The features of linuxcncMulti
What a retrofit with linuxcncMulti gets beyond the stock LinuxCNC: several channels in one real-time core, a path planner with look-ahead and curvature-continuous blends, 5-axis transformations, a tool management with tool life monitoring, a process monitoring that detects a tool break from the spindle or axis load, and the engineering tools around it.
Multi-channel machining
Up to several channels, each with its own program, interpreter and path planner, run side by side in one real-time core: main and counter spindle, turret and milling head, or the tool changer as a channel of its own that prepares the next tool while the part is being cut. Channel 0 behaves exactly like stock LinuxCNC, so existing single-channel configurations keep running.
- Wait marks between the channels, evaluated in the real-time part, not in the user space
- Axis exchange between channels (GET, GETD, RELEASE), channel-specific axis names such as X1 and X2, master spindle with SETMS
- INIT and START of other channels from the program, operating state, errors and alarms per channel
- Synchronized actions in Siemens syntax: ID/IDS WHEN DO, DELDTG, RDISABLE, command axes, H functions
- Siemens program language: R parameters, DEF, GOTO, REPEAT, IF/WHILE/CASE, asynchronous subprograms (ASUP) and event programs
Path planner with look-ahead
The planner runs jerk-limited S-curve profiles with a look-ahead over up to 2000 segments, so short CAM segments of 0.2 to 2 mm run at the programmed feed instead of a fraction of it. Corners get curvature-continuous polynomial blends within the G64 tolerance – the counterpart of Siemens G642 with SOFT – and 5-axis programs are compressed like with COMPCAD: micro-segments with orientation changes are merged within a path and an orientation tolerance.
- Jerk limits per axis and for the path, acceleration overload at blend arcs like MD32310
- Blends with rotary motion on a Hermite curve: orientation rate and acceleration stay continuous
- Compressor for 5-axis CAM output (G64 Q with orientation tolerance, ORISON counterpart)
- Joint limits under non-identity kinematics, planner diagnostics as HAL pins, a benchmark configuration
5 axes and kinematic transformations
TRAORI with tool centre point control for head, table and mixed kinematics, TRANSMIT for face machining and TRACYL for cylinder surfaces on a lathe, switched on from the program per channel, with the data sets in the INI file. Orientation is programmed as angles or vectors (A3, B3, C3); the tool length acts inside the transformation.
- TRAORI, TRANSMIT, TRACYL, TRAFOOF per channel
- Jogging in the tool coordinate system (TCS) along the inclined tool
- 3D machine model and workpiece with material removal in the operator panel
Tool management with tool life monitoring
A tool file per channel with magazines, buffer places (spindle, grippers) and load points, kept in the operator panel: magazine strip, table and details. Every tool carries its tool life by count or time with set point, actual value, pre-warning and lock; when a tool is used up, the sister tool takes over automatically and the changer sequence runs as an asynchronous subprogram.
- Sister tools and automatic sister change, SETPIECE, TOOLSET and tool data from the program
- Magazines 1…9997, buffer 9998, load magazine 9999 like Siemens: MVTOOL, TCI, POSM, owner place, free place search
- System variables $TC_MPP, $A_MYMN, $P_TOOLNO; the tool change books spindle and owner place
- Tools drawn in their stations and in the grippers of the 3D model
Process monitoring and tool break detection
mcwatch (Enterprise) watches the load of the spindle and the axes during every cutting process – spindle power, drive torque or motor current, any HAL signal – against learned curves with an envelope and against fixed limits. A tool break or an overload trips immediately, a retract routine runs, and for threads the retract unwinds synchronized from the break point. The wear of a tool is rated from several learning curves.
- Learning curves per process: reference, envelope with tolerance, worn curve, fixed limits
- Switches as a whole, per tool and per process; everything is still recorded when switched off
- Chart with live loads, zones and alarms in the operator panel, statistics of the runs
The operator panel mchmi
An operator panel in the style of SINUMERIK Operate: one column per channel, the 3D machine and the workpiece with material removal, the program manager with program levels and the status of synchronized actions. Programs are checked before the run: holder against machine and blank, and the channels simulated together on the time axis for tool-against-tool collisions and deadlocks in the wait marks.
- Machine, tool list, zero offsets, program, program manager, process monitoring, diagnosis
- Workpieces with version control, circularity test, user screens, HAL panel keys
- Eight languages: German, English, Spanish, Italian, French, Slovak, Slovenian, Czech
Engineering tools
mcplc – the PLC
The machine logic as ladder diagram (KOP) with function blocks and SCL, the hardware catalogue of Mesa cards and EtherCAT terminals and drives, HAL generated from the project, a CNC assistant for axes and spindles.
Machine Builder
The kinematic model of the machine from nodes with geometry, limits and tools, imported from vismach models, exported as configuration and shown live in the operator panel.
Auto Servo Tuning
Frequency response measurement of every axis, controller design by phase margin, filter and feed-forward proposals, applied with one key – for analogue and EtherCAT drives.
See it running
Register, start a test instance in the customer portal and use mchmi in your browser. The Community edition is free to download; the Enterprise edition adds the process monitoring, the engineering tools, updates and support.
Start the test instance Download Community Enterprise in the shop