Tool change not prompting

[chalupasalad (Rob Burns)]

I have been away from my machine for a while, but I’m making some last minute Christmas gifts and I’m having an issue where when I start my program and at any tool changes that should be made I’m not being prompted for a tool change/zero the new tool. I’m creating my code in Fusion which I’ve always done in the past, but I don’t know how to read the G-code well enough to tell if Fusion is missing adding a prompt or if CM(640) is not registering it. Where do I need to start looking? I did check that my tools in Fusion have manual change checked and they do not have the same tool numbers.

[mhotchin (Michael Hotchin)]

Are you absolutely positive that you enabled the BitSetter in Carbide Motion? If you are not sure, re-run the machine setup.

[gdon_2003 (Guy Donham)]

Double check your post processor is set to Shapeoko. The generic and gbrl post processors will not prompt for a tool change even if the BitSetter is activated but as @mhotchin suggested make sure it is activated. Just run the configuration and verify everything.

The post processor is selected from the CC edit menu. The configuration is at the bottom of CM when you connect. Connect but do not initialize and run your configuration.

[chalupasalad (Rob Burns)]

Yes it’s set to Shapeoko

[chalupasalad (Rob Burns)]

I ran the machine setup yesterday before this was a problem, and I made sure BitSetter was selected.

[robgrz (Rob Grzesek (Carbide 3D))]

@chalupasalad

I start my program and at any tool changes that should be made I’m not being prompted for a tool change/zero the new tool.

Make sure there’s an M6 command in the G-code. That’s what triggers a tool change, with or without a BitSetter.

[chalupasalad (Rob Burns)]

Thanks, it looks like that’s the missing element, still not sure why Fusion isn’t putting that in anymore, when I check older programs it used to add it.

[robgrz (Rob Grzesek (Carbide 3D))]

I believe they changed the output from the free version to make it less useful in a commercial setting. If you’re on the free version, that could be the reason there’s no M6.

[chalupasalad (Rob Burns)]

I’m not on the free version, but I figured out it’s because I had ‘Manual tool change’ selected in the post processor for the tool in my library, which was creating ‘(MANUAL TOOL CHANGE TO T51504)’ in the code instead of ‘T51504 M6’ when I unselected that and processed again the code came out with the M6. Thanks for your help!