Vectric Post Processor for Acorn

[pstenabaugh]

I processed a file today in Aspire 10.5. When I generated the code I needed to select a new post processor but the only one that seemed suitable was the Centroid inch file, so I tried that.

The file was generated however the issue with that is that code that is generated does not use any arcs for all the curves, it only uses splines which end up to be dozens of little straight lines...... that is unacceptable. If I wanted such a rough finish I could just use a band saw.... I need a post processor that will generate arcs, that the Acorn will accept.

Does anyone out there have a solution or do you all just accept these splines. Even Mach 3 uses splines, I thought Acorn would be better or at least as good.

[suntravel]

Mach 3 features no G06.1 splineinterpolation. (not many CNC Controls have this)

Splines have to be interpolated in arcs or polylines with your CAD/CAM-system.

But Acorn makes a very good job with short polylines and g-code smoothing, way better than mach 3

Uwe

[pstenabaugh]

I solved the problem.....in Vectric if you go to the File menu you can edit the post processors. There is actually a PP in the software called "Centroid Arcs (inch)" but it doesnt show up in the PP selection list when you try to select a PP for gcode output because it was never 'installed'. So I edited that file and saved it in the 'MyPostP' folder. I changed the name of the file to "Acorn Arcs Inch.pp" so that I could find it. From there you now go back into Vectric and under the Toolpaths menu you can now 'Install a PP', so you only need to select the new file you just created, and Vectric will install it and also ask you if you want to make this the default PP, so say yes, and away you go. It is already loaded, so just re-create your gcode file, then open it to ensure that the arcs in the code actually have "I" and "J" in some of the lines. From there you can do any other editing that you need.

If anyone has trouble doing this, then contact me at <peterstenabaugh@gmail.com> and I'll email you a copy of the one that I created today. I havent tested it yet, but I imagine it should be ok as I havent changed anything in the file apart from the name - so far...... I may do some other editing to it as I have done with all other Vectric PP files, as I add some spaces between some of the words etc. to make the g-code much easier to read.

There is also a similar file for Metric, but I dont do that stuff for cnc.

[Nigelo]

Thanks for posting but this is well known in Aspire (and other Vectric products) in both v10 and the v11 that I use. As soon as you choose a PP on first use for any machine/control/G code flavor, that PP will be the only one that appears on the dropdown. All other PPs are still available but just not on the short list.

Not an Acorn issue at all (it applies to all PPs for all machines) but rather the intentional behaviour of Vectric s/w on the basis that, once set, the PP does not usually need to be changed.

[ShawnM]

By default, the long list shows up if you don’t set a PP from the beginning. Once you add any PP the the “MyPostP” folder then you only see the short list. You don’t need to “install” any PP, just copy it to the MyPostP folder and it’ll appear in the short list. No reason to see 600 post processors in a list when you only need a few for various reasons. As Nigel’s pointed out this is a Vectric issue not an Acorn issue.

[Sword]

With Aspire 10-10.5, you could just put your desired PP's in the MyPostP folder, but now with v11 you have go through the process of adding a post processor through "Machine Configuration Management". I'm not a big fan of the "improvement", but once you get it set up, it works.

[stutaylo]

is it possible to edit the Centroid PP to allow multiple tools in one code \ toolchanges? I cannot for the life of me work out what allows multiple toolchanges in the Vectric PP

[ShawnM]

is it possible to edit the Centroid PP to allow multiple tools in one code \ toolchanges? I cannot for the life of me work out what allows multiple toolchanges in the Vectric PP

That's in the Vectric PP by default. Are you numbering your tools differently? If not it does not know to change tools.

[stutaylo]

I'm not at my pc right now, but when I try to export gcode with multiple tools I get an error saying the PP does not support toolchanges, and to use a different PP. that is with the centroid mm PP

I should create a new post for the problem rather than jump on this one

[ShawnM]

I'm looking at the Centroid mm PP in Vcarve Pro and line 84 starts the tool change code. What version of Vectric do you have?