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GW Editor User Guide
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G-Wizard G-Code Editor (GWE) Change Log and Release Notes A log of what changed with each new version from newest to oldest. Remember, G-Wizard tells you when you need to upgrade with a message in the top right corner of the screen. If you need the latest version, it can be installed from this page. Updates to this page are generally only made on the more major releases. Detailed notes on intermediate releases are available on the CNCCookbook User's Club forums.
What's Not Available Yet Since this is a Beta Test, not everything is implemented or working. Here is a short list of some of the most important things, though it is not intended to be exhaustive. - Lathe Canned Cycles such as G71 - Editing commands. Most of the Revision commands that do things like scale, rotate, or reformat the code are either not implemented or buggy. Focus has been on accurate g-code execution first. - Tool Compensation for Lathes and Mills. Note: This one might get pushed to a release shortly after 1.0. - Performance: There's a lot more performance tuning to be done. We'll be adding support for Flash Player 11, which allows direct access to the GPU for 3D graphics. We expect this will increase backplot performance considerably. There are a couple of other tricks waiting in the wings as well. In theory, if all those things were working, and all the minor usability squawks were fixed, and there were no obvious bugs, we'd be ready to take GWE out of Beta Test and into production as a 1.0 product. We're currently targeting second half of 2012 for GWE 1.0.
Change Log Coming Soon: Next Release and/or Being Worked On Now - Lathe Canned Cycles. G71, Type 1 is working in the current release but much more work is needed to finish all the cycles including Type 2!
5/5/12: Release 0.440 Release 0.440 is a minor feature release. It adds: - G01 Chamfer and Corner Rounding for lathes. Note that corner rounding will look like a chamfer on the backplot and there are no post options yet. Also, we need your help debugging, as I didn't have very many test examples to try it on. - The Hint and Info tabs are grayed out until a backplot is completed. The information on them is not accurate until a complete backplot has run. - The options on Backplot Options are now saved from one session to the next.
4/30/12: Release 0.437 Release 0.437 is a bug fix release. It fixes a crash bug that could very commonly cause GWE to freeze up if you were editing code. There is also code in this really for chamfering on G01 lathe commands, but it is untested and incomplete. Play with it at your own risk!
4/19/12: Release 0.436 Release 0.436 is a minor feature release. It adds the Fanuc lathe style T#'s that combine the tool and offset numbers as described in our G-Code Course chapter on Tool Changes and Tool Offsets.
4/16/12: Release 0.435 Release 0.435 is a performance and bug fix update. - Reworked playback and single step to make it faster and smoother. - Quite a bit of work on memory management to make it faster and less likely to hang. - More behind the scenes preparation for Flash Player 11. - Added proper computation of time for G96 CSS mode moves. - Made the lines plotted in the backplot skinnier. - Fixed some hang bugs that occur during playback. For instance, it would hang if you pressed <escape>.
4/13/12: Release 0.431 Release 0.431 is a bug fix and mandatory upgrade release to get everyone up to the same version level. - More under the covers work to get ready for Flash Player 11. - Fixes a bug in Hints view where the option to show only errors wasn't working properly. - Minimum screen resolution for this release is 1260 x 720. I may try to make it run properly on a 1024 x 768 screen at a later date, but for now, we're not supporting lower resolutions.
4/8/12: Release 0.430 Release 0.430 is a bug fix and preparatory release. Most of the work on 0.430 is not visible and involves preparation to take advantage of native GPU support starting with Flash Player 11. There has also been some minor bug fix work done such as fixing some problems reported with saving some of the Post options. Given how extensive the behind the scenes restructuring has been, be on the look out for any graphics problems and please report them if you see any. 2/5/12: Release 0.426 Release 0.426 is a minor feature release: - Added Haas-style G68/69 coordinate rotation to the Post options. Haas uses A and B for the two coordinates identifying the rotation center and R for the angle. - Added a message to confirm before deleting a custom cycle. - Fixed an error when using negative "R" on arcs. - Added M13/M14 to start the spindle and coolant. This m-code is common on many CNC lathes. - Added options to the Settings Errors page that control the spindle, feedrate, and toolchange checks. These checks are made to ensure the spindle is spinning, feedrate is set, and a tool is selected when feed motion is entered (G01 or arcs). Also, there is an option on the toolchange check to just check for T and ignore M06 since many lathes don't use M06. 1/30/12: Release 0.425 Release 0.425 is a bug fix release. It fixes bugs in these areas: - Some that were hanging the simulator. - Problems with simulator apparently not running. - Problems with synchronizing the line gutter scrolling with program text scrolling on very short programs. 