Shopbot code questions??

[myxpykalix]

Ok, i've had my bot for about 2 years and i have not felt the need to understand how to edit shopbot code or muchless understand it. Because i'm trying to get into making my indexer more useful I need to ask some elementary questions that i'm sure lots of you can answer.

Can the shopbot run on regular G code? If so can it be selected and run just like a .sbp file?

Can the shopbot run on code that is produced in Mach3 if it is output as regular G code? If not what should it be output as?

If it can't be run from a file that is output from Mach3 is there some type of file translator?

Is there some type of tutorial for writing shopbot code?
I have seen discussions in the forum, but not having a need to do it to this point, I didn't follow those threads. Please understand that it is still GREEK (or is that GEEK) to me so you'll need to make it plain to me because i get confused by some of the "shorthand" answers.
THANKS!

[richards]

Jack,
I can't respond on your questions about G-code, but I can help you find the documentation for the standard Shopbot Code. Go to the Shopbot home page (www.shopbottools.com (http://www.shopbottools.com)), click Support, click Documentation, click Programming Handbook (under PRS Owner's Manual). You'll find all the information that you need to become a first-rate programmer. Be sure to read and then re-read the material until you fully understand it. Everything that you need to know about making the Shopbot do everything that it can do is found in that manual.

[Gary Campbell]

Jack..
If you have one of the newer versions of SB3 installed on your computer, the Programming Handbook, Command Reference and Calculated Functions are installed, (among others) in the C:\Program Files\ShopBot\ShopBot 3\Help folder. This is the default location, if yours is installed in another location, look there.
Gary

[bill.young]

John

The current ShopBot software will run G Code files natively using the FP command. When the "Select a ShopBot Part File" box opens, click the arrow to expand the "Files of Type" box and G Code is one of the options.

There are several flavors of G Code, though, and not every G Code commands is supported. You can find a list of supported G Code commands in the ShopBot wiki at http://shopbotwiki.com/index.php?title=GCodeMain

Bill

p.s. Thanks for adding the Inkscape info to the wiki...I moved it to the Inkscape page http://shopbotwiki.com/index.php?title=Inkscape

[myxpykalix]

Thanks Bill, you usually have the right answers!