Looking for a Way to Change Defaults of the [FP] Fill-in Sheet

[jdervin]

Does anyone know of a way to change the default settings for the [FP] Part File Load fill-in sheet? I was doing a project recently where I wanted to keep the same X/Y zero and cut several irregular parts using the 2D offset each time. I found that in mass production, it's way too easy to forget some small setup detail (despite the repitition) and would have loved to have had 2D offset chosen automatically for me. Fortunately, there were no costly or dangerous mistakes. Just hoping to learn something new...

[Gary Campbell]

John...
I dont know of a way to change the defaults. But.... there may be a way to do what you want using 2D offsets. Can you post more info, a sketch or a screenshot of your files toolpathed?

[donchandler]

John,
Be very careful when doing this !! Copy the file to another directory on your computer, so you can restore it if you make a mistake. Study the file to understand what is happening before you go changing stuff.
OK, Enough Warning.
1. Goto "Program files" on your C: drive
2. Goto "shopbot"
3. Goto shopbot 3
4. Goto Bin
5. Goto Shopbotw.prm COPY THIS FILE TO A SAFE PLACE BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE !!
6. Double click on this file and it will ask you how do you want to open it.
7. Select Notepad to open it.
Find the section that has all the FP commands and change the one you want, then save it.
You are good to go , if you didn't make a mistake.
I set the plunge from zero to ON instead of the default. Had to do it in all of the commands.
Hope this helps.
Don

[jdervin]

Gary--

I agree. "2D offsets" was my strategy of choice. Briefly described, I needed to cut a simple 2D profile of a hummingbird into the top third of a dozen or so pairs of plywood shutters. Unfortunately, almost none of the shutters shared common dimensions (even some of the pairs). To avoid having to re-zero the X/Y each time, I created the artwork with 0/0 at the center, but positioned the spindle at what would be the top right corner of any given shutter. The pieces were positioned against a jig and then I moved the spindle to the intended home position and ran the file in 2D offset mode. As the project ran, I began getting nervous about all of the repetitive steps I had to take to make sure things turned out right. Even after establishing a rhythm, it was still too easy to have a slight mental lapse and forget to do something like change from "no offset" to "2D offset". Many of the other fill-in sheets retain their most recent settings and I was thinking that if I could do the same for the FP fill-in sheet, a mistake would be less likely.

At this point, the project's all done. I was just analyzing the experience and thinking what could be improved upon next time around. Any suggestions are most welcome.

[jdervin]

Don--

Thanks for the tip. I agree that much care should be taken before mucking around with this file and that it's easy to make some real problems for yourself. Backing up is a must! But with real care, it does work. It sure is nice of ShopBot to have unencrypted files like this so if someone wants to make an adjustment, it's possible to do so.

But boy-oh-boy, miss one comma and that automated thing with a spinning bit on it might start doing something very unpredictable...