Centroid Acorn CNC Controller

[Ger21]

On big, expensive machines, the controls are often tailored to the machine. Where a hobby control like UCCNC is a general purpose control, used by many different types of machines. So what you end up with is something that works well on most machines, but could always be a bit better. CNC Drive is planning on working on a new trajectory planner soon, with S Curve acceleration, which will be very nice for machines capable of high speeds.

My day job is running big Italian routers, in the cabinet industry. The controls on these machines are tailered to both the machine and application. So while I can easily cut cabinet parts at 1500ipm, any type of 3D work is a real struggle for the machine we have.

[m_c]

What exactly is macro B?
Just the ability to have variables, and do calculations within the code?
If it is, Dynomotion KMotionCNC can do it, as they include some examples

It's something I've never had any dealings with, as most stuff I do on the lathe I just write manually, and the mill gets done using CAM.

[Ger21]

Most controls can do some parametric g-code. But it appears that Macro B gives you access to just about every thing the control is doing, through variables.

[Bravin Neff]

Most controls can do some parametric g-code. But it appears that Macro B gives you access to just about every thing the control is doing, through variables.

Yes, macro b isn't just variables, though it is that too. It also is access to system variables (eg., on a 2 pallet HMC, you can query: what pallet is currently inside?). Also, variables #1-#99 reset on power cycling, but #500-#599 do not. That is very useful for certain times you want information to survive regardless if power is interrupted. Access to just about everything in the control, and you can also have external I/O write to macro variables, depending on their state.

In the old days, people did their entire robot interface and gauging interfacing through m-codes and variables.

[Bravin Neff]

Even to this day, if you buy a CNC machine that has a fanuc control (or one like it, like the Haas and Mitsubishi controls), and you want a Renishaw or Marposs probe, all the routines are written in macro b, and all the calculations and intermediate steps are just clever use of the variables.

[Ger21]

Like I said, Mach4 Industrial is supposed to have full Fanuc B. I can't tell you what the current state of development is, though. I have a copy installed here, but don't see any documentation covering it.

I would say that it's highly unlikely that you'll ever see it on any other inexpensive controls, as the percentage of users that need/want is would be really small.
And the macro scripting in some of these controls is quite powerful, allowing you to do a lot of things.

Documentation on the Acorn is rather sparse, but looking at the docs on the website, in looks like you need to go to their top of the line controls to get the full Macro B.
The centroid manual that lists all of the variables says it's for the M39 and M400, which are over $11,000

[m_c]

Thanks for clarifying that.

Similar things can be done with a KFlop, however not using any industrial standard.
I do have a Mach 4 Industrial license, however I doubt I'll ever use it. Dynomotion have no current plan to develop a Mach4 plugin, and the only controller that might temp me would be a CS-Labs, but I far prefer the flexibility of KFlops.

As Gerry says, anything that's not a true industrial controller, is not likely to ever have macro B.