Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

Hi everyone!

I noticed that tool descriptions seem to be limited to 19 characters. Is there a parameter that will allow me to make longer descriptions?

Corbin

corbin wrote: ↑Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:11 am Hi everyone!

I noticed that tool descriptions seem to be limited to 19 characters. Is there a parameter that will allow me to make longer descriptions?

Corbin

The tool libs have been that way for many years.

If you are using Mill or Router, check out CHIPS by swissi who has introduced extended tool info
https://centroidcncforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=10245

Who needs more than this displayed on the screen from M6?

Uwe

CHIPS is the way to go. For sure.
I'd be interested to see how it works on the EX controller.

I'm right in the middle of redesigning the centroid cnc12 tool library so now's a good time to give me your suggestions

cnckeith wrote: ↑Sat Nov 16, 2024 5:37 pm I'm right in the middle of redesigning the centroid cnc12 tool library so now's a good time to give me your suggestions

This might be a stretch, but I'd love to be able to import tool libraries from Vectric or Fusion 360. It's less important in CNC12 because some tool geometries don't matter, but tool descriptions, diameters and tool numbers are something I'd rather not retype if I could avoid it.
One universal tool library shared among my CAD, CAM and CNC machine software.

corbin wrote: ↑Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:11 am Hi everyone!

I noticed that tool descriptions seem to be limited to 19 characters. Is there a parameter that will allow me to make longer descriptions?
Corbin

Obviously someone that didn't live thru the DOS days!

Thanks everyone for the replies!

@Nigelo - I'll look into CHIPS; I am actually working on developing something similar! Maybe I should just store the full names somewhere else.

@suntravel - I just like to have descriptive names

@cnckeith - From an API perspective, yeah, I'd like 255 characters and everything to be displayed in one table. It'd be nice if setting Param 160 to non-0 would not cause errors when a tool is set that doesn't have a bin. I'm working on my own ATC rack setup application.

@Gary - Oh, I remember the DOS days! But that was soooo long ago.

Corbin

grossmsj wrote: ↑Sat Nov 16, 2024 11:37 am CHIPS is the way to go. For sure.
I'd be interested to see how it works on the EX controller.

Yeah, the Avid CNC Ex controller, right? I got mine a week ago, and I wanted to setup my ATC with it. The default macros wouldn't work for a proper tool changer, so I started writing my own. I also wrote an app to manage the tool library, in particular what tool is in what "pocket/bin" for an abstract mapping on a regular tool rack.

Attached is a quick image of what I have so far, but I was just thinking about skinning it to match CNC12, similar to what CHIPs looks like they are doing.

grossmsj wrote: ↑Sat Nov 16, 2024 6:56 pm

cnckeith wrote: ↑Sat Nov 16, 2024 5:37 pm I'm right in the middle of redesigning the centroid cnc12 tool library so now's a good time to give me your suggestions

This might be a stretch, but I'd love to be able to import tool libraries from Vectric or Fusion 360. It's less important in CNC12 because some tool geometries don't matter, but tool descriptions, diameters and tool numbers are something I'd rather not retype if I could avoid it.
One universal tool library shared among my CAD, CAM and CNC machine software.

FYI, CHIPS already provides imports from Vectric and F360