To begin with, I have many experience in Heidenhain controlled Mills and Fanuc Controlled Lathes. This machine we have not yet started using and I have little knowledge of Milling G codes and relatively new to Siemens Controls so bear with me a bit as I am inexperienced in Siemens.

We have this laboratory mill which  was manufactured in china by a reputable machine builder.  This machine had a handicap, because the tools are placed in a rack on the already small bed it has.   The issue is that we need to use the entire bed of the machine and wanted the tools away.    When the machine changes the tools, the machine would place the tools in one position and take the other from another position.

Now we designed a tool holder which slides towards the bed for the tool changing and retracts away from the bed when the tool changing is completed.  The Machine does not have a traditional tool changer which advances and rotates although there is the command in the PLC script.

I have a basic knowledge of Arduino scripts and built some 3D printers as the language is very similar but I wish someone could guide me.  some comments have the  ; mark which prevent the machine from reading.

The tool change is done via four user files which  I reproduce below.   Please I wish to know.

(1) what are the characters which are not alfa-numeric which the machine does not read ?

(2) The file has a lot of useless scripts in it left there by  the machine programmer.

(3) I do not know if the 4 files are useful.  It looks like the machine buiders just took an old file which they modified and did not bother to remove the unused scripts.

Please wish to hear some comments on these files.

THIS IS WHAT I WISH TO ACHIEVE IN THE END!

I have this tool holding jig we made which holds the tool holders.  It is moved back and forth pneumatically.   To make this work I need to power a 24V valve solenoid and have a magnetic sensor activated by the piston to make sure the jig with the tools is in position before the tool-change proceeds.

To make this possible can I use the tool changer in position signals? The PLC has the tool-change scripts as I have seen them in the system.

Now the tool positions (X & Y) are stored in the R Variables of the machine and are listed in the files as well.  I intend to have six tools instead of 4 tools which the machine  has (I altered the number of tools parameter as well)

I have just discovered that the machine has a G75 fixpoint approach which is not used in these scripts.

These are the file contents;-

[snip]

Dear Riddersholm,

I can`t load the arc file.  It is saying invalid file extension. I have tried even sending it through a PM with the same result.

it has a .arc extension.

Thanks and best regards.

Sputnik1

Dear Riddersholm,

I can`t load the arc file.  It is saying invalid file extension. I have tried even sending it through a PM with the same result.

it has a .arc extension.

Thanks and best regards.

 Hello Sputnik1,

only the following file types are supported in the forum: .pdf, .doc, .docx, .zip, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png, .ppt, .pptx, .avi, .mpeg, .mov, .mpg, .wmv, .xlsx, .txt 

Please follow Ridderholm's recommendation and zip your file. If the file is too large, please upload the file to a reputable file sharing host. I will then attach it here as a file. 

Best regards,
Jen_Moderator

[snip]

Many  thanks for your kind help

Hi Riddersholm,

The lubrication is working ok as desired.  I have now passed a cable with multistrands which can enable further connectionsa for the tool changer functions.

I have checked the I/O terminal X21 FAST  I/O

pins 2 , 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,10 are free.

In your pdf sheet you attached there is reference to this output but I do not have any idea how to utilize these.   When you are available please suggest the way forward or if you need some clarification let me know.  I thank you in advance for your assistance.

Best regards,

SPUTNIK 1