Instructions

clicking the file name will also open it.) If you highlight a section of text and use the

Edit>Copy commands you can then open another program and use the Edit>Paste

commands from the menu to paste the lines of code into the new program. This editor

does not have the ability to automatically reload the program into the EMC interpreter

after a change. You will need to do that in EMC2 by selecting the file after saving it.

Backplot

[Backplot] will show the tool path that can be viewed from a chosen direction. “3-D” is

the default. Other choices and controls are displayed along the top and right side of the

pop-in. If you are in the middle of a cut when you press one of these control buttons the

machine will pause long enough to re-compute the view.

Along the right side of Backplot is the pop-in that you can display with the [SETUP]

button. This will show a small graphic that tries to show the angle you are viewing the

tool path from. Below it are a series of sliders that allow you to change the angle of view

and the size of the plot. You can rotate the little position angle display with these. They

take effect when you press the [Refresh] button. The [Reset] button removes all of the

paths from the display and readies it for a new run of the program but retains your

settings for that session.

Pop-in Tool

The tool page is pretty much like the others. You can set values here and they become

effective when you press the [Enter] key*. You can’t change tool offsets while the

program is running or when the program is paused. The [Add Tools] and [Remove Tools]

buttons work on the bottom of the tool list. Once a new tool has been added, you can use

it in a program with the usual commands.

*Always use the [Enter/Return] key at the right side of the normal alpha keyboard, not

the [Enter] key at the bottom right of the numeric keypad.

Limit switches

I felt that limit switches would add an unnecessary cost to the system when using stepper

motors with limited torque such as these. They have to be mounted in areas where they

are exposed to chips, oil and coolant creating more problems than they eliminate. The

Sherline mill is fitted with “hard stop” screws on the X and Y axes that limit travel. These

stops are the heads of cap screws fitted to the table and base and positioned to stop a

runaway axis without damage. If you make a programming error that would drive the

table into a crash situation by over-traveling, the table will encounter these hard stops

before damaging the leadscrews and nuts.

You could also locate a home position from these hard stops by stalling the stepper

motors against them. Of course you should do this in manual mode and by bringing the

table against the hard stop carefully in slow speed and "buzz" the motor against it. I

personally would find a different way of locating a home position, using the dials on the

handwheels for example, but it is an option for unusual situations

It should also be noted that the hard stop screw would have to be removed from the left

underside of the table in order to have the full 9 inches of advertised X-axis travel. With

the stop screw in place travel is about 8.65". Note also that Sherline now offers an