Revisions: G-Code Transformations with the G-Wizard G-Code Editor

G-Wizard Editor is CNCCookbook’s G-Code Editor and Simulator. GWE version 0.138 was just uploaded the other day. Since it’s unfinished and still in Beta test, GWE is free until the Beta ends. Go ahead and click the link and sign up so you can play with it.

For this post, I want to talk about a unique feature in GWE called “Revisions”. Think of a Revision as a sort of automated editor that makes a particular change to your g-code. Examples of Revisions include:

• Adding or deleting spaces and blank lines.
• Adding or removing block skip characters (/) over sections of g-code.
• Changing capitalization
• Removing comments from blocks and commenting out or uncommenting blocks.
• Eliminating control, garbage, and other non-printing characters.
• Expanding tabs to spaces
• Renumbering block sequence numbers (“N” numbers)
• etc.

There’s a long list of Revisions that will eventually be added to GWE. “What’s so special about Revisions?” you ask. After all, a number of g-code editors have these capabilities.

It’s true, if Revisions were simply going to be commands you could trigger manually, they wouldn’t be that unique. Perhaps a little cleaner UI as they’re all organized together into the same format. Here for example is the Revision Chooser:

The list of Revisions…

As I say, if that’s all there is, it’s helpful, but not revolutionary. But, there are big plans for Revisions.

Referring to the screen shot, as you step the cursor through each Revision, its options appear below the list. Getting all Revisions to look the same and work through the same interface instead of being separate commands is the first step in realizing their potential. The goal is to make it possible to use the Revisions as automatic building blocks for transforming your g-code to follow the Best Practices you want for your shop.

Let’s say there’s a set of commands you have to perform on every g-code file to make it suitable for use. Perhaps you have an older machine that doesn’t have much memory, so you want to squeeze out all the spaces from the program. Another machine wants “G00″ not “G0″, but you’re used to typing “G0″ and just can’t kick the habit. With multiple machines and controllers, there may be subtle differences in the g-code one expects versus the other. In extreme, perhaps you have a newer lathe that has canned cycles like G71 and an older lathe that lacks G71. You like to program with G71. What if you had a Revision that could simulate the G71 and generate the G-Code to perform the same rough turning without G71?

That’s the promise of Revisions. We think they’ll be quite a revolution in the g-code world. Some of you are probably wondering why you’d want to look at the g-code at all–you’re used to your CAM program and the machine control and don’t want anything to come between them. There will be Revisions you may find useful too, as well as other reasons why a G-Code Simulator and Editor might be useful to you. Think of GWE as your Shop Floor Swiss Army Knife for fiddling with g-code in various ways. You don’t have to program g-code from scratch to get some use from it. Over time we’ll give you all sorts of ideas how.

Sounds hazy, I know, but stay tuned, and download GWE so you can start learning more about g-code editing.

Related posts:

1. G-Wizard G-Code Editor Gets a Little Touch of 3D Graphics
2. Close to Canned Lathe Cycles for G-Wizard G-Code Editor (G71 Sneak Peek)
3. New Home Page and Screen Shots for G-Wizard G-Code Editor
4. G-Wizard G-Code Editor Goes to Alpha Test
5. G-Wizard G-Code Editor is Open for Beta Testers!