*.mtd File Structure

An *.mtd file has details of the solver needed to drive the machine tool. It also defines the attach points for the head and table of the machine tool. The remainder of the file is made up of objects called machine_part. There are two machine_part objects which must exist. They are called head and table. Their names must be written in lower case.

A machine_part can have:

• Other machine_part objects associated with it.

  Note: An axial component can be a child of another component, which is important when dealing with the various multi axis configurations.

• Axis controls associated with it.

• *.dmt files associated with it.

Axis controls can be:

• Linear or rotational movement.
• Rotary controls must have an address letter associated to them (typically designated as A, B or C).
• Travel and angular limits can be defined.
• X, Y and Z coordinates. X, Y and Z can be orientated anywhere as long as they are orthogonal.

The types of axis that can be configured are:

• simple_linear which requires direction.
• simple_rotary which requires a position and a direction.

When you want to create an *.mtd file, you can install the text editor on your computer, for example Notepad++.

An *.mtd can consist of 6 blocks:

1. Machine description (header).
2. Description of PostProcessor Solver.
3. Description attach points (table_attach_point and head_attach_point).
4. Description of static elements.
5. Description of the movable elements. The head.
6. Description of the movable elements. The table.

The following is an example *.mtd: