Abbreviated List of Profiler Features

Insert Circle

Specify the centre and radius using the mouse. Alternatively, type in the coordinates of the centre and the radius.

Insert Rectangle

Specify opposite corners of the rectangle using the mouse. Alternatively, type in the coordinates of the first corner of the rectangle and then the coordinates of the opposite corner or the width (in the x axis direction) and height (in the y direction). The width and height may be positive or negative.

Insert Point

A single point (used, for example, to specify drill holes). Specify the point using the mouse. Alternatively, type in the x and y coordinates of the point.

Insert Polyline

Specify the successive points in the polyline using the mouse. Alternatively, a point can be specified by typing its x and y coordinates. The polyline can be inserted as a closed  polyline (i.e. as a polygon) or as an open polyline.

Insert Polyarcs

Specify the successive points in the polyarc using the mouse. The bulge on the line joining the specified points can be adjusted by moving the mouse as each point is inserted. Alternatively, the next point can be specified by typing its x and y coordinates together with a bulge factor. The polyarc can be inserted as a closed  polyarc (i.e. as a generalized polygon with arcs) or as an open polyarc.

Vertex

Select the nearest vertex to the current mouse position which is within the mouse selection area.

Centre

Select the centre of the nearest arc to the current mouse position which is within the mouse selection area.

Midpoint

Select the midpoint of the nearest line or arc segment to the current mouse position which has a point within its middle 3/5ths which is within the mouse selection area.

Intersection

Select the nearest intersection point to the current mouse position which is within the mouse selection area.

Left Justify

Move the drawing so that the bottom left corner of the x and y bounding box is at the origin of the x and y axes.

Top Justify

This is a 3D operation. Left Justify the drawing and (for 3D drawings) move the drawing  so that top of the bounding box is at the origin of the z axis.

Bottom Justify

This is a 3D operation. Left Justify the drawing and (for 3D drawings) move the drawing  so that bottom of the bounding box is at the origin of the z axis.

Rotate90

Left justify the drawing and then rotate it 90 degrees counterclockwise. Four successive rotations are equivalent to a left justification alone.

Mirror

Left justify and mirror the drawing in the y axis. Two successive mirrorings are equivalent to a left justification alone.

Change origin

It is possible to change the position of the drawing by a translation (in the x and y plane only). A translation is specified by defining a new position for the origin, relative to the current origin.

Move

Selected shapes can be moved  from a specified base point by a relative or an absolute distance in the x and y directions. The move can be specified using mouse operations or by typing in the x and y values of the new base point.

Copy

Selected shapes can be copied  from a specified base point by a relative or an absolute distance in the x and y directions. The move can be specified using mouse operations or by typing in the x and y values of the new base point.

Rotate

Selected shapes can be rotated from a specified base vector by a relative or an absolute angle. The rotation can be specified using mouse operations or by typing in the coordinates of the base vector and the angle of rotation.

Scale

Selected shapes can be scaled by a non-zero positive multiplicative factor around a specified base point by typing in the scale factor.

Adjust Bulge or Radius

Individual line and arc segments of a shape can be modified by adjusting their bulge factor or radius. This can be done using the mouse to select and drag the segment or by typing in a new bulge factor.

Adjust Vertex Position

Vertex positions can be modified. This can be done by using the mouse to select and drag the vertex or by typing in a new vertex position. If a segment adjoining the vertex which is being modified is an arc then the original start point and mid-point of this arc together with the new vertex position are used to define the new arc.

Change the start position

All shapes have a starting position shown by a small indicator which also shows the direction in which the shape will be cut. For closed shapes the start point can be set to any arbitrary point on the shape by using the mouse pointer. For open shapes the start point can only be at either end of the shape.

Erase

Shapes can be selected and removed from the drawing. One level of Undo is provided.

Reverse Direction

The cutting direction of a shape can be reversed.

Set Directions Automatically

This operation automatically sets the shape directions according to whether or not a shape is contained within another shape. This operation is useful when cutting a collection of closed shapes for which some shapes are contained within others. In this situation it is often necessary to cut internal shapes in a clockwise direction and outside shapes in a counter-clockwise direction. The operation works for multiple levels of containment.

Join

Join selected open shapes which have their endpoints within a specified distance.

Break

Break a shape at a selected point. This operation is particularly useful for introducing small tags around a shape which will hold the shape in position while it is being cut. It can also be used for trimming shapes or erasing small sections of shapes.

