from our friends at Tormach
M1 functions as a “break” or “optional stop.” A couple of well-placed M1 commands in your program can allow you an extra check to make sure your tool offsets are where you think they are.
Your CAM won’t typically put these in, so you’ll have to add them to your program after the post. Consider the code snippet below:
N5 G90 G20
N10 M06 T2
N15 M03 S1200
N20 G00 X1 Y1
N21 G00 Z2
N22 M1
N25 Z0.1
N26 M1
N30 G01 Z-0.25 F5
N35 Y3
N40 X5
N45 X1 Y1 Z-0.125
N50 G00 Z1
N55 X0 Y0
N60 M05
N65 M30
(Absolute and inch programming)
(Tool change, Tool #2)
(Spindle on CW, at 1200 rpm)
(Rapid to X1,Y1)
(Rapid down to Z=2)
(Break)
(Rapid down to Z0.1)
(Break)
(Feed move down to a depth of .25”)
(Feed move to Y3)
(Feed to X5)
(Feed to X1,Y1,Z -0.125)
(Rapid up to Z1)
(Rapid over to X0,Y0)
(Spindle off)
(End of program)
Inserting lines N21, N22 and N26 into the existing code give you a chance for a sanity check on your tool offsets and may save you from an unanticipated crash. If you want, in addition to adding these lines near the beginning of the code, you can add them in a similar fashion after every tool change command.
Once you’ve got confidence in your program, most controllers can be set to ignore M1. Otherwise, you can always just go back through the program and delete each line that you added.
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