Re: what is POSTPROCESSOR? a fundamental question

In jar-head machine shop terms;

Think of a postprocessor program as a translator. It converts your
cutterpath routines that you define within your CAM software into
specific "G" code format for a particular brand of machine control.
Every brand of control is different and they all have their little
demons that drive us all nuts.

A well written and tweaked postprocessor will translate your cutter
paths into a "G" code program that will run on your CNC machine
without any syntax or math errors. If you do a lot of programming
for a variety of machines, then the trick is to keep your fingers
out of the "G" code file. If you can configure your cutter paths to
run exactly like you want from within your CAM software, then it
makes it easier to post the program for different machine controls
and be assured that the program runs identical from one machine
control to the next without any editing.

This makes it easy on you if you have a return job to run but the
original machine you programmed for is tied up. You can re-post your
program for a different brand of machine and run it on that one and
the program will behave exactly the same way. Granted you have more
than one machine.



--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "Asim Khan <asimtec@y...>"
<asimtec@y...> wrote:

> Hi everyone!
> What is postprocessor file? what kind of information does it

contains?

> and what is the format of the information?
> i've heard there are many machine specific postprocessor files,
> I have setup a 3 axis milling machine, with stg-2 and EMC, can
> anyone tell me which postprocessor file i'd need to generate the
> g-codes?
> Is customization of this file possible?
>
> Best regards
> @sim