Pause

Select shapes to be pause shapes: the machine will automatically pause at these shapes. The machine will only continue cutting the shape when the operator chooses to.

Full Sequencing

The sequence can be defined by selecting each shape in turn in the required order of cutting. The sequence can be displayed in order and shapes deselected or selected to change the order.

Reverse Sequencing

The sequence of cutting is reversed.

Automatic Sequencing

Automatically set the sequence of shapes so that shapes contained within other shapes are cut first.

The containment relation between shapes defines a hierarchy in which the shapes not contained in any other shape are at the top level, shapes contained within these shapes are at the next level and so on.

Level Sequencing

This operation can be useful when the drawing has a clear containment of shapes within other shapes. The operation allows just the sequence within a selected level within a containing shape to be changed.

Status

The status of a group defines whether or not shapes in the group will be cut. If the status is on  then shapes will be cut (shapes in the group are drawn on the screen as usual) and if it is off  then the shapes will not be cut (shapes in the group are either drawn dashed or not at all, depending on a user selection).

Traversal Shape

A traversal shape is not cut but is instead followed at maximum speed.

Tool Type

The tool type can be 1, 2 or 3. Each tool type has associated with it two hardware output bits: the tool control bit and the tool cut bit.

Group Cut Speed

The maximum machine tool cutting speed (in mm/minute) can be set to be a different value for each group. 

Cut Height Type

There are three possible types of cutting height for groups:

THRU  - the shape is cut at the machine position defined by Zbottom;

3D - the shape is three-dimensional and each point of the shape includes a z axis value.  The z axis value defines the height above the machine position defined by Zsurface.

MM - this type requires a distance value d to be specified: the shape is cut at the height Zsurface + d , with positive values of d being above Zsurface and negative values being below Zsurface.

Multipass

If multi-pass is on then shapes in the group are machined more than once. Usually this means that several passes are made to cut the one shape, with each pass at a different depth (or negative height) below the surface.

Distance per Pass

If multi-pass is on then the cutting distance per pass must also be specified.

Offset

Offset shapes by a specified distance (in mm). The offset can be positive or negative.

Double Line

If double line is on for a group and the group offset is not zero then both the positive and negative offsets are created.

Tag

A tag is a small section of uncut material at the beginning of a shape. If a tag distance greater than zero is set then machining of the shape does not begin at the start position but rather at a distance from the start of the shape specified by the tag distance.

Lead-In Radius and Angle

Specifies the radius of an arc and the angle of the arc to be added at the start of the shape. The arc is made to be tangential to the start of the shape.

Lead-Out Radius and Angle

The same as for lead-ins but applied at the end of the shape.

Machine Steps per Unit

This gives the number of machine steps necessary to move a unit of distance on each axis. For the x, y and z axes this gives the number of steps (or microsteps) equivalent to a millimetre of movement. For the w axis this gives the number of steps (or microsteps) equivalent to a degree of rotation.

Axis Lengths

The machine dimensions for each of the x, y and z axes. This enables soft bounds to be calculated if the homing position on each axis is known.

Maximum Speeds

The maximum machine speed on each axis in the appropriate units: mm/s for the x, y and z axes and degrees/s for the w axis.

Maximum Accelerations

The maximum machine speed on each axis in the appropriate units: mm/s/s for the x, y and z axes and degrees/s/s for the w axis.

Motor Directions

The positive direction of the motors for each axis. This can either be forwards or backwards.

Limit Movement

Determines whether or not machine movement on the x, y and z axes will be limited by the soft bounds of the machine determined by the home position on the axis and the axis length.

Fast Homing Speeds

This defines the axis speeds for the fast homing period on each axis.

Slow Homing Speeds

This defines the axis speeds for the slow homing period on each axis.

Distance Off Homing Switches

This defines a distance off the precise homing switch position for each axis.

Z Origin

This is usually the home position situated at the top of the z axis where  Z=0.

Z Top

The machine tool moves to this height when not machining and when moving between shapes.

Z Surface

This defines the surface of the job from which heights are calculated. Heights are specified in the group data as either a positive or negative height in mm or as 3D (where heights are defined within the CAD drawing format for each shape).

Z Bottom

This is the bottom limit of the machine tool movement on the z axis. The machine can only drive below this position when Z bottom is being redefined. The machine tool moves to this position when cutting shapes in groups which have the height attribute set to THRU.

Machine Cutting Speed

This is the maximum machine cutting speed. It cannot be set to be greater than the maximum speed of the machine on the x and y axes. 