1/8/12: Release 0.422 Release 0.422 is a bug fix release: - Fixed some major memory leaks. This should make GWE more stable, able to handle larger files, able to run longer, and perhaps faster. - Fixed a bug when running in metric with G21 where Feedrate was left Imperial. - Fixed several bugs to do with scrolling in the Hints view. 12/31/11: Release 0.420 Release 0.420 is a minor feature release: - Added G68/69 coordinate rotation processing. - Extended Internet connection timeout for a session to reduce likelihood of a false "No Connection" status. - Fixed bugs around Post formats for "F" word. Added ability to specify Post format for "R" word. - Changed default starting position for machine from X0Y0Z1 to Z0Y0Z0. - Fixed a bug where if saving and you typed a name with no extension, 2 dots were added: "filename..ncc". - Fixed a bug in how variables were being mapped to words for a G65 call. Thanks Andrew for pointing that one out! 11/20/11: Release 0.412 Release 0.411 is a bug fix release to get G65 working again. 11/19/11: Release 0.411 Release 0.411 is a bug fix release: - Fixed a bug that caused changes to the Post to be lost under some circumstances. - When you get the popup telling you that you are not a registered user, the button will now take you to the GWE registration instead of the GWC registration. 11/13/11: Release 0.410 Release 0.410 is a feature release: Note: This release requires Flash Player 11, which is the latest player. While we don't really use its features yet, we're trying to get everyone on the same page with us before we introduce features that will only work on FP 11. - Lots of work to bring all the work offset options to life so you can now use the extended ones (Fanuc with 48 or 300 offets, for example) and the correct system variables will be saved between sessions to capture these. - Added "Custom" Cycles. These are little code snippets accessed via the "Custom" button for your program. By default you get a Safe Start, End Program, and Park Mill cycle. They're customizable and you can add as many of your own as you like. This is a good way to create and build up your macro libraries, for example. - Added some checking to Machine Profile in setup so you can't do things like set max feedrate to 0. 10/15/11: Release 0.400 Release 0.400 is a major feature release: - Added markers to the backplot. There are now markers at the g-code start, g-code end, and for the g-code line the cursor is currently on:
- Subprogram tab now shows the comment on the line of the "O" word for the subprogram. Makes it easier to spot what the subprogram does if you comment it. You can also double click on the subprogram tab to navigate to that spot on the program. - Added "Time in Cut" and "Distance in Cut" data to the Tool Table. This is useful for calculating tool wear information so you can keep up with when you might want to replace the cutter or how long they last for particular jobs. - There are new visibility and color controls on the tool table. You can individually control visibility of each tool in the backplot by turning the little light bulb on or off--just click it. You can also change the feed speed color of each tool independently. Just click the color box to popup a color chooser. The rapids color remains the same for all tools. Colors and visibility status will be remembered by tool number across sessions and for all programs. You can reset the colors under the Backplot Options menu choice.
- Radically improved the variable editing screen for work offsets. Go to Setup Post Variables and select the work offset buttons to see it. If you set up a work offset, it is saved across sessions and applies to all programs.
- Added Post option for Okuma-style work offsets. Okuma uses G15 Hx, where x is a number from 0..50. - Re-arranged some of the Toolbar buttons to prepare for the future and make it more space efficient. The "Custom" button is not hooked up yet. - There is now a post option for the tolerance on how much the radius of an arc can differ when measured from each endpoint. - Fixed a bunch of bugs in areas like relative coordinates, work offsets, the revisions, bunch of backplot bugs, and several other areas. 9/2/11: Release 0.330 Release 0.330 is a fit and finish release: - There is a new Delete Words revision that can be used to delete words. Use it to delete all occurences of a particular word (such as an axis), or just those that have a particular address (such as a particular g-code). - There is a new "Monitor" revision. It's purpose is to search for a particular word and then add code right after the word. For example, you can use it to add a "DPRNT" to monitor tool life. - Major overhaul of the UI for the "5Step" button on the simulator. You now get buttons for all the step modes right under the regular simulator control cluster. This makes it easier to access them and switch back and forth between the modes. - GWE now has an "Auto" mode for Incremental versus Absolute Arc IJK. This is the most common thing you'd have to fix to see a backplot of code from a new machine. You can also force it to select either incremental or absolute IJK. Hoping to get beginners up and running sooner with a decent backplot this way. - Fixed a collection of clipboard bugs that were leaving garbage characters and sometimes truncating text in the clipboard. - Took a run at the window sizing bug that affects a few people. The symptom is it comes up and there is white space along the right and/or bottom edges between the UI and the edge of the window. If you've been seeing this, and it goes away, please let me know. If you've been seeing it and it hasn't gone away, let me know that two. There are two attempted fixes. One is triggered automatically. If that isn't working for you, try using the backplot refresh icon on the toolbar, which will trigger the second fix. Again, let me know your status on this problem. I can't reproduce