DTP
Draw Wire EDM Toolpath
DTP is the Draw Tool Path utility. I wrote this program in 1994 to draw Wire EDM toolpaths on HP LaserJet M4 laser printers or on Tektronic 4662 plotters.
This program can be use from a VT100 (non-graphic) terminal.
It implements a command language with variables and expression computations. These commands can be written in a text file to create scripts and sourced into DTP, in fact, creating more powerful commands.
This program can be use from a VT100 (non-graphic) terminal.
It implements a command language with variables and expression computations. These commands can be written in a text file to create scripts and sourced into DTP, in fact, creating more powerful commands.
The plotting utility supports the following devices:
·
HEWLETT PACKARD LaserJet printer (or any devices implementing the HPGL
language). Paper format: 8.5" x
11"; prints in a 7.5"x 10" window.
I was able to program the LaserJet 4M printer using the Postscript language and also in HPGL (Hewlett Packard Graphics Language).
I was able to program the LaserJet 4M printer using the Postscript language and also in HPGL (Hewlett Packard Graphics Language).
 |
| Picture 1: Hewlett Packard LaserJet 4m Printer. |
· TEKTRONIX 4662 interactive plotter. Paper format: 15" x 10".
 |
| Picture 2: Tektronix 4662 Interactive Plotter. |
The program operates from a terminal.
This is an example of a screen from a terminal session:
 |
| Picture 3: A page in French from the User Manual. |
This is the UNIX manual page
NAME
dtp
- draw wire EDM toolpath (an alternative to the PDP-11)
SYNOPSIS
dtp
[ISO_source] [-s cmdfile]
DESCRIPTION
dtp is a utility program that enables you
to draw ISO part
programs on an Hewlett Packard laser
printer or on a TEKTRONIX 4662
plotter.
When dtp
is called, your terminal screen is divided in two sections:
- The fisrt 20 lines are used to give
commands and see output messages.
- The last 4 lines are reserved for the
display of a status window. The
status windows is describe in great
details later in this document.
ARGUMENTS
ISO source
This parameter designates the name of the ISO source file
to use. If none is specified, the one from the
previous
session is reused.
-s cmdfile
Dtp reads commands from 'cmdfile' upon start.
The order of the arguments is not
important and they are all optional.
ARITHMETIC EXPRESSIONS
At any place where a numerical value is
expected, it is possible to
supply an arithmetic expression.
To construct the expression, the following
operators are available:
^
: power elevation
(Utter most precedence)
*, / : multiplication, division (high precedence)
+, - : addition, subtraction (low precedence)
Also, some functions are available:
abs(arg)
Returns the absolute value of arg.
sin(arg)
Returns the sine of arg (arg is spec in degrees).
cos(arg)
tan(arg)
asin(arg)
acos(arg)
atan(arg)
sqr(arg)
Returns the square of arg.
sqrt(arg) Returns the square root of arg.
Arithmetic expressions can include
variables. To create a variable, you
simply assign a value to it. For example:
x = 4+3 # x = 7
y = sin(30)+x # y = 7.5
y = -y/2 # y = -3.75
pi = 4*atan(1) # pi = 3.14159265358979323846...
You can use any name for a variable as
long as it is not a function
name (i.e. 'sin') or a command name (like
'quit').
You cannot insert space characters in an
expression because they are
used as token separator.
COMMAND LANGUAGE
Underlined arguments can be arithmetic
expressions.
As you will notice, almost all the
commands have a long and a short form.
The language is case sensitive like UNIX.
quit
q Quit the application.
preview
p Display in a GL window the drawing as it would
be output
on the selected output device (laser printer
or plotter).
The graph will appear on
the display of the workstation
even if you use dtp from a VT100 terminal.
help
h Display this manual page on the terminal. This manual page can
also be read from the shell
by issuing the command help dtp.
The text is displayed by
more so you man scroll forward or
backward throught the text
and even perform searches. Refer
to the manual page of more for more details on more.
zoom
sfac
z sfac Zoom the drawing (about the origin) by the
scale factor sfac.
The scale factor shall be
greather than zero.
The current zoom factor is
always indicated in the status window.
Example: z .5
zoom
sfac x y
z sfac x y Zoom
the drawing (about the point x,y) by the scale factor sfac.
The focus point x,y is
automatically placed in the viewport`s
center. For this reason, this command turns off the
automatic
centering of the drawing.
The current zoom factor and
focus point are always indicated in
the status window.
The default system of
measure use to express the coordinates of
the focus point depends on
the units xy command.
Example: z 6 2.5 0
tr x y Translate
the drawing by x and y.
The coordinates x and y
represents either inches or millimeters
depending on the units xy command.
Note that the magnitude of
the translation is not affected by a zoom.
The current translations
can be found in the status window.
The special variables tx and ty always contain the current
translations and can be use
in arithmetic expressions.