Machine Plunging Speed

This is the maximum machine speed when the machine moves from Ztop to the correct cutting height for shapes for which the height attribute is set to THRU or to MM.

Router Start Delay

A time delay in seconds. This delay occurs at the first shape of the job after the router control bit is turned on.

Air Tool Delay

A time delay in seconds. This delay occurs at each shape immediately after the head control bit is turned on and immediately after the head control bit is turned off at the end of each shape.

Bottom Delay Type

The bottom delay can be either : a timed delay specified in seconds or a wait time which finishes when the BottomDelayInput goes high.

Bottom Delay Time

This is the time in seconds to wait before cutting commences.

End Delay Time

This is the time in seconds to wait once the end of a shape is reached and the head cut bit has been turned off and before raising the machine tool.

End Delay Intensity

During the end delay time, if the machine is using an intensity output (see below) then this parameter gives the value of the intensity in the range 0 to 127 during the end delay time.

Raise On Pause?

If RaiseOnPause is set to yes then when the pause key is hit during the machining of a job or during a MoveTo operation then the machine comes to a stop and then moves upwards to the predefined position Z Top on the z axis. 

Parallel Port Output

One of the PC parallel ports (either LPT1 or LPT2) is used to output a desired intensity as a function of the machine speed. To accommodate the potential non-linearity of the desired intensity as a function of the machine speed Profiler enables the user to specify a mapping table for the intensity.

Step Output

A byte of information controlling the next motor step on all (up to four) axes. The rate at which steps are output depends on the scaling and speed of the machine. Typical values might be 250 steps/mm and 200mm/second giving a rate of 50,000 steps/second.

Control Byte Output

The bits of the control byte have the following meaning:

Tool 1 Control: details of the tool control and cutting bits are given in the Timing Diagram examples.

Tool 1 Cutting

Tool 2 Control

Tool 2 Cutting

Tool 3 Control

Tool 3 Cutting

Router Control

Job Running

Status Byte Input

The bits of the input status byte have the following meaning to Profiler:

Zhome:   indicates when the homing switch for the z axis is on.

Whome: this bit currently has two uses, depending on the type of tool being used. If the rotational w axis is being used then this bit indicates when the homing switch for the w axis is on. If, however, the plasma startup sequence is being used then this bit is indicates when the plasma is too close to the material.

Xhome:   indicates when the homing switch for the x axis is on.

Yhome:   indicates when the homing switch for the y axis is on.

Zhigh: used during height control to indicate that the machine is too high. When this becomes 1 the machine stops any upwards movement and begins to move down on the Z axis.

BottomDelay: This is a signal which goes from 0 to 1 to indicate when to end a bottom delay at the beginning of cutting a shape. It is used if the bottom delay is of type Wait fir Input.

Emergency Stop: If this bit goes high then the machine decelerates to a stop, sets all output bits to zero, raises the z axis if RaiseOnPause is set and allows the operator to control the subsequent operation of the machine.

Zlow: used during height control to indicate that the machine is too low. When this becomes 1 the machine stops any downwards movement and then begins to move up on the Z axis.

Maximum Speed

This is the maximum speed attainable on the z axis during height control.

Maximum Acceleration

This is the maximum acceleration to be used on the z axis during height control.

Activation Speed

This specifies a percentage of the current cutting speed above which height control will become active for THRU shapes. If this value is 0 then the height control will be active whenever the machine is cutting a shape with height attribute set to THRU. This can be useful for controlling plasma cutting.

Initial Height

When the plasma starts cutting a shape it moves down until it detects the Too-Close bit (Input Bit 1, see the Input/Output section). It then moves up from this point by the specified Initial Height distance.

Initial Wait Time

Once the Initial Height position is reached the program waits for the EndBottomDelay input. When  the EndBottomDelay goes high the program waits without doing anything until the specified Initial Wait Time expires. This helps to ensure that the plasma arc starts correctly.

Debounce Time

Once cutting begins after the Initial Wait Time, the arc could still be turning on and off. In order to wait for it to stabilize the EndBottomDelay input is ignored for the specified Debounce Time. After the debounce time has expired if the EndBottomDelay input goes high then the machine is automatically paused.

Fast Homing Speeds

This defines the speeds for the fast homing period on each axis.

Slow Homing Speeds

This defines the speeds for the slow homing period on each axis. A value of zero means that a fast but less accurate form of homing is performed.

Distance Off Homing Switches

This defines a distance off the precise homing switch position for each axis. This is used to ensure that the machine origin is off the switch position.

