Hello, well versed in 3d printing, very new to cnc’ing. Is there a way to have easel tell the machine to pause and show a message in the gcode reading “change to tool 2” So far the only method I’ve found for making a sign using V grooved lettering is to save the gcode as two seperate files using the workspaces, one for V groove and one for the 1/4" bit. The downside is that now I have 2 files that I need to line up in groundcontrol.
Thank you in advance
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many people recommend using two files, and if you don’t change the home
position, the different files should line up correctly. I don’t know easel, so I
can’t say how tool changes there work.
David Lang
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Can attest, have had very good luck with multi file jobs, even with running files with a day and a power cycle between them, without setting home away from 0,0. Yes, this also means the Maslow came off the frame.
I can’t guarantee that it will be accurate if you remove it from the frame thanks to a power cycle, but it was accurate enough for my relief carvings.
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I have also used the actual [ || ] pause button in the UI. it will pause the gcode. Depending on the job you might not have very much time to click it at the right time…
Do not use the stop button unless you have to! It will stop the whole gcode and you will also have to reset your machine, the belt in out dance.
You can probably also just open the gcode file in a text editor and add a PAUSE line, but I am not sure what command to use exactly with the maslow. Or if it will start again from the UI. Try it out with a gcode without a tool in the machine, and try the different pause and restart options.
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Metal working commercial cnc machines use M00 or M01 codes to pause gcode execution. I’m not sure if they are implemented for M4 yet.
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Looks like it:
http://wiki.fluidnc.com/en/features/supported_gcodes
From the maslow code it looks to me like the maslow customizations do not touch this functionality, and an M0 will finish whatever movement it is doing, then go into a Hold state which should be able to be continued with the play button.
What I’d do is add an M0 to a small gcode file and see what happens and if I’m right. Also while its paused see if it will let you manipulate the Z axis, because you will have to reset the home based on the new bit.
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I believe that a T (tool change) command will also cause the maslow to pause
while you change the bit.
David Lang
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