this becomes that

The following are notes on how to backup and restore Pathpilot without the $25 + shipping USB stick.

RexManning's guide, here, [screenshot 1 and 2] was critical in helping me find Pathpilot Jesus. Tormach's official guide is here.

Understand that I'm not trying tp screw Tormach out of $25 (no one reads this site anyhow), but I have bought more than TWO of these sticks, and lost them both. Also, your machine may be down RIGHT NOW, and you can't wait 2-5 days for delivery...

www.tormachtips.com/xboss.htm

Open a website via the MDI line.

Create a file with the following contents.... (click the link above)

Here is the edit to save time with the factory G37 ETS subroutine. The factory routine is much safer, but if you know what you're doing, this saves a lot of time.

Step 1 will alter the initial move to the ETS so it doesn't climb to the very top of the machine, wasting time.

Step 2 will alter the ending retract after you set a tool length, which also wastes time.

You can do either or both steps. This will probably not survive PathPilot updates. Perhaps David Loomes can chime in with...(click the link above)

This script will rise 1", travel to X0 Y0, then probe Z. Useful, for example, immediately after probing bosses in X and Y.

o<riseandcenter> sub

G1 F50 Z[#<_Z>+1 ]  (RETRACT TO SAFETY HEIGHT)
G1 F50 X0 Y0

G38.2 F20 Z[#<_Z>-2 ] (FAST PROBE UP TO 2" FROM STARTING POINT)
G1 F20 Z[#<_Z>+.05] (BACK OFF BRO)
G38.2 F1 Z[#<_Z>-.1 ] (SLOW PROBE)
G10 L20 P0 Z0 (SET PROBED LOCATION TO Z0)
#1 = #<_Z> (SET A VARIABLE FOR DEBUGGING)
G1 F20 Z[+1 ] (BACK OFF)

o<riseandcenter> endsub

I live in the city. In an American city. With presumably reliable electric service. That I pay through the nose for.

I also have not one, but two, gas generators, and because I went to the expense of putting in a bypass panel that allows me to run (most of) my house off those generators, we almost never lose power.

In 13+ years, I've lost service maybe six times at this property and only once longer than a few minutes...

TIME REMAINING will append the time-remaining to every line in your file. It can also append the time-remaining until the next op begins.

LINES REMAINING is the same idea and will append how many lines until the next op (or end of file) to each line in your program.

Now that I have your attention:

Are you ready to increase your workflow by an exponential amount? Are you ready to throw your mouse and touchscreen in the trash? Are you prepared to perform a mod so useful that you'll never be able to use your machine without it ever again???

In this article, I teach you how to write and bind hotkeys for every action imaginable. One-click zeroing? Yes. One-click probing? Yes. One-click whatever you want.

Everyone wants to receive notifications via gcode, but no one has written a clear, concise guide. Until now.

This is is a multi step process, but none of it is too difficult, nor is it harmful to the controller. But, you will be digging behind the scenes of the Pathpilot user interface.
You know what G0, M3, G54 do. Now, you're going to be using a new command called M101...

On the MDI line? Want to change G0 to G1? You might use your arrow keys to move the cursor over a letter or two.

Woops! The MDI line wasn't actually highlighted, so instead you jogged your machine. If your endmill happened to be next to your vise, oh well, it was only a $30 carbide bit. No biggie.

Here's how to fix that. [ coming soon ]

Well, I don't have an ATC, but I do have two feet and twenty tools to swap out. [ coming soon ]

There are a lot of videos and guides out there. Some work, some don't. Some are intuitive, some aren't.

Here's what I came up with that makes the most sense, and is simplest, for me. [ coming soon ]

And how to log into the machine (and control it!) from another computer, or even your phone. [ coming soon ]