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Southwestern Industries, Inc.
TRAK
EMX Knee Mill, Bed Mill & ProtoTRAK
EMX CNC Retrofit Safety, Programming, Operating & Care Manual
7.0
Programming
The ProtoTRAK EMX can be easily programmed to for a wide variety of parts in two and two and
½ axes.
A program is one or a series of
events
. It can either be a complete part, a set of operations on
a side or only a small number of cuts. It is necessary to create a program when you want the
CNC to machine the part for you.
7.1 Enter Program Mode and Assign a Program Name
To start programming, press MODE
and select PROGRAM softkey. For a new program to
be written, there cannot already be a program in the active or current program memory.
When you first enter Program Mode, you will encounter a screen that allows you to enter a
program name or to enter the program at different events.
Event 0 is where you can enter the program name. You can also get to Event 0 by pressing Page
Back from Event 1.
The program name is highlighted and you may enter a new program name at this point.
Program names are made up of up to eight numbers.
Note: It is not necessary to enter a program name. If none is entered and the INC SET or ABS
SET button is pushed, the system will assume the program name is 0.
The ProtoTRAK EMX automatically holds all of the completed events as you program in current
memory.
Choices at the beginning of Program Mode:
GO TO BEGIN
: puts Event 0 on the left side of the screen and the first event on the
right side.
GO TO END:
puts the last programmed event on the left side of the screen and the next
event to be programmed on the right side.
GO TO #:
enter the event number you wish to go to and then press SET. This puts the
requested event number on the right side of the screen and the previous event number
on the left.
Note: for a new program that has no Events, all the GO TO selections will take you to the
beginning, with Event 0 on the left and the Select an Event options for Event 1 on the right.
7.2 Programming Strategy and Procedures
The ProtoTRAK EMX makes programming easy by allowing you to program the actual part
geometry as defined by the print. The basic strategy is to select the softkey event type
(geometry) and then follow all instructions in the conversation line. When an event is selected,
all the prompts will be shown on the right side of the information area. The first prompt will be
highlighted and also shown in the conversation line. Input the dimension or data requested and
press
INC SET or ABS SET. For X or Y or Z dimension data it is very important to properly select
INC SET or ABS SET. For all other data either SET will do.