it on my own machine, so it's going to take some trial and error to track it down and fix it. I appreciate the help! - Updates to the Monotonicity checking for G71. Partial progress on Type 2 for G71. Feel free to play with it, but expect problems. - The default format for the Adjust Addresses revision was changed from "O" to "X". - Hints were not always refreshed properly, so added code to force a refresh when the background backplot processing finishes. - Macro variables (#variables) were only getting cleared at startup. They're now cleared whenever the simulator or backplot starts over from the beginning. - Fixed a whole flock of little bugs to do with #vars and parameterized programming. A lot of programs that wouldn't work right now do. - Fixed some bugs on the Tools tab. Also set it up so the Tool List is the default view and the Tool Changes are available by switching the control at the top. - Added a bunch of new statistics to the Info Tab including: Total time in cut, total distance in cut, time and distance in rapids, average feedrate in cut, total number of tool changes, and time spent changing tools. 8/17/11: Release 0.320 Release 0.320 is all about getting G71 working at long last. It's still only Type 1, but we have both the 1 line and 2 line formats available. Setup is via Post. Other changes include: - Implemented repeat (L) word for M98. - Added a post option that determines whether helical interpolation is allowed by the controller. - We display the DOS (8.3) short file name on the status bar in a field that you can right click to copy from. Some controllers only have the DOS short file names so it is handy to be able to see what such a file name would be for a file with a long name. - Made the trident letters face the user so you can see what the axes are. 8/11/11: Release 0.310 Release 0.310 is all about getting a customer's program to backplot. I wanted him to be able to try it so he could give me further feedback, otherwise I would probably have added more before releasing it. With that said, 0.310 has some useful things: - We now detect and backplot helical interpolation. - When performing helical interpolation, the Hints will tell you the pitch of the helix (useful for checking whether your thread milling is correct) and the depth of the helix. - The simulator information below the backplot has been reformatted for clarity by putting some white space between the mode information and the trace of #variables. - A new subprogram call list (stack trace) has been added to the simulator info below the backplot. It lists the M97/M98/G65 calls by line number. If there is a repeat factor on the call, it will be reflected by an "L" after the caller line # plus the number of repeats left to execute:
- Implemented repeat factors on M97. I'll get them for M98 in the next release. - Fixed a number of bugs relating to M97/M99 and a few other things along the way. 8/9/11: Release 0.300 Release 0.300 is another performance enhancement release, and pretty big progress at that. 0.300 is capable of loading and backplotting a large file up to 7x faster than 0.260, hence we've bumped up to the next 0.100. It's the biggest performance increment we've had yet and several breakthroughs are responsible. All told the software is probably 10x faster than it was 2 weeks ago about backplotting and processing the Hints and Error Messages. There's still a lot more performance enhancements to come since we haven't gotten the new Flash Player 11 with hardware graphics card acceleration yet, but even without we're finally getting into the performance neighborhood we should be in, though we're still far from finished with performance. In addition to the big performance boost, there are a couple of other goodies: - There is a new full width cursor when running the simulator to make it easier to see exactly where you are in the g-code. - Fixed some issues with the Line Number gutter getting out of sync with the lines. - Fixed some bugs in Haas-style M97/M99. - Miscellaneous other tweeks. 8/6/11: Release 0.260 Release 0.260 is focused on editing commands: - The Adjust Addresses revision can now be used to change the formatting of numbers to match the post. - There is a new Arc Adjust revision that can change IJK center to R format and vice versa, and it can change IJK from relative to absolute and vice versa. - There is a new Feeds and Speeds override that can be used to adjust feeds and speeds either for all tools or for a particular tool number. - Some of the revisions require the backplot to be up to date so they can use it's information. They will pop up a message saying the backplot needs to be up to date if it isn't. Just close the popups and wait for the backplot to finish updating. - There is a new revision that can convert coordinates back and forth between relative and absolute. - Did some slight rearranging of the toolbar to make room for some features coming in future releases. - New "Jump to closest endpoint in backplot" feature. Click the new icon on the toolbar (magnifier with a "Play" arrow) to turn it on. Now when you click the mouse on the backplot, it moves the g-code cursor to the next line that refers to the nearest endpoint to where you clicked. - A preferred file extension for use when saving files without extensions may be selected under the Tools Options menu. - Two buttons on the Adjust Address revision allow switching to and from lathe diameter or radius mode. - A few more performance enhancements: backplot is another 20% faster. 