Capturing Predator MDC Information from NC Programs

Capturing Predator MDC Information from NC Programs

Overview

Predator MDC when used in conjunction with Predator DNC to send and receive NC programs to and from CNC machines has the added benefit of capturing valuable information. This includes Job number, Part number, and Operation number. In addition, we can automate the start of the Setup status based on a unique string found in the NC program. If you already have a header in your NC program that contains this information, we can configure Predator DNC to read this, assuming it starts with unique string such as PART=XXX or JOB=XXX. If not, this can be added to most post processors making the process relatively simple.

NC Program Requirements

  1. By default, Predator searches for the following strings to initiate the start of their respective components
    1. Job Time uses (JOB=XXXXX), e.g. (JOB=88395-1)
    2. Part Time uses (PART=XXXXX), e.g. (PART=P12954-1234)
    3. Operation Time uses (OP=XXXXX), e.g. (OP=10)
    4. Setup Time uses (SETUP)
  2. In the header of your NC program, you will need to insert these strings along with their values, see example below
%
O1234 (PROGRAM NAME)
(JOB=88395-1)
(PART=P12954-1234)
(OP=10)
...
...
...
M30
%

More Information

  1. Using this method requires the operator to download their NC programs each time they run a new job, part, or operation. 
  2. This will work with all serial and most Ethernet based communication methods

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