Moving Axis Without EMC Following

Thanks for reading -

I have not been able to find an answer to this, but I would like to move an axis in the middle of a job and have EMC think it's still in the same place. I have a piece that is longer than my X axis can machine, but I am physically unlimited to the material length. So I would like to machine to my X axis's maximum (say 900mm), pause the machine, move my part and spindle to the X axis 0mm coordinate and restart EMC as if the spindle is still at 900mm and continue on.

Would I use touch off to work this out or is there a better way? Thanks for any advice!

Paul

Thanks for the reply, John.

Sorry I didn't state that, but it would be continuing the program to get to x1800. I guess I could CAM the first half, save the .ngc file and then move the drawing so the beginning of the second half is at x0, y0 to CAM the second half. I just wondered if it could be done with one complete program.

Paul

Thanks John,

That's what I will do. Although I already lie (just a little) on the soft limits - When I engrave on a pre-made circle, I find it easier to work it from center at x0, y0 in both CAD and CAM. So my minimum limits are set to a further negative value than the machine's 0,0.

Thanks for your help...

Paul

BigJohnT wrote:

Paul,

I think you would have to lie about the soft limits on your machine to program X1800 when you don't really have that much travel but then you defeat the purpose of the soft limits. I do just what you suggest and move the part in my cam program so X0 is where I want it to be for each Op, move the part as needed on the mill and touch off so X0 is in the correct spot for the Op I'm fixing to run.

John

No, not quite. If you broke the program up into sections where no part of the program exceeded the travel limits, and then you set the coordinate offsets with the "touch off" button, you would not have to touch the soft limits. The offset work coordinates would all end up being within the machine's travel limits after the work offset has been applied. If you wanted to have all the program loaded at one time, then you would definitely get a "soft limits exceeded" error when you load the program, but that can be overridden. If you make sure to stop the program at the right spot, move the part, touch off to the new coord system and then "run from line" it SHOULD work, but there might be a problem in preparing for the first move of the second half.

Jon