Plasma Parameter

Description

Output the Intensity?

Selects whether the intensity as a function of the current speed and current cutting speed will be output to the parallel port.

Do Height Control?

Selects whether or not the machine height control will be used for THRU shapes.

Use Plasma Startup Sequence?

Selects whether the machine will use the plasma startup sequence when beginning to cut.

Using Laser?

Selects whether or not a laser tool is being used. If a laser is being used then it is also necessary to specify the type of laser.

Is the laser a Pulse Width Modulated laser?  Pulse width modulated lasers use a different laser control card.

Do Double Job Start?

The machining of jobs is most commonly controlled from the hand console (see the detailed description below). Usually when the Start button on the hand console is pressed the machine will perform preliminary actions, such as homing the z axis, and then wait for further instructions from the operator. If DoDoubleStart is set to No then when the Start button on the Hand Console is pressed the machine will perform the preliminary actions for job cutting and then immediately start the job at the first shape.  

Use Tangential Axis?

Selects whether or not a tangential axis is being used.

Minimum Drawing Time

When the machine is moving its position can be drawn on the screen. Since drawing can take a considerable time it may sometimes interfere with the motion of the machine. The Minimum Drawing Time parameter controls when this drawing will occur as a function of the speed of the machine.

Automatic Homing Control

The homing of the machine on each of the axes can be configured to be done automatically at the start of the Profiler  program and at the start of each job.

Smoothing Factor

The smoothing factor is related to the allowed distance between the line segments and the resulting smoothed curve. The larger the value of the smoothing factor the more segments will be included in path smoothing. 

Stop Angle

If the turn angle of line segments outside a smoothed section of the path is less than the Stop Angle then the machine will not slow down at the turning point.

Move to Home

The machine will move to the home position on the selected axes.

Move to Job Origin

The tool will move to the current job origin position on the x and y axes.

Move to Job Finish

The tool will move to the current job finish position on the x and y axes.

Arrow Keys

The arrow keys on the keyboard keypad (or on the Hand Console described in a later section) enable direct movement of the tool.

CutMoveTo

Move the machine to a new position by specifying the x and y coordinates relative to the current job origin position. If this function is used with cutting selected then the move will be done as if it is part of a job.

MoveTo

Move the machine to a new position by specifying the x, y and z coordinates, whether it is a relative or an absolute move and whether it is a 2D move in the x and y directions followed by a z move or a true 3D move.

Port

This is the communications port for sending files between an office computer running the editing-only version and the computer controlling the machine. It can have values of 1, 2, 3 or 4.

Speed

The required baud rate which should be between 2400 and 38400.

Port to IRQ Mapping

The Interrupt Request line (with a value of 1, 3, 5 or 7) for each COM port (1,2,3 and 4). This is also used for the Hand Console communication settings.

Password protect configurations?

If set to yes then the dialogues for changing the machine configuration and general options require a password to be used.

Do double job start?

If set to yes then when a job is started the user is provided with ability to set the shape at which to start cutting.

Do automatic homing at program start?

This controls the homing of each axis when the program is started. The x, y and z and w axes can be controlled separately.

Do automatic homing at job start?

This controls the homing of each axis when a job is started. The x, y and z and w axes can be controlled separately.

Path vertex filtering distance

Close points can be filtered out by setting the path vertex filtering distance to an appropriate value. If the filtering distance is 0 then no filtering is done. 

Default joining distance for shapes

The join operation requires the specification of a joining distance. This option shows the default value which will be used.

Mouse selection radius (pixels)

When selecting a shape with the mouse the shape only becomes selected if the selection point is within the specified number of pixels of the shape.

Parallel port (1 or 2)

For some machines such as a laser with intensity control the intensity is output on the selected parallel port.

Show each shape with its group colour?

If  set to yes then each shape is displayed using its group colour.

Show Smoothed Paths?

Paths can be smoothed. This option allows the smoothed path to be displayed in yellow.

Show shapes in groups which are turned off as dashed?

If set to yes then each shape is displayed using the current display method but with shapes in groups which are turned off being displayed using dashed lines; If set to no then shapes which are in groups which are off are not displayed at all. 

Show path vertices (as black crosses)?

If set to yes then the vertices in each shape are displayed as small black crosses.

Show filtered path vertices (as blue crosses)?

If set to yes then the vertices which will be filtered in each shape are displayed as small blue crosses.

Window expansion factor (%)

This factor is used to expand the displayed window size