MachineApp Path Following - User Guide

Overview

The following is a comprehensive user guide for the configuration and operation of the Path Following MachineApplication.

In this guide, you will learn how to:

• Define your Path Following Machine based on your MachineLogic configuration
• Upload a GCode File
• Arrange your GCode file(s) within your workspace
• Create a new Path Following Application and augment it with custom behavior
• Run your Path Following Application

Prerequisites

●      You have configured your machine in the MachineLogic “Configuration” page, e.g.:

●      Afterward, navigate to the “Manual Control” tab on the top bar to ensure that your actuators are behaving as expected.
●      When everything looks correct,  select the MachineApps tab on the top bar to begin the Path Following configuration process.

Available MachineApps Page

When you first enter into the “MachineApps” tab, you will be shown a list of the available MachineApps. Select Start on the “Path Following” option:


You will then be brought to the first step: Machine Parameters.

Machine Parameters

In the Machine Parameters view, you will map your MachineLogic configuration onto your Path Following MachineApp. The reason for this step is as follows:

You will upload  files that define some 2D or 3D path. Within a  file, you will find commands like G0 X100 Y200 Z300. This tells the Path Following Machine to move to point (100, 200, 300). Unfortunately, we cannot predict which of your actuators corresponds to X, Y, and Z, so we need you to provide us with this information. We will also ask you to provide the dimensions of your workspace.

When you first arrive in the Machine Parameters view, you will be greeted by an empty configuration. To begin your Machine Parameters, select Create a machine parameter in the center of the page.

A modal window will appear where you will see three inputs. In this step, map the actuators from the MachineLogic configuration to the axes defined by your .

For each letter in your  file (X, Y, and Z), you will map a single actuator from your MachineLogic configuration. You must map a minimum of 1 actuator and a maximum of 3. If you are only doing 2D path following, you would map only X and Y, leaving Z as “Not Present”. In our example, we will map all 3 axes:

Once satisfied with your selection, select Jog axes to test that you’ve mapped the correct actuators to the correct X, Y, and Z axes.
 
When satisfied, close the Jog Axes modal if it is still open and select Next in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

In the following step, you will define your Workspace Dimensions. The “workspace” is defined as the maximum travel distance along each axis.

TIP: A great way to find this value is to go to the Manual Control tab. For each axis, send the axis to home and then to end. Record the current position of the axis. That value should be entered in this screen.

As you update the value in the textbox, you will see the 3D view of your workspace adjust accordingly on the right-hand side of the screen.

TIP: This 3D view can be rotated with the left mouse button, panned with the right mouse button + drag, and zoomed with the mouse wheel. At any point in time, you can select Fit To View to refocus your camera to the center of the screen.

When you are satisfied with your workspace dimensions, select Done. The modal will close, and you will be greeted with the following overview of your Machine Parameters:

You may select Edit on either of these steps to modify them again. However, if you are satisfied, you can select Proceed to Next Step to begin uploading a  file.

Upload

In this step, you will Upload a  File. It is assumed that you already have a  file that you wish to run.

When you enter the step, you will be greeted by this screen:

Select Upload  file to get started. A file selector should appear:

If you cancel at this point or upload an unparseable  file, nothing will happen. However, if you upload a valid  file, you will be greeted with a text editor. As an example, I will upload “wavygravy.”

In this screen, you can modify the  to your liking. If for some reason your  contains a syntax error, you will be notified like so:

You will be unable to proceed to the next step while the errors exist. You can cycle between the errors using the Up and down arrows on the top right corner of the modal.

After all the errors have been resolved, select Next in the bottom right corner of the screen.

In the next step, you will map your MachineLogic outputs to your  tools. As you may know, the M3 and M4  commands can be used to define your tools. You can then select these tools using the T command. In this step, we will ask you to map these tools that you defined in your  to tools that you defined in your MachineLogic configuration:

●      The Associated Output will be the output defined in your MachineLogic configuration.
●      The Active State will define what value must be written to the output for the output to be ON. Some outputs are “On” when we set it high; others are “On” when we set it low. This is something to test on the “Manual Control” page if you are unsure.

Once you have associated an output to each tool and defined the active state for each tool, you can select Next to proceed to the Review step.

In the Review step, you will have a 3D rendering of your  file:

This is simply a visualization to confirm that you uploaded the correct  file. The Starting Point Indicator defines the origin of the . When you are satisfied, select Done to complete your  file upload.

After you select Done, the modal will disappear and you should see your  in the list:

At this point, you may upload another  file if you wish, or you may select Proceed to Next Step to continue.

Assemble G-code Pattern

In the Assembler G-code Pattern step, you will arrange the G-code files that you uploaded in the previous step within your workspace. This workflow is especially useful if you plan to run multiple G-codes back-to-back.

When you first arrive at this step, you will see the following screen:

Select the Create Pattern button to begin a new pattern.

