by dirktheeng » Thu Jun 30, 2011 1:02 am
All,
I've been thinking about how to convert the g-code files that get generated from programs like cut2d (program I'm thinking about buying). The thing is, it's meant for cnc routers/mills and not for lasers. I can't command the program to turn on/off the laser and it necessitates that I put in Z axis moves when I don't want to. I've been thinking about that a little bit and I think that we can use this program and others like it with a post processing script that identifies where z axis only lines (the plunge/retract) lines and replace them with an M command line that turns on/off the laser to a given power. It would be fairly easy to set the zero position at the top of the part so when it plunges, the z value is negative and when it retracts to rapid, the value is positive, that would be the switch for on and off respectively.
Obviously, other people have to be doing something like this already either by a script or manually. For files without a lot of cutouts, doing it by hand isn't bad, but some things I want to do would have a lot of cuts and it would be a pain to do it by hand. What are others doing?