Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] GE 1050CM control

Harlan Gustafson wrote:

> Will EMC accept "dripfeeding" of complex 5-axis code with minimal following
> error at say 50 IPM? Can a tool changer be programmed? This machine has a
> sixth axis parallel to the Z-axis for positioning the entire head of the
> machine. Can EMC handle this additional axis for positioning only?

No. Dripfeeding is a holdover from NC machines that didn't have any
computer in them at all, or very limited memory. Dripfeeding should
only be seen in the Smithsonian!

When you have a 1 GB+ disk on the computer running EMC, dripfeeding
sounds like a bad joke. It also makes lookahead impossible, and that is one
of the best features of EMC.

There are ways to handle a toolchanger, but they are not "plug and play"
at all, at this point. There are some people working on it.

Yes, in the way the extra axis (really a W axis, parallel to and in addition
to the normal Z) would normally be used, when the other axes are not
moving, EMC could certainly handle this.

Jon