So how do you set FreeCAD Path to use absolute arc centers?

[sliptonic]

Nope don’t work that way… I’d have to keep toggling Mach 3’s setting (as well as all my other CAM tools) between ABS arc (since that’s what the 300+ files are as well as other stuff I do from other CAM tools) and INCR arc for Freecad. You can see that here:

Why not just put a G90.1 in your postamble to reset your machine?

[GeneFC]

Nope don’t work that way… I’d have to keep toggling Mach 3’s setting (as well as all my other CAM tools) between ABS arc (since that’s what the 300+ files are as well as other stuff I do from other CAM tools) and INCR arc for Freecad. You can see that here:

OK, I am not too busy these days, so I dusted off an ancient copy of Mach3 (3.042) and re-installed it. I set the initial configuration to use absolute IJK.

I then ran your 2222.nc file, and yes, it shows the problem.

I then edited the 2222.nc file by adding G91.1 to the preamble section. No other changes of any kind. I reopened Mach3 and loaded the modified 2222.nc. It worked perfectly, as I expected.

Finally, I went back into Mach3 and checked the initial configuration. It was still set to use absolute IJK.

I do not have a gcode file with absolute IJK to test if Mach3 still works according to its initial configuration. It would be quite surprising if it did not, since Mach3 is still set to absolute IJK

I expect that the only thing needed is a trivial change to the FreeCAD postprocessor to add G91.1 to the existing preamble code.

You should then be able to use either type of gcode file (FreeCAD or your legacy files) at will.

Gene

[chrisb]

@ajawamnet

Nope don’t work that way

You can test the attached philips_post.py. I had repaired it quite some time ago so any feedback would be appreciated. If it works I will go through the deep valley of getting the Git stuff right .
philips_post.py (25.2 KB)