8/3/11: Release 0.251 & 0.252 When lots changes (0.250), we get Bug Fix Releases: - Fixed an annoying bug that caused carriage returns to be dropped when typing in under some conditions. - Turned on release feathering. Before, every GWE release was mandatory. Now, by default, some are mandatory, and some are notified over the course of 7 days. - Fixed a bug where the revisions and some other commands would mysteriously delete a line. 8/2/11: Release 0.250 Release 0.250 is primarily focused on performance and usability. Quite a lot of tuning was done to speed up basic editing (making typing feel less "slushy") as well as to speed up the parsing and backplotting. Some new things you'll notice: - There is a new set of Refresh options on the Backplot Options menu. These control how often a background update to hints (error messages) and the backplot is done. "Auto-Refresh" is the old default. What's new is a file size entry that will turn off "Auto-Refresh" on files larger than the specified size. The default threshold is 256 K bytes. - When Auto-Refresh is off, refreshing the backplot and hints is deferred until the g-code type-in pane loses focus (due to a popup or switching to another view), or until the user has stopped doing anything in that pane for a time (1.5 seconds is the current setting). - Once a non-auto refresh starts, it tends to go much faster (up to 2x as fast), but the system will be less responsive until it finishes that auto-refresh. - When you load a file, a popup will appear for larger files that says "Hang on, processing a big file." While that popup is visible, the system is totally focused on getting through the refresh as fast as possible (again, up to 2x faster than prior releases). If you press "Cancel", it will pause where it is and wait for the next opportunity to refresh (i.e. during another popup or if you initiate the refresh). - You can tell if you are in manual- or auto-refresh via a message on the status bar at the bottom. - If in manual, and you want the system to refresh, either press F9 (same as "recalc" in Excel), click the replot icon on the Tool Bar, or select "Backplot Refresh" from the menus. - Did some fit and finish work on the Hints to make them more readable. - Fixed a bug that was causing m-codes to never show any hints. - There is a new option to Edit in CAPS except in comments. By default it is turned on, but may be turned off under Tools Options. Lots more performance updates yet to come, but this release should help. 7/25/11: Release 0.200 This has been a massive release nearly a month in the making, so I'm going to bump up a full 0.1 number to 0.200. Here's what we did in 0.200: - Added an Axis Switch revision to make it easy to switch axes when programming right angle heads and such. - Added an Adjust Words revision to make it easy to do simple math on the addresses associated with words. You can see how to use it in our g-code tutorial on making an engraving font. - Renumber blocks will now proactively adjust references to numbers that change from GOTO, G71, and other sources. - The remainder of Fanuc Macro B was added, largely consisting of GOTO, IF, and WHILE. See also our mini-tutorial on g-code macros. - You now have the ability under Post Numbers to choose a default word format that is used for words that have no defined format. - M99 was really getting confused about where to return to if there were no N numbers and sometimes even when there were. Fixed that bug. - Top View and the other non-perspective views were acting strange. I fixed several bugs that should help a lot there. There was also some funny business when zooming these views with the scroll wheel that has been fixed. - There's now a warning for particularly large files that they're likely to be slow. Performance is a priority, but we have a lot of work left to do there yet. - After learning that large multinational companies dropped 2.9 million jobs from the US and hired 2.4 million overseas during the 2000's, I added a made in America to our logo. Help out the small companies, they're the ones creating jobs here. - Fixed a bug where GWE would erroneously decide various G and M-codes were unavailable and flag them as errors. - Lots more sniggly little details of fit, finish, and stability. 6/30/11: Release 0.138 The big news for 0.139 are some macro debugging capabilities partially inspired by the need to help a GWE user. For full details, read the article about debugging infinite loops which details the various new features. Still a lot of work going on under the covers with G71 and the other lathe cycles. I decided to rewrite them from scratch given what I had learned the first go-round. They'll be a lot more robust and it'll be easier for me to cover all the different crazy options different controls bring. 6/9/11: Release 0.138 0.138 continues the work on the G71 rough turning cycle, which now handles arcs. It's still not finished, but is considerably more useful. In addition, we've improved the Revisions user interface quite a bit: - There is now a "Revision:" button on the tool bar that triggers the last revision you ran during the session. If none have been run, it just brings up the menu listing the various revisions. You can see the name of the revision that would be called to the right of the "Revision" button, and if you press the down arrow it will bring up the revision list. - The revision list now allows selection of whether to run the revision against the entire program (default) or the currently selected blocks. - The initial version of the line renumbering Revision has been added. There are a couple of options not implemented in the UI that are grayed out. In addition, this version doesn't adjust references in macros or canned cycles, but a later one will. 5/31/11: Release 0.137 Some good stuff in 0.137: - Coolest new feature is the 5-Step button for the Simulator got a whole lot more powerful. By default, clicking it advances the simulator 5 blocks when in Single Block mode. However, you can either right click it or use the Simulator Options menu choice to bring up more modes for this button:
