Re: Linux vs. DOS

I finally have made my first item using EMC!!!

If you want to check it out you can see it on my website at
http://www.ktmarketing.com/emcproject1.html

In getting this g-code to run I have discovered another thing I wish EMC
would do. When it runs into an error in your g-code EMC pops up an alert
window telling you what the error is in terms that give you a hint at the
problem, but it resets your program at that point and gives you no
indication of the line that caused the error. The code for cutting this
little EMC sign I made was 572 lines long. So it was a little bit of a pain
to watch the program code as it flys by in Xemc and hope I was paying close
enough attention to catch the line number just before I hit an error. If
Fred could add the ability to display the line of g-code in the alert window
along with the error message debugging a g-code program would be 1000 times
faster.

Here is a question for Matt or Jon or anyone else running EMC:
Is there a way to run the g-code through EMC's code interpreted without just
loading it in Xemc and running it? I found that if I tried running the code
with the my stepper controller turned off so I could crank up the feed rate
to just check the code more quickly I would get an error that would abort
the code referring to a "follow error" on an axis. If I ran the code with
the controller turned on I had no errors in this section of code, but it
took MUCH longer as I had to use realistic feed rates.

Now for some observations that may help others over the EMC learning curve a
little faster:
The enter key by your number pad and the enter key by your letter keys are
not equivalent in EMC. If you use your mouse to click on either the feed
rate or the feed override it pops up a window to enter a rate into, but to
get it to accept the rate and use it you have to use the enter key by your
letter keys. The one on the number pad will close the box, but your entry
disappears.

EMC seems to want it's circular moves (G2, G3) to be entered in the format
using R and not I and J.
EMC seems to likes: N331 G03 X-2.309 Y-6.059 R.094
EMC seems to not like: N331 G03 X-2.309 Y-6.059 I-2.253 J-6.003
BTW, does anyone know of a way to easily figure out what a circular move in
the XYIJ format would be in the XYR format?

EMC seems VERY picky about the g-code it will accept. The other controller
software product I was using will let you run most any code you throw at it
as long as you don't give it a code it doesn't handle. EMC seems to require
everything is exact. This is not a bad thing, but it does make the debugging
lengthy particularly in light of the fact that when it errors you have no
clue of the line that caused it.

On the plus side, my machine seems to run much smoother under EMC than on
any of the other softwares I have tried.

Has anyone tried running a lathe using EMC? I have set up a 2 axis
configuration file on my machine and hope to give it a try this weekend.

Tim
[Denver, CO]