OreTek MicroMill user's Manual

Interactive user interface

Command reference:
acc0 Bore dec0 delay Dinc Drill Edge Enable Excesserror Face Facep1p2 font home jog ipb minvel move prompt proxy rdrill rstep spindle text tool tc vel Xystep

command: acc0 value
purpose: defines the linear acceleration window
description:
For encoder based systems, defines the number of encoder steps to accellerate from velocity minvel to velocity vel. For stepper motor systems, defines the number of steps to accelerate from minvel to vel. The servo version can now set this value on the fly in cnc files. To change from the default as defined in ot.ini, this command should immediately follow any enable commands.

See also: vel minvel dec0 enable jog

command: bore x,y,z,z2 d1,d2 r1,r2 [a1,a2]
purpose: to bore a hole or round an edge
description: Starting at x,y,z,z2, an inner and outer radius is defined. If angle a1 and a2 are not defined, a hole is bored to depth d1 and d2, otherwise, a portion of hole is bored from r1 to r2, from angle a1 to a2

Video of bore
Video #2 of bore
Video #3 of bore

It more efficient to bore a single path than to have a value smaller in r1 than r2, simply because traversing inword occurs at minvel speeds. For prototyping, however, it's easier to do in just one command, letting xystep and rstep define the increments. R1 should be less than r2 if there is a threat of a smaller part flying out of the machine as a result.

See also: xystep dinc rstep

command: dec0 value
purpose: defines the decelleration ramp from vel downto minvel
description:
For encoder based systems, defines the number of encoder steps to decelerate from velocity vel down to velocity minvel. For stepper motor systems, defines the number of pulses to decelerate from velocity vel downto velocity vel.

See also: vel minvel acc0

command: delay value_in_ms
purpose: causes a delay of value ms
description:
example
delay 2000
causes a delay of 2 seconds

See also:

command:dinc value
purpose: Sets the depth increment in facing and boring operations (IPM)
description:
Defines the depth per pass in boring and facing operations, unless overridden by supplying a dinc value.

See also: bore facep1p2 face

command: Drill x,y,z,z2 d1[,plunge],[xoffset,xcount,yoffset,ycount]
purpose: Used to drill holes at a given coordinate with an optional plunge to prevent binding of the drill.
description:
For a regular hole, this command moves to location x,y,z1,z2 and drills to depth d1 in plunge increments if specified. If xoffset,xcount,yoffset,ycount are defined, this command drills an array of holes starting at x,y,z1,z2 and drills an array of holes in one neat little command.

drill 1,1,1,0,1.5 ; Drill a hole to a single location
drill 1,1,1,0,1.5,0.5 1.0,5,1.0,5 ; Drill 25 holes evenly spaced 1"x1" 1.5" deep in 0.5" increments
drill 1,1,1,0,1.5,0.5 1.0,5 ; Drill 5 holes evenly spaced 1" by X 1.5" deep in 0.5" increments
drill 1,1,1,0,1.5,0.5 0,1,1.0,5 ; Drill 5 holes evenly spaced 1" apart 1.5" deep in 0.5" increments

See also: Bore rdrill

command: edge axis+/-
purpose: To determine the edge of a part with a digital edge finder
description: Axis can be x,y,z,a,c in a positive or negative direction. For c, the edge finder is used to find the center of a hole, and offsets are irrelevent.

Examples: edge z-
This command touches down on the part. edge c+
From the current position, the tool looks for the 4 edges and sets offsets to the centerpoint. Recommended is to perform this command twice in succession for accuracy, unless the hole is damaged. Direction +- is ignored but required. edge x+
Moves right until an edge is found.
A calibration table is required to assure that the edge finder matches tools. The reason for this is that the proximity sensor seems to have different detection for different diameters. For z and a, recommended is to use the following offsets as calibrated using calibrate.cnc, a digital depth gauge and a hole located in the prep section of the file. For some edge finders, center post grinding is required to true up the edge finder. In this case, put in ot.ini the following:

