[Darc]

I was just wondering, I do a lot of variable programming at the moment.
e.g
#01=100 (Part length)
IF[#01EQ0]GOTO20
G00 Z20.0
N20

I just thought it might be cool if the program can ask the operator to enter the part length (example only) at the start of each cycle.
We do small quantities of jobs 5 or 10 offs, and when we mill them I have the operator change variable #01 to suit each part length.
As you can tell I'm trying to make it a bit more user friendly for people who don't feel comfortable changing the program.

[lakeside]

I think you may want to keep IF[#01EQ1]GOTO1 IF[#01EQ10]GOTO10
if Q=1" the move would be to Z1.0 IF[#01EQ20]GOTO20
by keeping the Q value to a 1 to 1 ratio it might be easy for people to understand as for with or not the controller will do this I can answer that

[Ozemale6t9]

I know on some you can do message output, but I am not sure if you can have it expect an input.

regards, Oz

[brewertr]

In a word "YES".

If you have Fanuc 10 or higher (newer) as an option you could/can create your own menu's and ask the operator for inputs.

Tom

[rhino]

In my experience.
it is better to have 30 different programs for 30 different parts. AVIOD VARIABLES! one value has to be wrong and you have made a scrapper. this is vital in my job as i also make 1 to 10 offs. as long as you have a proven program with a documented Datum (or workshift) 99 times out of 100 you cant go wrong.

I hope this helps.

[brewertr]

In my experience.
it is better to have 30 different programs for 30 different parts. AVIOD VARIABLES! one value has to be wrong and you have made a scrapper. this is vital in my job as i also make 1 to 10 offs. as long as you have a proven program with a documented Datum (or workshift) 99 times out of 100 you cant go wrong.

I hope this helps.

Darc,

In my opinion there is no logical reason not to use variables if you have like parts or an operation such as cutoff tool, bar puller, etc. A variable program is like any other program and should be treated as such. Variables do not necessarily need operator input, they can be loaded the same as the cnc program.

In my experience variable and/or macro programs are more reliable because they are for the most part proved out by the person who programs them. And I assume your best programmer/machinist is the one who writes and proves out the variable or macro program.

Whenever a person is involved a mistake can be made. An operator doing an offset may make a calculator key stroke or input error. A programmer editing the code can make a mistake as well. These things happen and should not be an excuse not to automate but a reason to automate certain tasks.

Should you have parts with dim. A,B,C & D and they have 100 possible variances why would you want to make 100 programs of 256k rather than load the 4 variables by RS232 or Key Stroke input at the machine. There is much more opportunity to make a mistake in the 100 programs than in the 4 variables.

Tom

[NIL8r]

I use to work with an older Fanuc control on a grinder that had the "Macro A" and "Macro B" options. Not ALL older Fanuc controls have this. I can't recall which version of their control was on this machine. These were manual OD and ID grinder machines retro'd with Fanuc controls. The part diameter, length, wheel length and the % of the wheel to remain on the part at each end of the stroke were all entered as variables. Worked very well for simple setups without having to teach an operator G-code.
Oh, there was even a variable input for setting the feed for roughing and finishing. The amount to leave for the finishing feed was also a variable. The cool thing about this was all roughing could be "skipped" in the program by activating the "/" block skip key on the control. This would help is you only wanted to take a few 0.0001" off of the diameter without having to run the entire program from start.
ONE WORD OF CAUTION: When using the block skip, we had employees that would sometimes forget to shut that off when starting the next part usually resulting in a scrap part and sometimes wheel.

Also, If you want to be sure that the value is entered EVERY time the program is run, Reset the value to zero before the end of the program and create a logic statement that will fault if no value is entered.

[Heavy D]

If these are parts that you may run several times per year, you could write a program where the operator enters a part number into a variable and the program will pick up the proper positions for that part automatically.

We have a line that runs over 200 parts numbers. The family of parts are very similar. Once the fixture is set up, a change over only requires a few quick change components to be changed and then you enter the part # into a variable. Based on that part number, the program will run the tools that are required for that part with the dimensions of the part. 99% of the time, the first part is good. This program is extremely long and took about 2 months to write test and prove but it has save us a lot of setup time and a lot less scrap.