Mechanical Engineering

.NC files GCODE are the industry standard for the control of CNC machines. Our applications make use of our own GCODE engine which is fully compliant with the ISO 6983 standard.

While there exists many variation of the standard using manufacturer specific codes, the code we generate sticks to the standard such that it should be possible to open it with any controller that is ISO 6983 compliant. We tested our GCODE engine around the KineticNC controller so we recommend you use the same controller to avoid possible issues with non-standard controllers. You should always refer to your controller manual to load GCODE files and we cannot offer assistance or support for setting up your machines.

Most of our applications uses tool radius compensation such that the generated paths does not depend on the actual tool width. In radius compensation path generation, you enter the tool width in your controller software and the machine automatically adapts the path to take into account the specified dimensions. This has many advantages as you can change the tool as you go but you can also take into account tool wear by measuring the actual tool diameter using a dedicated micrometer drive.

You will always select a tool diameter that is less than the smaller line segments and arc in the path you want to machine. It is advised to select a tool that is at least 0.5 mm less than this critical feature dimension. For instance, if you machine a slot of 5 mm diameter, it is recommended to select a tool diameter of 4.5 mm or less. Using a tool larger than 5 mm will result in an error. Using a tool diameter of exactly 5 mm is also not recommended because it usually slows down the machining process by forcing the machine to decelerate.