The LOAD Command [MLEP]

The LOAD command is used to: thread and cut the wire on a wire EDM; to select the active punch tools for punch presses; and to load and unload tools and heads on mills and lathes.

Wire EDM machines:

\textbf{LOAD /} \begin{pmatrix}\begin{array}{l} \textbf{WIRE} \\ \textbf{TOOL} \end{array}\end{pmatrix} ,\mathit{tool\_id}

Specify a positive non-zero tool_id to cause the wire to be threaded at the current position; specify a zero (0) tool id to cause the wire to be cut (or use the UNLOAD/WIRE command). The choice of TOOL or WIRE keyword is not important.

Punch Press machines:

\textbf{LOAD / TOOL},\mathit{tool\_id}

Specify a positive non-zero tool_id to cause the punch tool to be changed.

Mill and Lathe machines:

\textbf{LOAD / } \big[\,\textbf{TOOL}, \mathtt{<\!tool\_information\!>}\,\big] \; \big[,\textbf{HEAD}, \mathtt{<\!head\_information\!>}\,\big]

See the TOOLNO command for a description of the tool and head information parameters.

If the tool_id on the LOAD/TOOL command matches the tool currently loaded, then a redundant tool change operation will be generated. The same is true if the head id on the LOAD/HEAD command matches the head currently loaded.

On machines that support it, a value of zero (0) can be specified for the tool or head id to unload the tool or head. This provides the same functionality as the UNLOAD command.

The LOAD command is one of a group of commands used for the management of tools. The TOOLNO command can optionally be used to define the tool and head properties, so that only the tool_id or head_id need later be specified with the other commands in the group. The TOOLNO command performs no machine related actions; it is used to preset the internal GENER tooling tables for those tools specified. The SELECT and SELCTL commands are used to pre-select a tool or head ready for use, but to not actually load it. The LOAD, LOADTL and TURRET commands performs the action of loading the tool or head. The UNLOAD command removes the current tool from the spindle or head from the machine.

For example:

TOOLNO/1,LENGTH,5.25,OSETNO,11
TOOLNO/2,LENGTH,4.50,OSETNO,12
TOOLNO/3,LENGTH,8.00,OSETNO,13,MANUAL
$$
SELECT/TOOL,1    $$ Select tool 1
LOAD/TOOL,1      $$ Load tool 1
SELCTL/TOOL,2    $$ Get tool 2 ready
$$
Motion commands for tool number 1
$$
LOAD/TOOL,2      $$ Load tool 2
SELECT/TOOL,3    $$ Get tool 3 ready
$$
Motion commands for tool number 2
$$
LOAD/TOOL,3      $$ Load last tool (3)
SELECT/TOOL,0    $$ Get the dummy tool ready
$$
Motion commands for tool number 3
$$
UNLOAD/TOOL      $$ Remove tool 3
END

In the above example, the TOOLNO commands specify the length of the tools, their length compensation offset numbers and for the third tool, the fact that it must be loaded by hand. Thereafter, the SELECT, LOAD and UNLOAD commands need only specify the tool number.