[mill]
edge=0.xx ; Radius of edge finder

Tool offsets
Tool	Delta1	Delta2	Delta3	avg	Comments	Part Number	Vendor

1/4" drill	0.0650	0.0649	0.0649	0.0649			http://www.use-enco.com
1/4" endmill 2 flute	0.0347	0.0347	0.0347	0.0347			http://www.use-enco.com
1/4" endmill 4 flute	0.0250	0.0251	0.0251	0.0251			http://www.use-enco.com
1/2" 4 flute	0.0212	0.0213	0.0214	0.0213			http://www.use-enco.com
1/2" ball noze endmill	0.0489	0.0491	0.0488	0.0489			http://www.use-enco.com
#25 drill	0.0723	0.0721	0.0720	0.0721			http://www.use-enco.com
#36 drill	0.0789	0.0789	0.0790	0.0789			http://www.use-enco.com
13/64 drill	0.0510	0.0510	0.0510	0.0510			http://www.use-enco.com
13/64 endmill	0.0391	0.0396	0.0394	0.0394			http://www.use-enco.com
1/8" ball nose	0.0743	0.0739	0.0739	0.0740			http://www.use-enco.com
3/4" ball nose	0.0124	0.0124	0.0122	0.0123
1" double angle cutter	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	Adjust offset for calibration (hole in bottom)

Proximity X location	18.9900	19.2770		19.1335	Not important to calculations above.
Proximity Y location	22.9600	23.2860		23.1230	This is just my current machine configuration F11

command: enable value
purpose: Enables/disables the machine
description:
In brief, the beginning of any program enables the machine with an enable 1 command, and at the end, enable 0. When disabling, all motors are shut off, including the spindle

See also: spindle

command: excesserror encoder pulses
purpose: To establish how much excess error on position will shut down the machine
description:

Occasionally, a failure will cause an axis to run away, or produce error due to a mechanical resistance. When this happens, the machine will shut down. On Techno-isel routers, the failure will also include which axis is having trouble. Typically, excess error should be 1 rotation of the motor*4 pulses.

example:
[b] Excesserror 2000[/b]

Excess error is defined as the difference from the theoretical position to the actual position. See also:

command: face x,y,z,z2 w,l d1,d2 [xystep dinc]
purpose: faces an object starting at x,y,z,z2 accros w,l to depth d1,d2
description:
For a given operation face will operaton a rectangle either by the supplied xystep or a default value, shifting its vertical position in dinc steps at a time until reaching d1 and d2 for each z axis.
Face Video

See also: xystep dinc facep1p2

command: Facep1p2 x,y,z,z2 z,y,z,z2 d1,d2 [dinc]
purpose: To face from point1 to point 2 at a given depth in dinc increments.
description:
This is usually used as a followup to the face command to clean up edges, but can be used for many other functions. For example, milling to a given depth with a ball nose endmill could produce a channel. Unlike the face command, facep1p2 does not have to be rigidly defined by X or Y. However, the z coordinates should be equal unless a ball nose endmill is used simply because of the chatter that would occur, but this too is not required.

See also: face

command: FONT xscale,yscale,penheight,depth
purpose: Defines the font to be used for inscribing of information
description: This command defines the BGI font to use for inscribing of information onto a part, it's scale factor, how much to clear the part during moveto commands, and how deep to scribe into a part. Additionally, and for proper scribing, a tool must be assigned to the font type, to assure precision in scribing This command only works with Stroked fonts.

Example: font simp,0.5,-0.5,0.1,0.020
See also: tool Text Vel

command: home
purpose: home to limit switches
description:
Seeks first to Z home switches, and then to X and y concurrently. While it's possible to home all 4 axis at once, this is unsafe on some occasions.

See also: proxy

command: ipb value
purpose: defines in position band
description:

In order to assure fluidity of motion, in position band determines how close to a target position until it is considered close enough to proceed to the next point.
See also:

command: JOG VEL
purpose: Establishes Jog velocity
description:
This command establishes the jog velocity for all operations.

See also: vel minvel acc0 dec0

command:minvel value
purpose: Sets the velocity in inches per minute (IPM)
description:
Sets the minimum velocity to start an acceleration or decellloop

See also: vel acc0 dec0 jog

command: move x,y,z,z2
purpose: From the current position, move to position x,y,z,z2
description:
This move is relative to the proximity sensor and any offsets. See also:

command: Prompt Display this text to user
purpose: displays a message and waits for keypress
description:
Displays message to operator, and if any key other than esc is pressed, continues. If esc is pressed, the program is aborted.