You will be greeted by the following modal:

In the  Pattern step, you will add and arrange your s within your workspace. First, select the Add button in the top left corner of the screen:

A modal will appear containing a list of the  files that you’ve uploaded:

You can click the Preview button if you want to view the 3D render of that  file.

When you want to add the  file to your pattern, select the Add button. After you click the Add button, the modal will close and you will see the pattern rendered in the 3D scene:

Select your  file name on the left-hand side of the screen (e.g. wavygravy. in this example). The  options will expand down from the name:

You can use the X, Y, and Z inputs to translate the  file in 3D space:

You can scale the  using the scale option:

You can also duplicate or delete the  file.

You may add as many  files as you like to your pattern. The Clear All button at the top will delete all of the s in the pattern.

Once you are satisfied with your pattern, select Next at the bottom of the screen to proceed to the Execution Order step.

In the Execution order step, you will arrange the order in which your  files will be run. For example, if you want to run a circle and then a square back-to-back, you can select which one runs first here.

NOTE: If you have a single  file, you can safely skip this step.

When you are satisfied with the order of your files, select Next to get to the Review step.

In the review step, you will simply see a 3D render of your pattern:

When you are satisfied with how it looks, select Done to complete your pattern.

After selecting Done, the modal will close and you will see your pattern in the list of patterns:


At this point, you can either elect to create another pattern using the Create pattern button, or you can Proceed to Next Step to begin customizing your application.

Operate or Customize

In this step, you will create an Application Instance that can be used to run any one of the patterns that you assembled in the previous step. Conveniently,we provide you with hooks within your Path Following Application in which you can safely execute custom behavior. The 3 hooks are:
●      Application Start: Run this MachineLogic code before anything else in the Path Following application.
●      Between G-codes: Run this MachineLogic code between each one of your G-code paths.
●      Application End: Run this MachineLogic code after you run everything else in the application.

When you first enter this step, you will see the view on top.

Select New Instance to create a new Path Following Application.

TIP: Unless you are doing something very specific, you will only ever need a single instance.

After you create it, select the card of the instance that you’ve created (e.g. “Path Following #1” in our example).

You will be brought to a highly-modified MachineLogic program view:

As described previously, you can modify the Application Start, Between s, or Application End sequences to insert custom behavior at those points. You may also add variables, functions, new child sequences, and whatever else you like. However, the Main Sequence is completely unmodifiable, as this contains the core of the Path Following Application.

TIP: This step is entirely optional.

Once you are satisfied with your custom behavior, select the Main Sequence and thenselect the Operate button in the bottom right corner of the screen. This will take you to the Operator UI.

Operation

When you select Operate, you will be brought to the App Launcher tab at the top of the page. You will be greeted with the following screen:

If not already selected, please select the Path Following Application in the left-hand pane that you previously created in the Operate or Customize step.

At the top, you will see the Job Configuration box. This box will allow you to select a pattern that you assembled in the Assembler  Pattern step and play it on this Path Following Application.

If you select Apply a pattern, you will see the following modal:

You can preview the pattern using the Preview button if you like.

If you would like to run that pattern, selectApply.

After applying the pattern to the application, the UI will populate:

On the left side, you will see the 3D render of your pattern. This is just for inspection purposes. On the right side, you will see your Current Settings. In this section will be:Z Offset: The Offset in Z that your  file will operate at. This can ONLY be set when in trial mode.
●      Max Acceleration Input: You can enter a number in this input to set the max acceleration for your pattern.
●      Max Speed: This is the maximum speed in mm/min discovered from the  files that are in your pattern.
●      Estimated Time: This is an estimate of how long it will take to run the  file given your current settings
●      Output Active: If an output is currently triggered, this will be true, otherwise it will be false.
●      Progress: A percentage of how many  lines you have completed.

At the bottom of the page, you will see the Trial Run Panel. You can select Trial run mode to enter trial run mode. In this mode, you can enter a Z offset and a speed percentage at which you would like your pattern to operate:


TIP: Trial run mode is only useful for debugging purposes.

To play your application, select the big green Play button at the bottom right of the screen. As your Path Following Application runs, you should see the 3D render being updated in real-time, and the Progress indicator increasing over time.

Below is a quick overview of the operations that will happen when you click play:

1. Application Start custom behavior will execute
2. Your actuators will home in the order Z, Y, X
3. The machine will perform a move relative combined in XY to get to above your first start position
4. If Z is present, the machine will descend in Z
5. The first  file in the pattern will begin
6. When the  file finishes, the Between s custom behavior will run
7. The machine will then move to the starting position of the next  file in the pattern. WARNING: This is a direct move! If you expect that you might run into something, please HOME the Z-AXIS using custom behavior beforehand
8. Repeat steps 5, 6, and 7 until all  files in the pattern have been run
9. When all files in the pattern have been run, execute the Application End custom behavior
10. Finish

To stop your application, select the big blue Stop button at the bottom right of the screen.