- There is a new Simulator menu. Most of the functions were available in the Simulator Toolbar buttons, but they're also on menu now too. The Simulator menu is documented on the menu commands docs page. - Menus display all their keyboard shortcuts and the shortcuts are implemented. - Added information about the angle subtended by arcs to the Hints. It now tells the start angle, end angle, and total angle. - Thanks to a program submitted by a user (thanks Terry!), a number of subtle problems with arcs in lathe programs were fixed. - Fixed a number of things relating to lathe diameter mode. For example, the X coordinate of the status bar mouse position display is now consistent with diameter mode. - Backplot Options now allows G28-style moves to be turned off from the backplot and this is the default. - Another round of fixing and tuning for Zoom Extents. It focuses on zooming to fit all the feedrate moves without necessarily fitting all rapids. Got rid of a few more cases that drove it crazy. 5/24/11: Release 0.135 The big news for 0.135 is keyboard shortcuts plus a new "Simulator" pull down menu. The shortcuts are documented on the menus and on the Keyboard page. Zoom In/Zoom Out shortcuts (Ctrl++ and Ctrl+-) are not yet working but the rest should be good to go. I also made a run at fixing a bug where GWE would come up as just a black window and hang. Those of you that encountered that problem, let me know if you are continuing to see it. 5/20/11: Release 0.134 0.134 is a medium duty release--more than minor and less than major. The bulk of the work continues behind the scenes on Lathe Canned Cycles. While I have not disabled the G71 work in progress, it is buggy enough that it isn't useful at the moment so no need to report G71 problems. Here's what's in the release: - Minor performance enhancements, probably not measurable without a stopwatch, but some work was done. - Added Fanuc style UVW. These provide relative addressing for XYZ so you can easily mix the two without going in and out of incremental versus absolute modes. - G32 lathe threading cycle - We now have separate g-code lists for lathe and mill. This area still needs some refinement but is essentially working. - The Setup window is now resizable. Some users with lower resolution screens will find this helpful. - Many bug fixes. 4/5/11: Release 0.133 0.133 has some good usability upgrades: - Backplot is about 2x faster than prior releases. Lots more to come. - Rewrote zoom extents yet again. Seems like it is doing a lot better job zooming to fit the backplot to the window. - Add a Backplot Option to show the bounding box for feed moves as a blue outline. This box is not a bad proxy for your workpiece. - Large programs use the bounding box to rotate or pan the backplot so it doesn't bog down. - There is a new Post option to allow ":" instead of (or in addition to) "O". Fanuc and some other controls allow this. - Following a customer suggestion, there is now email contact info on the About box. - There is a new "simple post" option that simply checks whether numbers are valid numbers or not without all the checking for number of decimal places and so on. This option is on by default to make it easier to get to a backplot when you first start using GWE. Later on, you can turn it off and customize the exact error checking on numbers just like always. The parsing stage runs faster with this simple number parser enabled. - While zooming in with the mouse wheel continues to zoom towards wherever the mouse is pointing, zooming out doesn't zoom out "towards" anything. This is much more intuitive. - Fixed a bug where screen was getting blurred at startup. - Fixed a number of scrolling-related bugs. 3/28/11: Release 0.132 0.132 is another substantial release: - New Options choice on the Backplot menu lets you change a few things on the backplot:
- I spent a couple of days improving backplot performance. Every so often I will do this, moreso towards the end of the Beta. It has a long ways to go, but it is better than it was. - The status line and Info tab now tell not only how many lines are in a program but how many bytes. - Insert menu now has Insert File (inserts at the cursor) and Append File (adds the file to the end of the current file) commands. - There is a new Tools Options popup that provides Editor Options:
- Quite a few bug fixes including one where if you had really long names and folder paths you could make the File menu inoperable. 3/21/11: Release 0.131 0.131 is a big release: - Revisions are back to working again after a long time. They're under Tool menu. Currently we have Revisors for CAPitalization, Spaces, Control Characters, Comments, and Block Skip. - I've started a Commands documentation page here: http://www.cnccookbook.com/GWECommands.html Lots more to fill in there. - You can now edit the parameters comment on g-codes. You can also delete codes that you've added, but not the stock codes. Set the stock codes to ignore or make them unavailable. - M99 in the main program (not a subprogram) with no args returns to top of main program. You can give it args to make it return to a specific block (N) # in the main program. - M98 now has an L-word repeat factor (Mach3) - M98 can also do the Fanuc style repeat factor. - M47 is same as M99 in the main program but cannot be executed in subprograms. - Fixed a bug where M30 and other codes that were