Generic blank NewOp machining operation

[JulianTodd]

I'm still looking at the possibility of contributing a machining operation. This is best done by cloning from a generic blank machining operation.

sliptonic made a start here in this comment thread:

https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 26#p266039

He referred to this github branch of the FC.

https://github.com/sliptonic/FreeCAD/tree/devhelp/NewOp

(I've cloned this, checked it out, and compiled from scratch again.)

There are further details here:
https://github.com/sliptonic/FreeCAD/wi ... g-for-Path

** If we did develop a model NEWOP, it might be worthwhile putting all these instructions into the comments in the source-code to make them easier to follow.

The operations I'd like to develop might best be calculated in separate subprocesses. So, ideally, we'd save an STL file of the model, a properties file of things like toolshape, tolerance, stepdown -- and the calculated toolpaths would return through the stdout of the process.


Developing the FC code

The following cannot be the best way to do this, but I just had to get somewhere.

I made a FC file with a JOB and a NEWOP operation and have been hacking the file:
https://github.com/sliptonic/FreeCAD/bl ... WOP.py#L71
in the place it's been copied in the build directory:
./freecad-build/Mod/Path/PathScripts/PathNEWOP.py

I set the logging level to debug:

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   PathLog.setLevel(PathLog.Level.DEBUG, PathLog.thisModule())

and have been inserting logging messages into opExecute() to find what these components hold:

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    PathLog.info(self.__dict__)
    PathLog.info(obj.__dict__)

There is no way to cause the script PathNEWOP.py to reload when I edit it, so I'm having to close and reopen the whole of FC for every iteration cycle.

I've managed to generate a ZigZaggy toolpath in the opExecute() function, like this:

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        for i in range(21):
            self.commandlist.append(Path.Command("G1", {"X": [bb.XMin,bb.XMax][i%2], "Y":bb.YMin + (bb.YMax-bb.YMin)*i/20.0, "Z": bb.ZMax, "F": 101}))

This proves I can get a toolpath output into the UI.

I can also save an STL file, like this:

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        for base in self.model:
            m = MeshPart.meshFromShape(base.Shape)
            m.write("test_%s.stl" % base.Name)

This writes the file "test_Clone.stl". I don't know where that name came from.


So I need help getting this PathNEWOP module into a completed state, particularly with:
(1) finding the correct Shape to dump into the stl-file,
(2) dumping out all the properties/parameters into a second file, one per line,
(3) streaming the toolpath motion code back from the stdout of the calculating process, back into the FC ui so you can see the progress.

[mlampert]

Do you have a github repo with your changes? I can make you an op, or look into make what you have work and create a PR to your repo.

You can replace a python file without having to restart, but it does not replace/affect/modify any existing objects in your FC instance. So this is no good for installed command handlers, menu entries and such. The process goes like this on the python console:

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import PathScripts.YourFile as YourFile
... try your stuff, make changes ...
reload(YourFile)
... try new implementation ...

Assuming your op is in YourFile.py.

I'm not sure if you compile FC or if you're trying to add an op into a binary deployment - in case you are compiling, this is my typical setup which has been working for me (on Debian Testing):

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project
  +- dev
  |  +- FreeCAD
  |  \- build
  +- rebuild.sh
  \- cmake.sh

The FreeCAD directory holds the cloned git repo, splitting the build directory makes it easy to start from scratch. rebuild.sh replaces some directories in the build tree with symlinks back into the source tree, so I don't have to copy python files back and forth, all call make all the time. I've attached the two scripts, you might have to adapt to your particular setup.