7320 control was pretty primitive, but you could turn a handle to program
search
and punch the rev button, and it would back up one block of G-code for each
push. Or select program slew and it would back up about 5-10 lines a second

as long as you held the button. It was actually rolling paper tape through
the
reader (or thought it was, while a PC simulated paper tape for it) when you
did
this. EMC could do this with a little more trickiness in the user
interface.
Also, you could switch from manual to auto, change the axis offsets, etc.
and then continue the program. This could also be finessed in the user
interface.

Jon