So I have seen path pilot v2.11 on all the 1500mx media and I am on a mission to speculate about what we may be getting and when.
Biggest questions so far.
What is spindle orientation in path pilot and what does that mean because tormach spindles don’t normally change orientation.
Coordinate rotation. Are we getting easy to use part orientation in PP2.11? If so this leads me to wonder if it will be available on the older machines. I don’t know how it works but seems like it would be processor intensive.
The MX machines all have spindle orientation. It’s necessary to get the BT30 drive dogs to the correct place for an ATC to work. There’s an encoder up at the top of the spindle to do this. It’s also a necessary part of rigid tapping. It is possible to set the spindle to a particular orientation, but I haven’t found a use for that.
Axis rotation has been a part of PathPilot for as long as I can remember, it just hasn’t worked perfectly in the past. For example, if you try running any probing routines with the axes rotated, you’ll find that the probe moves in the rotated coordinate frame, but returns results in the non rotated frame. Not very useful. A bigger problem in the past has been that code would refuse to run with random and incorrect messages about exceeding axis limits. It’d be nice if those problems were fixed.
Been using Fagor conversational at work, alot more features but the one I wish PathPilot had was the contour function. With the contour function it is easy to program a partial radius or a serpentine shape.
On the other hand It doesn’t have a spiral path for facing,. a little slower. due to it produces a small step over around the perimeter, but helps reduce burs.
Another thing I like about Path Pilot is the graphics. Easy to see where in the program I am and easy to pick a start point in the program.
The partiial radius function is one I had requested if they ever did a major modification.
Dave
Dave
Wow I knew about the spindle orientation but for some reason I thought it meant y axis rotation.
Also I see the new tool measuring hardware. Looks like we will be getting more supported g-codes. Expecting a nightmare between G40, cutter diameter and backlash compensation. Not that I know much about g-code programming but three radii does not a circle make. Any rumoured shipping dates for the 1500mx?
