Video Jet print head

Video Jet Print Head

There are 2 basic way to interface the Video Jet print head in the Router-CIM Automation Suite.

The First way is the place text statements directly on the part drawing.  These text statements must be on layer LABELS.  All text should be capitalized.  No lower case letters should be used.  When the text is found in the drawing Automation Suite will convert them to proper printing instructions during tool path generation.

These text statements would be converted to layer LABELS1 for font 1.  You may also use layer LABELS2 and LABELS3 for font 2 and font 3.

The best use is to place text on layer LABELS1.

The second way to interface to the printer is through the use of part record label fields. There are 8 user controllable label fields available from the interface or directly from imported data (excel .XLS files or .CSV files).

Basic support fields 1-4, are 24 characters each. Fields 2,3,4 can be combined to print in 1 stoke with the use of the *VJMline* variable

Enhanced support for label fields 5-8

Field 5 (font 3)

fields 6 7 8 support multi line (font 2).

Fields are limited to 60 chars each if multi line is turned on due to maximum nc code line length of 255 chars. If single line text is selected then each of the fields can be 99 chars long.

The basic functionality in Router-CIM is to match the height and length of the text with a line of the proper length to synchronize the machine tool movement to allow the proper time for the videojet head to print all the characters on the part.  Router-CIM will evaluate the text characters and create a 'tool path' that is as long as it needs to be in order to print all characters on the part.

User controllable variables

*VJMline*

 This variable will turn on support for 3 fonts.

  Font #1 is tied to Label field 1.

  Font #2 will be tied to Label field 2-3-4.

  The 3rd font is tied to label field 5. Fields 6,7,8 are tied to font 2.

  *Note font 2 must be a multi line font.

*VJTXTHGT*

 This allows user control over the TEXT height that appears in the drawing from the label fields.  This will allow the user to match the actual text height they are printing with what  the videojet printer is set to.

Note: text height in AutoCAD also controls interline spacing.

Acceptable ranges for this variable are between 0.1875 and 0.375 in inch mode and 4.7mm to 9.5mm in metric mode.

The default value for this variable is 0.1875

*VJTXTSCALE*

 This variable allows users to control the scale of the text to be printed. The printer may be set to a faster line speed than the knowledge / machine is set to. This will allow a font that appears compressed but it will print faster due to the smaller machine motion.  A scale factor of 1 is the default, and matches the ACAD font to the VideoJet font.

  For example: setting the line speed to 750 IPM (Machine @ 500 IPM) and placing a factor of 0.75 will create 25% compression in the appearance of the text.  The Text would appear slightly squashed but still very readable.

Acceptable ranges for this variable are between 0.75 and 1.5.

Router-CIM Layer to Knowledge for Video Jet

There is a special knowledge that loads with the postprocessor for all VideoJet machines.  It is named VJTXT and controls the conversion of text statements into NC machine instructions.  Video Jet post-processors will add the extra cycle, tool number and tasks for the Video Jet Marking head. For Automation, this knowledge must be in the knowledge drawing for the current job.  The post will be set up to output Z0 only.  The responsibility of setting the video jet head is stored in the tool offsets because only 1 height is ever used.

You can place data in label fields 1-8 in Automation and Router-CIM will generate the correct tool paths and code to make the Video Jet head work if there is a knowledge called VJTXT in the drawing.  No layer to knowledge association is necessary for this to function.

Additionally, you may place text on layer “LABELS” and if the VJTXT knowledge exists in the drawing when automation runs the part, it will also create tool paths and code for the Video Jet head.

Here is a sample NC Code program and some explanation of the Video Jet features.

N5(ROUTER-BIT .5 DIA.)

N6G28G91Z0M05

N7G90G53C0.

N8G53A90.

N9G00G17G54X-22.6733Y-1.9043

N10G00G43H16Z1.25M16(M16 LOWERS THE HEAD IN PLAY M17 FIRES THE PRINT HEAD)

N11G01Z.75F175.

N12X-18.4233F350.M17(TXT:Hull 662D Bay C2 HGT:0.25 FNT:1)

N13G00Z1.25

N14G00X-22.6733Y-2.4043

N15Z.85

N16G01Z.75F175.

N17X-19.4233F350.M17(TXT:Layer 2 of 23 HGT:0.25 FNT:1)

N18G00Z1.25

N19G00X-22.6733Y1.5957

N20Z.85

N21G01Z.75F175.

N22X-19.4233F350.M17(TXT:Layer 2 of 23 HGT:0.25 FNT:1)

N23G00Z1.25

N24(ROUTER-BIT .5 DIA.)

N25G28G91Z0M05

In the above example the Line 10 uses the M16 to activate and lower the print head

Lines 12,17,22 each have the required M17 to send that buffered string to the print head.

The X movement corresponds to the length of the printer movement required to spray the text on the part.

The TXT: statement is the text to be printed.

The HGT: statement is the height of the text in the drawing.

The FNT: statement is the font number used to print.

Video Jet Technical Notes

Technical data about multi line support. The items described here are not a concern for users and only describe the inner workings of the technology.

CAPITOL

12345678

KOMO

Even though theses are 3 separate records of data they must be passed to the printer in the following order. This tool was mainly designed for use with the printer screen not on the fly edits via a serial port.

C1KA2OP3MI4OT5 O6 L7  8  The first char from each line then the second and so on with spaces padded for odd line lengths.

Font control

Font selection is limited to size, Proportion and quality. There are not many choices of actual fonts. See the Video Jet manuals for referencing font codes for Komo Production Manager.