The XBUILD Formats menu enters specific program formats for the various blocks which can appear in a part program. Each format is made up of combinations of reserved words, literals, comments, and user-defined variables.
The Formats menu lists a number of general groups of formats:
- Program — These are formats that are used in almost every part program, and include commonly used formats (for example Program Start, Tool Change, Segment Start, Program End).
- Move — These formats include the rapid and feed moves which make up the largest portion of any part program (for example Rapid, Linear, Circular). You must define these program formats carefully.
- Macro — These formats include
Open Macro,
Close Macro,
Macro Call,
In-Macro Linear, and
In-Macro Circular.
Note: The Macro formats are not available for turn posts.
- Cycle — These formats include most of the canned cycles that are found in many controls (for example Deep Hole, Tap).
- Custom — A custom format is used as a place-holder for a block of code that may be used in several different formats. The system reserved word <INCLUDE:> is placed into the appropriate section of a format that uses the block of code from the custom format. Enter the name of the custom format after the colon: <INCLUDE: Custom Format Name>.
Each of these groups contains specific formats which, when selected, are displayed in the Formats editor.
Note: The formats use specific reserved words, which are discussed separately for each post type. For example, milling reserved words can be found under the
Mill Post section, turning reserved words can be found under the
Turn Post section and so on.