supposed to rewind weren't rewinding. - Added G65 macros with arguments passed in via local variables. Calls can be nested up to 5 levels deep. - Added some new arc-related post functions. modal-R lets you make the radius modal. You can also set IJK vs R precedence to decide what happens if both are present. These were added to support Centurion controls on machines like Milltronics. - Further tuning on Zoom Extents. It's even closer, but still is off sometimes. Phew! Lots going on in this release. Check it out carefully as I'm sure there are some new bugs. 3/15/11: Release 0.130 0.130 focuses on usability: - Got rid of the popup "No Internet" box. Instead, the notice appears on the login bar at the right. If G-Wizard absolutely needs to connect due to the 2 week limit, it will do a popup. - Currently installed version number is displayed on the Login Bar. - Several bugs to do with arcs are fixed based on customer feedback--thanks James and Brian! - The Posts now include a comment, visible at the top of Setup Post, so you can write in a little more detail what's in them. - Lots of tweaks with Zooming and Zoom Extents. For example, Zoom now attempts to zoom towards wherever the mouse tip is pointing. Also, I finally fixed the bug where if the mouse tip was on a backplot line or grid line, all zooming and panning was ignored. 3/10/11: Release 0.129 Minor release. A couple of bug fixes plus the ability to manage your CNC Controller Profiles (aka "Posts") better. The Controller Browse button not only allows you to download profiles, but also to pick from profiles you have on your local hard disk. 3/7/11: Release 0.128 This is a very big release: - Complete overhaul of Find/Replace and the Jump editing commands. These can be accessed either via the Edit menu or the toolbar buttons. They each use a very slick toolbar presentation instead of popping up dialog boxes that get in the way. Try them out. I particularly like the Jump menu which will skip from tool change to tool change or error to error forwards and backwards. The major remaining editing functionality is in Revisions and Auto-Revisions. - #parameters and [expressions] are essentially 95% done. There are some niggling details that will be worked out before shipping, but they're no longer a high-priority emphasis. Therefore, I have taken this entry off of the "What doesn't work" list above. Some of the new features in this area include ATAN, OR, XOR, AND, MOD, and the "**" power operator for Mach3. - Tried to speed the opening of the setup tab. It's a lot faster, but switching to the Post sub-tab is now slow. DOH! - Fixed lots of little fit and finish issues that come up as you try to use GWE to "etch-a-sketch" g-code by creating a program from start to finish. - Several bugs associated with error reporting on arcs. 3/3/11: Release 0.127 - Feature-wise, the big news is Find/Replace is now up and running. I used a ribbon UI rather than popups because it's easier on real estate and doesn't cover up what you're searching for. Next release will see a similar UI for the Jump command. - The simulator backplotter now accesses system variables #5161..5164 to determine the machine's starting and tool change positions. This is the same as Fanuc and other controllers. The default for these variables is X0Y0Z1. You can change them in Setup Post. - New Tip button in top right next to the help button so you can bring up the tips manually. - New G-Codes control diameter versus radius mode programming for the X-axis. This is a lathe feature. G190 = OFF (Radius). G191 = (ON Diameter). A number of controllers use these codes, but some you will have to remap to different g-code #'s. Hurco and Allen Bradley use G07 and G08, Omniturn uses G72/73, etc. - G96 and G97 (the Constant Surface Speed commands) are now implemented. These are mostly lathe g-codes. You will see the system accept SFM or M/Min instead of RPM when this option is invoked. - Added a "Replot" button to the toolbar that forces a full rebuild and repaint of the backplot. Comes in handy if things get screwed up, but otherwise, not so much I suspect. - Added the ability to define one or more full line comment characters. Anything after a full line comment is treated as comment. EMC allows ";", Anilam allows "*", etc. Currently, "%" is used as an EOL comment too, but that will go away when we start processing %'s true meaning. - Fixed a bunch of bugs in the Edit Jump function. It should be working properly now. Expect a UI overhaul to make it match Find/Replace in the next release. - Fixed a host of user reported bugs of various kinds. For example, TABs were screwing things up in some cases. Have fixed some but not all the TAB bugs. Also fixed a bug where File Exit was not exiting. 2/28/11: Release 0.126 - Bug fixes to the #parameter and [expression] handling plus it covers a few more words. - Added an error check for the distance of an arc's center to each endpoint. That distance needs to be the same to within 0.001" or an error message is issued. It will still plot those arcs, but many controllers alarm out on such cases. 2/27/11: Release 0.125 - 0.125 changes the splash screen and About box to suppress the animated G-Wizard logo when you login as a guest. Some graphics driver combinations don't like the logo and those users were unable to get the product to even load. - UI for Edit Find/Replace done. No guts so it doesn't do anything but look pretty though. 