Acorn ATC Overview....Updated 4-15-21

[Centroid_Tech]

I'm glad that setting up the turret was easy. The virtual control should be working. Did you not use the Wizard to set all of your settings prior to getting the items for your turret? If not, then that explains why your VCP isn't working. All you have to do is set parameter 219 to 1 and then reboot the system. From the main screen, press F1(Setup)->F3(Config)->F3(Params).

All of the logic for the PLC program is in the acorn-turret.src file which is stored in the main c:\cnct directory.

[Mstcnc]

This one got me stumped.
I can repeat problem very simply by copying ATC files.

I have set everything in wizard and can get VCP to show, BUT instantly when I copy ATC files in cnct folder and reboot acorn and restart CNC12 then VCP is missing.
P219 is 1
In this state if I exit from CNC12 and open wizard, there in "operator control peripheral and VCP setup" page Virtual Control Panel setting is NO
If I change setting to YES ans save (+restart acorn and cnc12) VCP will show but atc will not work.

Any clue what is cause of this?

Kind regards Mika

[Centroid_Tech]

Please email support@centroidcnc.com with your TeamViewer ID and password so that I can log onto your system and see what's going on.

[TCandee]

Very glad to hear that ATC is going to be incorporated into the wizard. I started designing an ATC and realized I did not know how to set it up for the acorn or whether I would have enough inputs and outputs to do it. I am very new to all of this and learning is a slow painful process. I’ll be watching. Thank you!!!

[bmilam]

Any guess on time frame when the ATC might be incorporated into the Wizard? I'm needing to configure mine but I have to learn the PLC/Macro and wondering if this might become available in the near future so I could wait until then?

[Gary Campbell]

Bobby...
What are you needing the wizard for? The Macro folder that is circulating should have most of what is needed, other than your actual tool bin locations.

[bmilam]

The rack mount ATC macro seems pretty straight forward and I believe that I can edit that for what I need. When I set parameters in CNC 12 for ATC, I tried to open the tool bins and it mentioned something about changing the PLC. There wasn't a PLC in that file to work with so wasn't sure if I use a PLC that was in one of the other files or what. I'm learning as I go and just don't want to screw something up.

[cnckeith]

simple rack mount ATC's typically do not require any PLC mods.. its all in the macro....so all you do is use the PLC that is automatically generated by the Wizard. and edit the rack mount macro to suit your machine. post a fresh report.zip for tech support.

[bmilam]

Thanks for the response. I had misunderstood about needing the PLC and bins. I will have a chance to give it a shot in a couple of days.

[HoY]

Can I ask a noob-question?
I'm not completely new to CNC, but the reason I switched to acorn is I dont want to learn to program any new language. Aside from basic g-code, my programming skills are very very low.
With that in mind, I want to use the forked rack mount ATC macro in this file.

The question I have is here:
G53 G1 Z[#100] F10 ; Move Z down to the tool rack
                                                        ; put incremental movement here to move to engage finders

What is it expecting me to enter in the empty line here?
a simple gcode command to move the X axis +2 to engage the forks? or is it more than that?


I have another question, still ATC related, but perhaps not directly related to this macro.
I have a tool library of over 40 tools, but I only have space for 15 forks.
How hard would it be to have the software go pick up any called tools, but if a tool that is called for is not on the rack, it would move the gantry to a pre-defined location and instructs me to do a manual tool change, then "cycle start" to continue where it left off?

(in this example, my tool probe is tool 1, not left on the rack, while 2 through 16 will be on the rack and everything else will be manually changed)