See also:

command: proxy value
purpose: seeks to proximity switch #value
description:
Proxy 1 seeks to z proxy
Proxy 2 seeks to z2 proxy

Video of proximity sensor setup
See also: home

command: rdrill x,y,z1,z2 radius,sangle,astep,count depth,[plunge]
purpose: To drill holes along an arc description: This command is used to drill holes around a radius point in given increments of degrees (astep), starting at sangle and continuing until count holes are drilled. If Plunge is not defined, plunge depth is equal to depth.

See also: Bore drill

command: rstep value
purpose: to control the resolution of radial movements
description: defines positional stepover for radial motion.

Example: rstep 0.005
Each increment in a radial operation calculates its move as a step of 0.005" increments. Usually, this value is closer to 0.001 or lower for a proper finish. This value should be greater than the value in any direction a step takes, or an encoder takes for Servo based systems.
See also: bore

command: spindle value
purpose: turns the routers on and off
description:
spindle 1 turns the routers on
spindle 0 turns the routers off

See also:

command: text x,y,z,a "Text to scribe"
purpose: to scribe text into a part
description: at location x,y,z and rotation a, text is scribed into the part, using the font selected by the font command. Unlike most programming languages, closing quotes are not required

font scri,0.5,-0.5,0.1,0.020
prompt Insert Scribing tool
tool 7
proxy 1
tc
text 1.25,1,15,0.5 "OsiruSoft Research and Engineering"

See also: font

command: tool # [radius depthcomp]
purpose: Defines a tool offset and radius for a given tool, or optionally sets the tool to be used for offsets
description:

For each tool definition, a radius and depth offset is assigned.
Example for a 1/2" endmill
;Tool 0 0.1 0.00 This is the hard coded definition of the edge finder but can be overridden with tool 0 radius 0.00
Tool 1 0.25 -0.005
tool 1 ; Assign offsets using tool 1 definition
edge x+ 0.1 ;assigns tool 0 and finds edge.

Special note: This command is very dynamic, as home, proxy, and edge commands automatically revert to tool 0. Whenever you home, proxy or change tools, you need to assign a tool so that the machine can adjust for it. See also: edge bore facep1p2 face drill

command: tc
purpose: Moves to the system tool change position
description:

As with the homing sequence, tool change involves first moving from the current location to tool change Z. Afterwards, x and y are moved to tool change. Because this position is used for milling orthotics, this position is in millimeters.

Interactive user interface

From the router screen, the following keys are available:

Keyboard commands
Key	Purpose	Detailed
Esc	Abort prompt	For most time critical operations, provides an interface to abort the current program
F1	Turns on the spindle
F2	Turns off the spindle
F3	Enables the micromill	This happens automatically in MicroMill codes and in machining foot orthoses
F4	Disables the micromill	This happens automatically after 30 minutes idle and in MicroMill (*.cnc files) code
F5	Loads and runs a micromill cnc file
F6	Settings	Generic OreTek Settings menu
F7	Various Mill settings
F8	Makes adjustments for an OreTek plate
F9	Jogs the Z-Axis down
F10	Jogs the Z-Axis up
F11	Sets proximity sensor coordinates
F12	Runs a binary Oretek Machine Code file	These files are proprietary to OreTek
PG DN	Decreases feedrate	Decreases feed rate by 10%
PG UP	Increases feedrate	Increases feed rate by 10%
Home	Homes all axis	Homes Z first, and then x and y
Right	Jog X+
Left	Jog X-
Up	Jog y+
Down	Jog Y-
+	Jig increment 10%
-	Jog decrement 10%
G	Gauge cuts for Machine code file	Homes the machine if necessary, and performs a gauge cut test
J	Jog increment entry	Allows the jog step to be set directly
P	Proximity test	Finds the end of the tool, using a proximity sensor.
Z	Home Z	Homes the Z axis only
T	Tool change	Moves to tool change position
Q	Quit	Quit