2/24/11: Release 0.124 0.124 has the first installment of #parameters and [expressions]. Consider it to be alpha quality in those areas. We don't yet have all of the expression functions, for example non of the logicals are there (AND, OR, etc.). There are no control structures like IF. What is working is assignment to variables and the ability to use variables and expressions to derive a value for words. Not all words covered yet, but the biggies from the sample code I had on hand. The simulator state information (below the backplot when the simulator is running) now displays the values of the last 10 or so #variables that were touched. In addition, the hint as to what the variable is will be displayed in parenthesis. These hints may be found on Setup Post Variables in the "Description" column. I'm looking for folks to try it on their sample code and forward problems to me via email. Please attach your sample code. Let me know how this release is doing for you if you practice parameterized programming in g-code. 2/21/11: Release 0.123 This is mostly a bug fix and "keeping current with G-Wizard Calculator" release: - GWE now has the same "Tips" popups as GWC, with the content customized for the Editor, of course. - Added Block Delete handling. There's a new button up by the simulator controls that turns Block Delete on or off. If it's "ON", blocks preceeded by "/" are ignored. If it's "ON", they treated just like normal blocks. - Lots of foundational work done towards #parameters and [expressions], but it's not really visible. Should be ready to roll out before too much longer. I'm now starting to test it. 2/10/11: Release 0.122 Big news is the ability to download predefined CNC Controller (e.g. "Post" parameters) from the CNCCookbook servers. Hopefully this will simplify startup for new users. - There is a new CNC Controller entry on the Setup Basics machine profile. The browse button next to it allows you to download pre-defined controllers from the CNCCookbook servers (an Internet connection is required). At this stage we have Mach3 and Fanuc, with Lathe and Mill in inch or metric for both controls. Note that for metric users if you want to read everything in metric you will also need to set the metric units above the machine profile. To create a custom controller, either start with one of the pre-defined or the one that comes up when you install and make changes. If you don't download a controller, you custom controller will receive the same name as your machine profile. - Added the ability to control your upgrade notifications. There are three choices: o Immediate: Notify immediately of any new release availability. o Feathered: You will be notified from 1 to 7 days after a new release is available. This has been the default. It gives time for any obvious bugs to be discovered before everyone upgrades. Disabled for now in GWE because it is changing so rapidly. Therefore Immediate and Feathered both inform as soon as a release is available. When GWE is further along, I will enable the Feathered option to slow down the pace of updating. o Severe: Only mandatory upgrades are flagged. You'll miss a lot of upgrades this way as I don't mark very many as mandatory. - Move macro variables and G/M-Code setup under the Setup Post tab because everything under that tab is associated with configuring a CNC controller. - By default, the debugger speed is relatively slow--35%. The idea is to make it a little more obvious what is happening for newcomers. - There are now "Tortoise" and "Hare" buttons to immediately go to very fast (100%) or very slow (15%) debugger playback speed. They also serve as labels / reminders for what the % control does. The playback also remembers whatever execution speed it had the last time GWE was run. - Fixed a bug to issue a warning if there is more than one decimal point in a number. - Got rid of the "Save" button for Startup G-Code. Every other Post parameter is automatically saved. - Reviewed and changed a number of the error messages so they can be selectively disabled at finer granularity. - Fixed a bug that prevented a number of the error messages from being ignored. - Optional "+" no longer produces an error message if you use a "+" with a number. - Did a major overhaul on the preferences save and load code. Be on the lookout for any issues there. - Fixed a lot of other bugs! 1/28/11: Release 0.121 0.121 was focused on usability problems and bugs: - Adding popup messages to tell you why your program stopped (e.g. M00, M01, M02, etc.). These only appear when running the simulator, not for simple backplot. - Did a doc page for the simulator / debugger. - Added the ability to disable any error either permanently, or until a new file is loaded. This will make it easier to get spurious errors out of the way or checks you just don't want to be making such as whether a tool is loaded when you start making non-rapids moves. This is accessed via the Hints tab. Select a line with errors and press the "Errors" button to see the options. To re-enable an error, go to the Setup Errors tab. - Fixed some finicky bugs in the simulator's run time estimates. They were not updating properly as the machine profile and various other parameters were being changed. - Simulated CAT40 toolholder is no longer shown on Lathes or on Top View where it was hiding the action too much. - Fixed a problem that was causing all the post parameters for numbers to get cleared sometimes. - Line gutter now displays "Error:" for lines with an error. This happened by accident. We'll have to see if we like it. - Fixed a number of problems to do with scrolling or switching views while the debugger is running. Not yet ready to declare victory, but it's a lot better. - Spent time trying to make Zoom Extents more accurate. It too is better, but not best. 1/17/11: Release 0.120 0.120 is a bug fix release for the most part with no new features. It does, however, clean up a lot of problems with the debugger and scrolling behavior. 