[vmax549]

Does anyone have any idea on how to write to the onscreen message bar. It would be the one that displays the tool info on a tool change.

It would be nice to be able to do that like (display, text to the screen) and have it show up on screen.

(;-) TP

[shred]

Does anyone have any idea on how to write to the onscreen message bar. It would be the one that displays the tool info on a tool change.

It would be nice to be able to do that like (display, text to the screen) and have it show up on screen.

(;-) TP

I thought there was a way to do that similarly to the M00/M01 image filename thing but can't remember for sure.

[RCaffin]

It would help if you told us what SW you are running!

With Mach3 you can do it with a Macro called from the g-code. You can not do it directly.
LinuxCNC? Dunno, but the same probably applies as it is a restriction in the g-code.

Cheers
Roger

[vmax549]

Lets see we are in the Tormach PathPilot forum I wonder what software am I running (;-). Yes Mach3/4 it was easy, in UCCNC it was easy, EMC was not too bad, but PathPilot ??NOT so easy.

I think there is another label in the toolpath screen that can be written to but HOW ?? It seems that all the methods write to an obscure place not easy seen by the operator.

ALSO it would be nice to write the tool info to a label on screen. Yes I see tool #5 is called but what exactly IS tool #5 ???

Just a thought, (;-) TP

[RCaffin]

in the Tormach PathPilot forum I wonder what software am I running
I think I have seen a few variations, even on the Tormach HW. Well, people do that.

You need a Screen Editor. Open up the screen and find the label numbers. IF they have any: some labels are actually JPGs.

Cheers
Roger

[shred]

ALSO it would be nice to write the tool info to a label on screen. Yes I see tool #5 is called but what exactly IS tool #5 ???

Just a thought, (;-) TP

The description from the tool table of Tool #5 is displayed when you do an M06 to it, or did you want it persistent on the screen somewhere?

[vmax549]

The tool description being persistent is the best approach. You could update that info from the M6 easy enough.

(;-) TP

[vmax549]

You USED to be able to use the M1 (alert) function but I see it was removed in later versions.

(;-) TP

[kstrauss]

It is not exactly a solution but if the image file to be shown on an M0 doesn't exist, the file name is displayed near the bottom of the preview window.

Agreed, it would be great if one could display an operator message and preferably with or without stopping depending on gcode parameters. Something like (debug, whatever text #1) but with output to the normal screen rather than the status tab. A display near that of the M30/M99 cycle counters might be a good location.

[soofle616]

The simplest solution is to use M0 followed by a comment. For example M0 (Take a sip of coffee) would display "Take a sip of coffee" on the screen. Granted, this stops the machine until you hit cycle start so if you're looking for a way to display messages without stopping things, I'm not any help. As for the tool callouts, You could either insert a stop prior to the tool change with a comment, and/or, as others have posted, use the tool description in the offset table as that will get displayed during a tool change. Unfortunately the bar runs out of space real quick so messages do have to be very short.

[kstrauss]

soofle616, that was my earlier suggestion. In addition to stopping instead of just displaying a status message and continuing, using M0 doesn't allow displaying a variable message (% completed, coordinates, etc). Other than using the "debug" prefix in a comment is there any way to construct a text string containing variables?

[soofle616]

soofle616, that was my earlier suggestion. In addition to stopping instead of just displaying a status message and continuing, using M0 doesn't allow displaying a variable message (% completed, coordinates, etc). Other than using the "debug" prefix in a comment is there any way to construct a text string containing variables?

Oops, my bad. Sometimes I do skim earlier posts so I don't always fully comprehend what others have already said. I've never tried to construct a message using variables.