GWizard G-Code Editor and Simulator: Tips and Goodies

G-Wizard Editor: Tips and Goodies

Want to Type in CAPITAL letters except for comments?

This is the default for GWE. The option is controlled under the Tool menu and may be turned off.

Crunching Down a G-Code Program to Be As Small As Possible

Suppose you have an older CNC control that has very limited memory available. How can G-Wizard Editor help make a program that's too large to fit in the controller's memory smaller?

The answer is simple and easy: we'll use GWE's Revisions feature to delete all the unnecessary characters from the program. Note that you may wish to retain a copy of the program before you make these changes as they will make the program a lot harder to read. You may prefer the more legible copy should you need to go back and edit or understand the program!

Bring up the Revisions Tool (Tools Revisions menu choice) and use the following Revisions and options:

- Add/Delete Spaces: Select "Del Spaces", uncheck "Ignore Spaces in Comments, check "Treat tabs as spaces", and check "Delete blank lines." That takes out a whole bunch of white space which the controller doesn't need in order to run the program.

- Comments: Select "Delete Comments". The controller ignores comments so you can safely delete them.

- Control Chars: Uncheck "Convert tabs to spaces". The controller doesn't need any control characters hanging around. Hopefully there weren't any already.

The last step is even more drastic--deleting all the block numbers. You want to avoid that step if your program refers to block numbers, for example due to a canned lathe cycle like G71 referring through P and Q words to the block numbers for the beginning and end of the profile.

Otherwise, bring up "Renumber Blocks", check "Limit block numbers", but uncheck all the boxes under it. That means no blocks will be numbered, which will strip all the numbers from the program.

That's all there is to it. The savings should be fairly substantial.

Is The Backplot Really Messed Up With Giant Circles and Arcs?

If so, you probably don't have the arc options set right on the post. Go to Setup Post and try switching the absolute/incremental setting to the opposite of whatever it is now.