I have a file I would like to run which includes all 4 tools in the changer, and starts with a manual tool 5.
I load the manual tool and home everything, it measures the tool.
Then I run the “Synch Pocket Manual” subroutine, then use the touch probe to determine the material surface Z zero.
Then I run the file with all the toolpaths from the programs folder, it measures my manual tool 5 on the tool setter again and then starts to run the first tool 5 toolpath, but it changes the Z zero and then runs in the air above the material…
My files are set up for z-zero on material surface, I have the material on top of a second spoilboard on top of the QCW spoilboard.
What am I missing? Is this the proper sequence? Did I skip an offset somewhere?
What tool number does Masso think it has prior to running your gcode?
If you synced tool 5 (manual) and it is measuring the offset of this tool before starting that first toolpath, it must think it has a tool other than 5 in its memory.
Ok, I just went out and tried it again. I used “Sync Pocket Manual”, confirmed it was reading tool 5, then probed for Z and ran my multi-tool program again. This time it used the correct height and fully ran the manual toolpath, so I guess it’s possible I may have synced the wrong tool before.
However, this time, after it finished the tool 5 toolpath, it went and measured the tool again, and registered tool 4, which is the next in sequence, without asking me to unload tool 5 or actually going and picking up tool 4, then it tried to run the tool 4 toolpath with the manual tool still in the spindle…
I can run the “Load Tool X” and “Tool Change Test” subroutines, and they all work perfectly. Not sure why it isn’t switching automatically. I’m using the OneFinity Elite ATC(inch) post processor.
It seems like the gcode is using an Tn M6 instead of a subroutine call for the tool change (M98 P63n), which might explain the behaviour. Can you open the gcode file in an editor (Notepad/VSC) and look for any Tn M6 commands?
Turns out I created the vectric file on my home PC, where I had installed the OneFinity Elite ATC(inch) post processor, and then opening it from dropbox on my shop laptop to set the final material thickness, and then exporting there with the Masso ATC post processor… I checked the file and found no M98s so go figure. Re-exported with the right one and it worked fine.
I wanted to thank you for your post. I also didn’t see very much information (or I overlooked it - entirely possible) regarding the post-processors and making sure to choose the right one. If I understand correctly, the post processor is really the key to letting the machine know if you are going with OneFinity’s atc-setup as outlined in their documention (using Don’s web-UI), or if you are going with Masso’s newly released support for easyChange ATC. This is a drop down box in vectric when you are on the export toolpaths part of generating them. I hope it helps someone.
Yeah it’s a very important part of the process which can be easy to overlook since you don’t think about very often unless you are switching machines or components like rotary or ATC. For a lot of people it’s a “set it and forget it” item, but it’s quite crucial to use the correct one.
