[woodman08]

Can someone explain using excel with mach3.
I am testing a cutter that needs some special commands and i am told that i need an excel version that works with mach3.
This is all new to me ,anyone know anyhting about this

[ger21]

You can use any version of Excel to create g-code. There is no special version.
If you just want to edit existing code, you'd probably be better off using NotePAD.

Excel is better suited for creating full g-code programs based on parameters you enter. But you need to create the spreadsheet and formulas to do it.

[woodman08]

OK so i have a excel formula that generates a fix how do i apply that to my gcode file,sya the code was called cut.txt ,how is the excel added

[ger21]

Without a detailed explanation of exactly what you want to do, it would be very hard to explain.

[woodman08]

I got a drag knife from donek and they have a routine (macro in excel) to orient
the knife as to cuts along but they use shopbot and I am mach3 so I am wondering how I am going to do this .
I have spend more time looking into this .
This macro thing is really new to me ,it's amazing stuff as you're always learning
Thanks again,you have helped me in the past

[ger21]

He's got a video that explains how to use his excel macros.

[woodman08]

And i thought i followed it but when i run the macro and excel saves it to my mach3 file ,the file stops dead in mach3 on the machine
Well at least i am getting someplace

[woodman08]

I re-ran the video and the only difference is that he also has a excel macro for machines other than shopbot,so i ran created the file but like i said in the machine it stopped the code was altered not to suit mach3
I am going to re-try

[woodman08]

I finally got all this together ,thanks to Sean Martin
This works good ,new one on me

donektools drag knife cutting plastic .03 thick - YouTube

this is the d2 drag knife which can cut up to .25 in material,it looks
like a simple concept but its not take it from me ,there is a lot of
programming thought went into the use of it ,as you need to run a macro
in excel to make some changes to your toolpath in order for the knife to
have its proper orientation