Path Order By Tool

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freecader2
Posts: 99
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2020 11:19 pm

Path Order By Tool

Post by freecader2 »

Hi,

I'm trying to minimize tool changes in a Job, so I like the sound of Order By = Tool. But I can't get it to work how I'd like, and I can't figure out what I'm missing.

This Job has Ops with different Tool Controllers in no particular order. Example:
- Op 1: TC 1
- Op 2: TC 2
- Op 3: TC 1
- etc. etc.

The job is set to order by Tool. But the GCode produced still starts with TC 1, then switches to TC 2, then back to TC 1.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong or how I could troubleshoot this?

Thanks!
chrisb
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Re: Path Order By Tool

Post by chrisb »

Use 0.20. If it doesn't work, upload a simple file showing the issue.
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freecader2
Posts: 99
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2020 11:19 pm

Re: Path Order By Tool

Post by freecader2 »

Sure, here's a simple example that demonstrates it.

There are 3 ops, using TC 1, 2, then 1 again. The job is created with mostly default settings (changed postprocessor to grbl). TC1 is "1/4 Endmill" and TC2 is "1/8 Endmill".

Snippets from the gcode produced are copied below showing how it goes from TC1 -> TC2 -> TC1, despite orderby=tool.

Please let me know if any other info would be helpful to diagnose it, or if it looks like I'm doing something wrong to prevent it ordering by TC.

Thanks again!


(Begin preamble)
(Begin operation: 1/4 Endmill001)
(Begin toolchange)
(Begin operation: Fixture)
(Begin operation: Op 1 TC 1)
(Begin operation: 1/8 Endmill001)
(Begin toolchange)
(Begin operation: Fixture)
(Begin operation: Op 2 TC 2)
(Begin operation: 1/4 Endmill001)
(Begin toolchange)
(Begin operation: Fixture)
(Begin operation: Op 3 TC 1)
(Begin postamble)

OS: Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS (ubuntu:GNOME/ubuntu)
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.20.26912 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: master
Hash: 6aec424aa52a9c23a6327d78d931f547a60507ca
Python version: 3.8.10
Qt version: 5.12.8
Coin version: 4.0.0
OCC version: 7.3.0
Locale: English/United States (en_US)
Attachments
1_8_Endmill.fctb
(242 Bytes) Downloaded 18 times
1_4_Endmill.fctb
(242 Bytes) Downloaded 22 times
Path Orderby Tool Example.FCStd
(23.26 KiB) Downloaded 20 times
gcode.txt
(3.22 KiB) Downloaded 24 times
ops.png
ops.png (36.3 KiB) Viewed 1461 times
GeneFC
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Location: Punta Gorda, FL

Re: Path Order By Tool

Post by GeneFC »

I am not quite sure what you are doing. I loaded your file, went into Job Edit >> Workplan and then arranged the Ops by tool.

G-code came out as desired, with all Tool 1 first followed by Tool 2.

[Edit] OK, I dug a bit deeper. There is a hidden property that would seem to support order by tool. It did not work for me either. In fact it undid the Workplan order I had set in the Job Edit.

Gene
freecader2
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Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2020 11:19 pm

Re: Path Order By Tool

Post by freecader2 »

Ya, that's my backup plan- we can still manually set the order in the Operations list. But when there are a large number of Ops, it'd be nice to be able to keep the Ops list in an order that makes logical sense to me (easy to find what I'm looking for), but still produce gcode ordered by tool.
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sliptonic
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Re: Path Order By Tool

Post by sliptonic »

The order of operations in the job takes precedent. Those should be ordered in the order you want the work done.

The 'order by tool' feature applies when you're doing the same work in multiple coordinate systems. First op will still be done before second op but it will move between WCS to minimize the tool changes.

You change the order of operations in the job in the workplan tab.
freecader2
Posts: 99
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2020 11:19 pm

Re: Path Order By Tool

Post by freecader2 »

That makes sense, thanks for the info.
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