Carbide Motion 644 Beta- Now with Program Restart

Software Carbide Motion
1

We just uploaded a new build that includes program restart to Carbide Motion Beta Downloads

On the Run Program pane, you’ll see a new Restart Program button that lets you start the program on almost any line. Here are a few caveats/details:

  • You cannot restart on a line where the parser does not at least have x/y/z set. (Usually the first 10-20 lines of the program)
  • If you restart on a tool change line, CM doesn’t need to do any repositioning moves, it can just start on the tool change and continue
  • If you start on any other line, CM will determine the XYZ position to start from and the current tool. It will begin with a tool change, then x, y, z moves to get to the start of the line, and then continue the program.
  • If you want to crash the machine with strange G-code, you absolutely can. We think the current implementation handles all normal CAD/CAM G-code, though.

Edward and I were talking about this feature yesterday, and we both agreed that we’d never restart one of our Haas or Brother machines on anything but a tool change line because it’s terrifying to hit the go button and trust that everything will work correctly (between us and the machine). We’re confident we can get this to a point where you never have to worry about hitting the start button.

For the meantime, you should keep your hand by the power button when you restart.

24 Likes
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Awesome addition, this will be really nice if when I pop a breaker in the garage shop :slightly_smiling_face:

Does carbide motion currently keep track of last processed line in a way that would persist through loss of power? If not, are there plans to add that functionality?
It would be nice to save me guessing where it was in the program and backing off 1000 lines just to be safe :sweat_smile:

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There’s a lot that we’d like to do with the UI, including:

  • Tracking the last line executed
  • Letting you start at a tool number
  • Letting you start at a particular toolpath

Those are relatively trivial to implement, so we want to verify the restart logic first.

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Plans to upgrade the PI build anytime soon?

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Yes, but we need to change the OpenGL code to OpenGl ES2 for the Pi, and port some new USB code over to Linux. We’ll try to get that done soon.

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I haven’t downloaded the beta version yet so I’m guessing the user has to input the G-code line to restart on?
:face_with_raised_eyebrow: I guess I’l have to learn G code

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Hello,
I ran into the same problem when doing a clean install (uninstall previous version before installing a newer version) of this new beta version CM 644. The error message shown in the screenshot blow says there is a missing .dll file (Bugsplat.dll) in the installation file set. This same problem I noted in the forum with the earlier beta CM 642 version.

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If one does an install of CM 644 overwriting (don’t uninstall) the previous released version CM 640, the Bugsplat.dll remains in the installation folder from CM 640. Then the error message doesn’t appear because the .dll file is present. I think anyone installing CM 644 with this issue of the missing .dll file in the installation file set on a new PC will run into this error message. The software team may want to rebuild the installation file to assure Bugsplat.dll is included.

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Well, if you pause the program, you can see what line it was on.

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When the machine disconnects, it dumps the current program. It should keep it available once the machine has either connected or initializes.

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“Restart Program” doesn’t actually restart it. It prepares for a restart, you have to hit the ‘Start’ button to make it go.

Once it’s been prepared, there’s no indication that it’s in the ‘Prepared’ state.

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The ‘Start’ button text should be more dynamic. After a ‘Pause’ or a ‘Restart Program’, the button is really a ‘Resume Program’. When I see the word ‘Start’, my first expectation is that it starts - i.e., the program runs from line 1. I know better now, but it wasn’t clear when I first started using CM.

Or have a popup saying something like “Preparations complete, hit ‘Start’ to resume program”.

Or have this pop-up have two buttons, one ‘Resume’ and one ‘Abort’ , and just do it. This also avoids needing to somehow indicate that your are ‘Prepared’. If one Aborts, just require them to re-run the entire Restart process.

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A couple of other starting point options that I think could be useful when specifying a line number:

  • Jump back to previous Rapid, start from there
  • Jump back to previous Tool Change, start from there.
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I think this is a BIG LEAP forward in the growth of the program.

Keep up the great work and improvements!

Programmers ROCK!

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I’m excited about this feature, especially when it comes to running long 3D progects. But just to be sure that I understand - if i pause the machine, document the line of G-code, power down, then come back later and power up, I will have to reset the Z first. I know that the machine will save the X and Y through a power cycle but the Z it does not.

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If you have a Bitsetter, it should pickup the Z value from the tool change and you’ll be good to go. (Even if you need to change the tool, in the case of a break, for instance)

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Did anyone try out the program restart over the weekend?

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You can ‘fix’ the Z by telling the machine to do a tool-change. So you don’t have to re-measure Z Zero, just hit the change tool button so it goes to the BitSetter.

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I ran a simple program with a single cutter 1/4" endmill.

(To simulate a cutter breaking), I stopped the program and restarted it at the current line.

For the second test, I selected a line prior to the current one and restarted, allowing it to perform some air cutting before finishing the program.

Both times, it operated flawlessly and completed successfully.

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Unfortunately I am out of town for the next two weeks but will deffinately try it when I get home.

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This is a great update and I look forward to downloading it later and be able to put it to use when needed. I completely agree with you that I wouldn’t restart anywhere other than a tool change line. This is a nice step forward in the program as it gives a feature I’m so used to having in the Haas machines I run everyday.

Next it would be great if those of us with a spindle could change spindle speed on the fly just as we can the feed rate.

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Except when you have to do a tool change in the middle of a program because you broke the one you were cutting with.

2 Likes