New fusion posts processor

#1

In the lasts weeks I was learning a lot of cnc, milling, and mpcnc itself. Also CAD and CAM with Fusion 360. I was playing with fusion posts processors (a kind of javascripts plugin that write Gcode from the CAM operations), and in order to learn more, I decided to write one posts processor from scratch, taking some great ideas from the other posts processors and from users suggestions in the forum.

Right now I’ve a version that I was using in the last week to laser cutting/engraving and 2D milling (sorry, not 2.5D milling tested yet) without issues.

Some design points:

  • Setup operation types: Milling, Water/Laser/Plasma
  • Only support MM units (inches may work with custom start gcode - NOT TESTED)
  • XY and Z independent travel speeds. Rapids are done with G1.
  • Arcs support on XY plane
  • Tested in Marlin 1.1.0RC8
  • Tested with LCD display and SD card (built in tool change require printing from SD and LCD to restart)
  • Support for 3 different laser power using “cutting modes” (through, etch, vaporize)

Please, have in mind that it MAY have bugs and/or errors, please take with care. It’s a work in progress, I’ll be adding functionality as my next projects (tool probe for example) need them, or new ideas comes.

I’ve published it in github if you want to fork/collaborate:

mpcnc_posts_processor-master.zip (4.89 KB)

#2

Wow! I’ll try it out today I hope, nice work.

#3

Nice clean code. I won’t have time to test but I think this will be a good base to build on. The code is well documented and easy to follow plus all the functionality from V10 is there too. Good Job Martin!

#4

Thanks Vicious, Leo!

#5

Much appreciated Martin! I will most likely give this a go today.
Neil

#6

Thanks to Karl for finding some errors with the custom properties that prevents the posts processor to run in some machines (windows?).

Code updated in git repository and attached here last version.

MPCNC_Mill_Laser.cps_.zip (3.38 KB)

#7

Just tried to process some files with your code and it really reduces the amount of gcode-commands compared with version V9 - I guess it’s because it enables the Circular G-commands (G2, G3)!
This project went from ~26 800 lines to ~19 700 (73 %)!

Another plus is the clean code -easily changeable to my own needs!
Keep up the good work!
/Kalle

#8

Double check how it handles small circles with actual cuts. I think marlin RC7 either is not tuned well for arcs or the code is bad. Small circles tend to get odd shaped. RC8 was supposed to have either fixed or optimized arcs.

#9

Are there any sources for what the process would look like for laser cutting on the MPCNC with this post processor. I’m familiar with CAD sketches and all that but I don’t know what the workflow would look like. What kind of set up should we do before post processing and which properties should we be tweaking?

#10

You have to enable the laser preview function in fusion. Then use the water jet/laser/plasma path in the cam section.

Here you have more details

https://www.v1engineering.com/forum/topic/fusion-360/page/4/#post-21221

#11

I’ve been testing out the Laser function of this post-processor with some good success. Except for the laser staying on at the end of the job it seems to work just fine. Now I just need to learn to do more than just outline text and logos in Fusion. EDIT: I should mention I’m still using RC7.

#12

Chris, do you have open an issue in github?
I can’t reproduce your error. Please can you post your gcode and how did you generate it in fusion?

#13

Yep, that’s me on github. I didn’t know where best to post the issue, here or there. I’ve updated the git issue with lots of details and my example file.

#14

Thank you. We continue the issue in github.