Disclaimer: CNC Concepts, Inc. accepts no responsibility for the use
or misuse of techniques shown in this web page. We simply publish information
we feel will be of interest to CNC users. In all cases, the reader is totally
responsible for considering the implications, good and bad, of implementing one
or more of the techniques we show.
Prompting Operators With Parametric Programming On Fadal Machining Centers
By Ken Carpenter of Hutchingson Technologies, Inc.
After reading the tip about parametric programming, I wanted to share what I
have been doing with this versatile tool. I have written a program to control
our probe on our Fadal 30-16 VMC. There is a main menu (printed to the screen
with the #print statement) which lists a series of chooses for the operator.
Chooses include probing for corners, probing for centerlines, etc. Sub menus
are printed to the screen for each choice on the main menu which prompts the
operator for needed information to set up the probe. For example, if the
operator chooses to probe a corner from the main menu, he will then be prompted
for which corner. i.e. top left, top right, etc. He will then be prompted to
enter the amount of stock to leave for grinding operations. This program works
great with less experienced operators. All they have to do is answer questions.
I have even made it "fail-safe" so that obviously wrong answers will
not be accepted. Parametric programming is VERY useful for this type of
application.
