[meegers]

Hi guys,

We're getting 2 new MB8000H machines next month and I'm starting to write the post processor for our CAM system.

Does anyone know if you can pass through X Y and Z data into a sub program in order to do a datum shift?

I have an example where an X and Y is passed thro ...

CALL OABCD PXCN=10 PYCN=10

and then in the sub program you have this code ......

VZOFX[200]=VZOFX[1]+PXCN
VZOFY[200]=VZOFY[1]+PYCN
VZOFZ[200]=VZOFZ[1]
VZOFB[200]=VZOFZ[1]
G15 H200

Obviously this only works for X and Y, but I need to be able to shift in Z too.

Anyone else tried this?

Thanks,
Mark

[tea hole]

Absolutely.
Gotta revisit some old notes about a P300M, been working on an L machine recently.
It may be different. The 300L changed some of that with VSZOX,Y,Z and I don't remember what they did on the M off the top of my head.

[meegers]

Cheers for the reply.

Having done some more work the morning I've changed my mind on how to tackle this.
Now in my main program I set 3 VC variables (VC47 VC48 and VC49 in this example) to zero every time I call a new datum. Then before I call a sub program I'll set 3 new VC variables (VC50 VC51 and VC52) and set these to be the datum shift.
In the sub program I'll call G10 to cancel datum shift, then set VC47=VC47+VC50 and so on. Now I can use G11 to shift the coord system during that sub program, using G11 X=VC47 Y=VC48 Z=VC49. Any deeper nested sub programs should also work the same way.
At the end of each sub program I'll do a VC47=VC47-VC50 which should reset the initial VC47 variable all the way out of the nesting.

We haven't got our machines yet but this works in the Vericut model we have.

Not sure what it will be like on the actual controller and how user friendly it will be but at least I've got a method to compare to.

[tea hole]

Have you looked into:
VWKBX/Y/Z
or
VWKAX/Y/Z?

And I quote from the P300M Programming manual:

VWKA*
It can read current position of work coordinate system with offset amount of current tool length,
attachment rotation, and rotary spindle head. The mark * refers to an axis name.
VWKB*
It can read current position of work coordinate system without offset amount of current tool
length, attachment rotation, and rotary spindle head. The mark * refers to an axis name.
• Example:
VC1=VWKAX
VC2=VWKBY