Re: G-code---for the new millenium

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., "Guy Sirois" <guys@w...> wrote:

>
> I would like to thank everybody who commented on my weird idea. It

is very

> instructive to read people's opinions, which are often based on

experience

> and knowledge.
>
> I will try to learn something about this APT language, because I

think it

> will become very popular, sooner or later.
>

It was very popular before the advent of graphical interfaces. APT
relies on the user having a VERY good understanding of math and
formulae manipulation of geometry. It is very powerful to an
educated and trained user, but extremely difficult to one with only a
rudimentary knowledge of machine tool geometries. There is very
little visual feedback to the user to see what he has programmed.

It has been mostly replaced today by Cad-Cam systems that allow the
user to draw the shapes and develop G-code directly from the drawing.

The output from an APT system is a CL file which must be translated
into G-code to work on nearly any controller, modern or ancient. The
translation is called post-processing. The APT is free but the post
processors usually are quite pricey. Many of the expensive Cad-Cam
systems in use today still have an intermediary step in which they
generate a CL file that is post-processed by the same postprocessor
that would be used for an APT program.

APT is a nearly obsolete technology today and has little practical
use as compared to Cad Cam except for extremely complex 5 axis
machining, which seems to be the primary remaining application of APT.
(very expensive)

Best Regards, Fred Smith- IMService

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