PartMaker® Tech Note #090605:

Using PartMaker’s Output Control

Feature
Introduction
PartMaker Version 7.5 and higher includes the ability to manipulate the format of your
NC programming without any post processor modification through the use of the Output
Control dialog shown and explained below. Many of the post processor modifications
typically requested in the past can be addressed by simply applying the various options in
this dialog.

Using the “Output Control” Feature

The Output Control dialog can be accessed by clicking on the <Output Control>
button in the Post Options dialog. The Post Options dialog appears when generating an
NC program for the first time or can be accessed by choosing Post Options from the Job
Optimizer menu.

The Output Co ntrol dialog can be accessed by clicking on the <Output Control>
button in the Post Options dialog.
PartMaker Tech Note

The Output Control dialog is divided into a number of sections, with each section
giving the user various options for the control of their NC program formats. Each of
these options is explained below:

“Strip Comments” Section: This section address the removal of various types of
comments from an NC Program.

Comment Type: Clicking either the Round Brackets ( ) or Semicolon ; radio button
indicates to PartMaker which comment delimiters to look for when stripping data from
your NC program output. Some machine controls (i.e. Fanuc, Mitsubishi etc) use Round
Brackets ( ) to delineate comments while other controls (i.e. Siemens etc) use Semicolons
;

Tool Names: Checking this box will strip the output of any tool names in your NC
program output. Tool Names are assigned in the Rename To: field in the Tool Data
dialog as accessed from PartMaker’s Toolminder menu. Tool names are inserted into
the post via the use of the <tool-name> reserved word.

Tool Notes: Checking this box will strip the output of any tool notes in your NC program
output. Tool Notes are assigned in the Notes: field in the Tool Data dialog as accessed
from PartMaker’s Toolminder menu. Tool names are inserted into the post via the use
of the <tool-note> reserved word.

Face Names: Checking this box will strip the output of any output of Face Names in
your NC program output. Face Names are assigned in the Rename To: field in the
Setup dialog as accessed from PartMaker’s View menu (or by just clicking on the short
cut to the setup dialog in the upper left corner of each PartMaker Face Window). Face
names are inserted into the post via the use of the <face-name> reserved word.

Empty Comment Line: Checking this box will strip the output of any empty comments.
Empty comments can occur when a reserved word has no value assigned to it, for
example <tool-note> will have not value when the Notes: field in the Tool Data dialog is
left blank.

Face Notes: Checking this box will strip the output of any output of Face Notes in your
NC program output. Face Notes are assigned in the three Notes fields in the Setup dialog
as accessed from PartMaker’s View menu (or by just clicking on the short cut to the setup
dialog in the upper left corner of each PartMaker Face Window). Each Face Notes is
inserted into the post via the use of on of three reserved words, i.e. <face-note1>, <face -note2>
and <face-note3>, with each reserved word corresponding to each of three notes fields in the Setup
dialog.

Group Names: Checking this box will strip the output the name of any Group Symbols
(i.e. Part Features) in your NC program output. Group Names are assigned in the Cycle
Name: field in the Profile Group Parameters dialog as accessed from PartMaker’s Part

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 Using PartMaker’s Output Control Feature

Features menu. Group Names are inserted into the post via the use of the <group-name>
reserved word.

Text: Checking this box will strip the output any text comment “hard coded” into the
post processor.

“Convert Inch to Metric” Section:

Checking this box automatically convert a part programmed in the inch (or imperial)
system to metric. When programming a part in metric, this check box will appear as
follows: Convert Metric to Inch

“Text Output” Section: This section address format of text output in an NC Program.

Strip Spaces Between Characters: Checking this box will eliminate a spaces between
character in an NC program. For example, a line from NC program that appears as
follows:
G0 X4.0 Z-.05 M25
Will appear as follows after checking this box:
G0X4.0Z-.05M25

Strip Empty Lines: Checking this box will eliminate any empty spaces (i.e. blank lines)
from an NC program.

Strip Strings: Checking this box and typing a string in the space provided will strip the
output of that character string from an NC program. For example, if you wished to
eliminate all M1s from a program, just check this box and type “M1” into the field
provided.

“Numbers Output” Section: This section address format of numerical output in an

NC Program.

Strip Leading Zeros (e.g. 0.1 --> .1): Checking this box will strip the output of leading
zeros (i.e. 0’s to the left of the decimal place) from all numeric output in an NC program.

Strip Trailing Zeros (e.g. 1.0 --> 1.): Checking this box will strip the output of trailing
zeros (i.e. 0’s to the right of the decimal place) from all numeric output in an NC
program.

Strip Decimal Point (e.g. 1.0 --> 1): Checking this box will strip the output of trailing
zeros (i.e. 0’s to the right of the decimal place) from all numeric output in an NC program
when that value being output is the result of a Numeric Reserved word.
Important! You must also check the “Strip Trailing Zeros” box when using this
option.

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