1/2/11: Release 0.119 - G20/21 Units: Grid is rescaled to fit the units as are the various coordinate indicators. The default is Imperial, but you can use this g-code in the Post setup g-code to change that. - Toolholder appears miniaturized along with the yellow highlighting to show where in the backplot the currently selected g-code line is. In Debugger mode, the Toolholder is scaled fullsize to the backplot. - The line numbers now have a "reverse out" color to make it easier to find the line the cursor is on at all times. - Lathe diameter vs radius modes are now available for Lathe profiles. Select the option from Setup Post. When in diameter mode a "dia" will appear by the X's to remind you. - M98/M99 Subprogams. Style is determined in post. By default, you will be reminded that you haven't selected a style by an error message. Repeats are not yet implemented--each call is one shot. - Subprogram tab. There is a new subprogram tab that tells all the "O" subprogram definitions in the current file. In a future release it will also identify "N" numbers accessed via M97. You can double click an entry on this view to go to the line where the "O" is defined. - M97 for Haas-style subroutine calls. M97 uses the "N" (block) number instead of an "O" number. - Tweaked the editor performance a bit. - Changed the UI of NumPost to autosave so there is no more Save button. It is saved when you exit Setup. The tab is also now called "Numbers" under the Setup Post tab. - Quite a bit of tuning to make the auto-zooming more friendly. For example, it autozooms during debug playback and there is also a minimum zoom so it doesn't blow things up too much when a program starts out with a few small lines or arcs. - Broke out the options under Setup Post as tabs so you won't have to scroll to see them. - Did quite a lot of tweaking to improve the scroll experience, especially for the hints view. - Fixed bugs involving the saving of number options, error messages on arc radii being too small, and many other areas. 1/2/11: Release 0.118 This release has quite a bit of new functionality: G17/G18/G19 are now implemented for arcs and canned cycles. There is now a startup g-code line under Setup Post. You can give it a line of g-code to set the initial state of your controller. For example, most lathes default to "G18", so you could put a G18 into that line. See the Setup page to see what the initial state looks like before executing the startup g-code. A number of bug fixes and small usability tweaks. Probably the biggest one is you can change the playback speed when simulating again--it had been stuck at 100%. 12/23/10: Release 0.117 First version with some lathe views. The view types are automatically switched when you change machine profiles under "Setup". They're very likely pretty buggy, but at least we now have Z on the horizontal axis so they look right. 12/2/10: Release 0.116 Fun addition: 3D rendering of toolholder and tool. A customer complained it was hard to tell what was going on in the simulation because they couldn't see where the tool was. So, I got to thinking and added a 3D rendering of the toolholder and tool. What a difference--so much nicer to work with! The holder is only shown during simulation (debugger mode). It is not shown in the Top View, because it hides the action directly underneath. Because its so much nicer, I made the Perspective View the default leftmost view. Fixed a lot of funny business that happens if you switch Views (Perspective, Top, etc.) in the middle of the simulation. It's still not right, but it's better. GWE now scales itself for lower resolution screens. I tried it and found it usable (though not pretty) down to 800x600. Added support for 4th axis in 1 position. LOL, you can set A0, but that's about it so far. Still, I had to put a bunch of framework in place that will eventually lead to full 4th axis support. Fixed a bug that was hanging the parser on some files. Fixed a whole raft of bugs in how canned cycles were being simulated. Thanks to Mike for working through this one with me! 11/28/10: Release 0.115 Added machine label to Setup Variables and Setup G/M-Codes tabs. 11/20/10: Release 0.114
11/13/10: Release 0.113
11/6/10: Release 0.112
11/2/10: Release 0.110
- Serial #: Provides a spot to enter an arbitrary serial # associated with the tool. This is useful if your tool management system or process uses serial numbers. - X Comp: Compensation measurement for cutter comp on CNC machines. - Z Comp: Compensation measurement for tool length on CNC machines. These three fields are all part of some upcoming Tool Data Management features. Basically, they contain the info you'd track if you're using a Tool Presetter. Stay tuned for more on this area as it develops! 10/31/10: Release 0.109
10/23/10: Release 0.108
10/19/10: Release 0.107 Some of the NumPost settings were a little too restrictive, especially for Mach3 programs. I tweaked them so fewer errors show. You may want to reset to defaults from that page to pick up these tweaks as otherwise you won't see them. 10/18/10: Release 0.106 Tools Tab: 10/15/10: Release 0.105
10/13/10: Release 0.104
10/11/10: Release 0.103
10/10/10: Release 0.102
10/9/10: Release 0.101
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Software |
Beginners: Soon! G-Code: Soon! CAD/CAM: Soon! Other Software: Soon! Machining: Soon! CNC Tech: Soon! Idea Notebooks: Soon!
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Projects |
Lathe: Soon! Mill: Soon! Router: Soon! 3D Printer: Soon! |
Resources |
Workshop Organization: Soon!
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