Path Job

Description
The Job tool creates a new Job object in the active document. The Job object is meant to gather information about the toolset used and contains different Path operations to be exported as one G-Code program.

Usage

 * 1) Press the  button

The Job GUI has five horizontal aligned tabs, General, Output, Setup, Tools and Workplan. You can confirm or cancel the dialog.



General Properties

 * Specifies for what kind of machine this job is intended. Currently it is Milling only, in future it can be Turning, Laser Cutting, etc. too.
 * The label of the Job as displayed in the tree view.
 * Base Object is the object which defines by its shape the paths of the job. If it is a Part Design object it is usually the Body which you select here. If you have an element selected in the tree before you click the "Add Job" icon that element is already entered here.
 * Create Linked Clone; sometimes you don't want to work directly on the modeled object, e.g. if you want to turn the correct face upside. In that case you select this checkbox and a clone will be created. In the tree view it is positioned beneath the job.

Operations
The list box contains all of the tools and paths controlled by this job. Initially it contains already a default tool. You can later, when you have added more tools and paths, rearrange the order of the operations by dragging them in the position of your desire. The effect will be that the generated machine code will be rearranged accordingly.

Stock
This is not finished yet. In future you will be able to select an object defining the stock material you start with for the machining. It is not used yet and has no influence on the paths generated.

Post Processing
The Path Workbench stores the information about the tools and the paths internally in a generalized form. Since different machines use different dialects of GCodes the Code generation process is separated from the Path Workbench. There are several post processors predefined - e.g. a linux_cnc post processor - or you can add your own, which usually will be based on one of the existing post processors.

Post Processor Properties

 * Specifies the default file to which the generated GCode will be written. If it is left empty you will be asked on GCode generation to select a filename.
 * Select the post processor of your choice. You are offered all post processors from the distribution plus those from your macro directory. The post processor files are recognized by their name, which must have the form ..._post.py, e.g. linuxcnc_post.py. If you want to see only a subset of the post processors you can configure the list in the Preferences->Path dialog.
 * Some of the post processors can be configured with additional command line arguments. See the documentation of the post processor of your choice. Depending on the selected post processor there might be a hint shown, when you move the mouse over this field