Example: tr 2 2*1.1
source
cmdfile
s Dtp reads commands from
'cmdfile'. Source commands may be
nested.
The 'cmdfile' is expected to be found in the directory
~/dtp.
origin
x y
or x y Move the origin to the specified
coordinates. The coordinates
are viewport relative,
where (0,0) is at the lower left corner
of the viewport.
The coordinates of the
current origin can be found in the status
window.
By default, the origin is positionned at
the center of the viewport.
The special variables ox and oy can be use in arithmetic expressions.
off
val
o val Specify an explicit offset (always in
mm) to be used when
computing the toolpath.
Ex.: off .2
This selection is preserved from one
session to the next.
offtab
name
ot name
Specify the name of a table of offsets.
Ex.: offtab GEN
This selection is preserved from one
session to the next.
cl val Specify a clearance (always in mm) to be
used when computing
the toolpath.
The current clearance is
displayed in the status window.
Ex. cl .020
This selection is preserved from one
session to the next.
mach
number
m number Select an EDM machine. The currently selected machine is
displayed in the status
window.
This selection is preserved
from one session to the next.
Ex.: m 13
iso
fname Specify the name of a new ISO source file
to use.
If you specify "auto", then the
source file will be chosen
automatically. The ISO file is expected to be found in the
current working
directory. Use the command cd to change the
current working directory.
verify [zval]
v [zval]
Verify the toolpath at the level
zval. If zval is not
specified, the toolpath is verified at Z =
0.
verify
z zprimary zsecondary
v z zprimary
zsecondary
Verify the toolpath at two
specific levels.
Ex.: v z 0 -50
verify
Z from to step
v Z from to
step
Verify the toolpath for the levels
between from and to. Step is the
incrementation.
Ex.: v Z 0 50 2
v Z -50 0 -2
verify
xz
v
xz Verify the toolpath
using exactly the options specified in XTpgen.
draw [zval] The command draw acts exactly like the
command verify except that
a page is output.
d [zval]
draw
z zprimary zsecondary
d z zprimary
zsecondary
draw
Z from to step
d Z from to
step
draw
xz
d xz
drawaxis
da If you whish to see two lines
representing the X and Y axis,
use this command instead of
draw.
viewport x1 y1 x2 y2
vp
x1 y1 x2 y2
This command is used to
define the current viewport. The
coordinates (x1,y1) define
the position of the lower left corner
of the window. (x2,y2) define the position of the upper
right
corner.
When clipping is in force,
anything outside the viewport is
removed from the drawing.
The drawing is also
centered in relation to this window.
....bla...bla...bla...
For the TEKTRONIX plotter,
the largest viewport
is 0.01 0.01 14.99 9.99
otherwise you will get some problems.
center y|n
c y|n When this mode is in force, the rectangle
surrounding the whole
drawing is computed. The
center of that rectangle is found and
moved over the origin
defined by the command origin.
clip
y|n When this mode is in force,
any geometry outside of the viewport
is eliminated.
frame y|n When this mode is in force, a rectangle
is drawn a delimitating the
viewport.
report y|n This command enables you to get a
report from tpgen when verifying
r y|n
or drawing a program.
append
y|n
a y|n Usually, a new drawing is output each time a
draw command is issued.
If the append command is
used, from that moment on, the next drawings
will be appended to the
file ~/plots/plotfile. This makes it
possible
to combine several drawings
on the same page.
When the page is ready to
print, you must use the command flush
to
effectively output it.
The status of that mode is
indicated in the status window.
flush
f Outputs to the printer or plotter
the drawing appended to the
plotfile by using the
command append followed by one or
several draw
commands. This command may also be used to reprint the
last page.
clear
load
optfile
l optfile Load the options (chosen from XTpgen) from the file
'optfile'.
The file will be taken from the directory
~/dtp.
select
hp|tek
sel hp|tek
Select the LaserJet or Tektronix 4662 as output device.
The variables pw, ph are reset to their
correct values.
A command or pw/2 ph/2 is also
issued automatically
to position the origin at
the center of the page.
units
[xy] mm|in
u [xy] mm|in
Let you use metric or
english units of measure to specify XY
dimensions.
The following commands have
their arguments affected by this mode:
- tr x y
- origin x y
units
z mm|in
u z mm|in
Let you use metric or english units of measure to specify Z
dimensions.
The following commands have
their arguments affected by this mode:
- verify
- draw
- drawaxis
Ex.: u z in
cls Clear the screen.
dump Dtp will print all the variables
currently defined with their values.
!shellcmd Dtp will spawn a shell and 'shellcmd'
will be executed by that new
shell.
#
comments Any line where the first
caracter is '#' is ignored by dtp. This
feature may be use to
comments files of commands.
SPECIAL VARIABLES
pw
ph
ox
oy
tx
ty
x1
y1
x2
y2
The Microsoft Word User Manual
This is the Word User Manual:
If you wish to see how the parser was implemented, take a look at the Parser Example.
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