[vmax549]

Has anyone tried a tool changer (non Tormach) with PathPilot yet. I have 2 ATCS to setup in PP. They are carousel type. One simple and the other quite complex BUT they are both easy to do in Mach3 or UCCNC. I have run them BOTH in either controller.

First glance LinuxCNC tool changes ( M6) look like a Hot Spanish Romance Novel written in Latin.

(;-) TP

[jwatte]

You can write Python code for any M function. The Python code can talk to your tool changer in any way you want.
So, if you know Python programming, then you should be able to make it do whatever you want.
If NOT, then you're at the mercy of whatever documentation you can find on the web, which ... as you say ... varies in comprehensibility.

[rdsi]

MACH3 and UCCNC are both general purpose controllers whereas PP is designed specifically for Tormach's products. They are not interested in making it simple for you to adapt 3rd party hardware to it.

That being said there are plenty of people who never the less do so including myself. You might be better served browsing over to the LinuxCNC-PathPilot forum where people tend to do the things you're trying to do.

I have messed around the M6 function as you mentioned it's a crazy dance. Yeah, you need to be proficient in Python and NGC including its variants - o code & parameters. LinuxCNC does document this very well but the difficulty is understanding the PP named parameters used when calling the M6 routine. Tormach does not publish this kind of information so you have to dig through their Python code to glean whats going on & how you can use it to accomplish the task.

Then you have the physical interface. This will probably require some custom hardware & more software to implement it.

All this can be done & some people have done it with varying degrees of success. The trick is getting it done seamlessly so you don't need to modify your program code in order to make it go!