Even though you are using an auto-generator to create your PCI it is absolutely essential that you have a clear understanding of the purpose and limitations of the PCI that you are creating. A brief “design phase” with conclusions noted down before starting work on the PCI will greatly streamline the process.
The following questions should be considered and answered before starting work:
What is the purpose of the PCI?
What circumstances must it cater for, what is the likelihood of encountering conditions that it won’t meet?
Who will use it, and what is their level of understanding?
Will the PCI create a complete sequence or is it intended to generate a series of instructions as part of a larger sequence?
As you create the sequence and ultimately your PCI a further set of questions
arise. The earlier in the project these are answered the more efficient
the PCI creation process will be.
What is the optimum sequence of instructions to be included?
Which machining parameters can be safely left as fixed values and which will need to be set up as run-time variables?
Which instructions need to present full dialog interfaces at run-time?
Do any of the user prompts need clarification or expansion.
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A PCI created in an inch environment will run in metric and vice versa but no attempt will be made to convert any values entered. Particular care must be taken in respect of feeds, speeds and cut increments/offsets if this circumstance is likely to arise. |
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