Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

Report files are necessary for getting help, but what do they contain? It looks like a .ZIP file of the CNCM directory. What do Acorn experts look for when reviewing Report files?

It is a zip file. Main items are the report.txt file inside and the log file contained inside the URF.zip file. These can be read with a text editor.

The report zip file also contains all your macro files so help can be given if you are having issues with these as well as all of the VCP files so modifications to that can be examined as well.

Most importantly, the entire zip can be restored on another computer for debugging and remote help purposes. When it is restored, it configures the remote computer EXACTLY like yours.

What Tom said.

I usually look first at the report*.txt file, for configuration settings and parameters: is this a mill or a lathe? How many axes? What are the revs/inch and counts/rev? What is the spindle RPM, and what are the spindle speed ratios for lower ranges, if any? To what values are the software travel limits for each axis set?

Beyond that, it depends on what the question was about.

The msg_log.txt file, from within the urf.zip archive, shows what error messages have appeared, including ones the user may not have noticed or mentioned.

The report*.zip file contains the PLC program source, so you can find out what functions are defined on (and presumably wired to) physical inputs and outputs.

Machine Parameters 911-940, displayed in the report*.txt file, tell what inputs are inverted, and what inputs and outputs are being forced on or off.

The cncm.hom file (or cnct.hom on a lathe) shows how the machine homes itself on powerup.

Thanks for the info!