Some time ago I wrote a quick basic program that would read an autocad (pre 4.1) ASCII plotter output file version A.C.04 which would generate simple cnc machining codes for several controllers including EMCO F1 Bridgeport BOSS Hurco and Allen-Bradley controller for a waterjet
Autodesk stopped supporting the ADI ASCII plotter option with version 12, which I still have on my machine only to output files in this format.
The output from the A.C.04 ADI driver looks like this
1,2 8 5,1 7,0 3,1029,1096 4,1029,2096 4,1529,2096 ... where I basically dump the first 4 lines [or first 3 lines with the ACAD v.10 program output] and then next lines indicate an absolute move in steps of 1/1000 of an inch with either pen up (3) or pen down (4)The A.C.04 ADI driver allows you to set the absolute limits of the plotter [or cnc table travel] and also the steps per inch [resolution] so the program was a "piece of cake."
When you run the gcode generator it asks you to input feed, speed and depth of cut. It also breaks the program at 290 lines for the EMCO F1 as there is 300 line memory limit on its controller.
Does anyone know of, have an updated version of this driver which will work with Autocad v.2002 [which we are currently running] and/or v.2004 which we are likely to upgrade to?
An alternative is a windows printer driver which I can set to an arbitary size and resolution with only pin up/down and straight line commands with no offset for pin width, etc. Better yet if I can get it to use the 3/4 PU/PD commands, one per line. This may be a better option in that we should be able to run this with most any program [such a coral]
If anyone would like the quick basic source code and/or the complied files send me an email.
Thanks