ShopBot Programming Language ?s

[Andrew Porter]

Hi, first time poster here. I'm not sure if I posting in the right place, but I have some questions about the shopbot programming language. I'm taking an introductory CNC course. I would like to cut a radiused dishes for making guitars. I want to do this by cutting a 12" radius channel several thousandths deep and then progressively smaller circles ending with a depth of 0.3"-0.5" thus defining a portion of a 20+ft sphere. I'd like to write a flexable program that would ask the user for the dish radius and sphere radius. It would need to calculate square roots. While I could write a routine to do this I thought there might be one in the language (though I did see one mentioned in the comref.pdf).

Another question concerning circles. When I generate shopbot code for a circle channel cut using Parts Works, I notice that there are 4 CG commands which each cut a quarter circle:

M3,3.526833,15.308437,-0.010000
CG, ,15.526833,3.308437,12.000000,0.000000,T,-1
CG, ,27.526833,15.308437,0.000000,12.000000,T,-1
CG, ,15.526833,27.308437,-12.000000,0.000000,T,-1
CG, ,3.526833,15.308437,0.000000,-12.000000,T,-1

Is there a particular reason for this? The comref.pdf seems to indicate that the CC or CG command could be used for a full circle. Is the somewhere that discusses the circle command syntax a little futher in depth?

Thanks for any help

[Gary Campbell]

Andrew...
Along with the command reference, look at the programming handbook and the calculated functions PDF's. All in the program files\shopbot\shopbot3\help folder.

[rcnewcomb]

It created 4 CG commands because the circle in the design had 4 nodes:
http://www.222artisans.com/images/Circle4nodesSmall.JPG

[Andrew Porter]

Thanks for the responses

Gary - Am I right in assuming the folder you reference would be on the ShopBot Control PC?

Randall - Can a circle have a singe node and single circle command?

Anyone know about a square root command?

[rcnewcomb]

Can a circle have a singe node and single circle command?
I can draw a circle with 2 nodes. When I toolpath that it generates two CG commands. (I believe the CAD program needs two nodes to know the diameter of the circle.)

I believe the CC, CG, and CP commands can each cut a full circle.

From a CAD/CAM standpoint it is easiest to program toolpaths between nodes -- hence the four arcs for the four nodes, or two arcs for two nodes.

[bill.young]

Andrew,

If you're looking for an example of the sqr function and a sample program to cut dished surfaces, look in the "c:\sbparts" folder and check out the "sample_DishDome.sbp" file...it should get you started. As Gary says, you can find all the reference docs in your "C:\Program files\ShopBot\ShopBot 3\help" folder after you install the ShopBot software. The "Calculated_Functions.pdf" file gives you info on the sqr function and all the others like that.

Just as an aside, I'd probably use the CP command if I was writing your program, which define the circle by the center point and radius. All you would really need to to calculate is the diameter and depth for each pass.

[Andrew Porter]

Tried the CP command, worked like a charm. Will check out the SQR function tomorrow night.