Offentlig 3d printer är program language code
Not only are 3D printers incredibly small and highly precise, but they are almost fully automated. This move to automation has assured that modern manufacturing equipment are less prone to errors that are inherent with manual operations. At the heart of any automated process is a standard programming language. In 3D printing, this programming language is known as the G-Code.
What exactly is G-Code and how does it help people communicate with 3D printers? These include both industrial-scale cutters, lathes, and mills and desktop-scale equipment like 3D printers.
What is Gcode for 3D printing, and how to read and write it
The first use of a programming language for automation of industrial processes coincided with the development of CNC technology back in the s. Back then, different organizations used different programming languages. As the decades went by, standardization efforts were undertaken by several countries culminating in the development of the RSD by the Electronic Industries Alliance.
RSD became the earliest version of G-Code, expanding into many forms through repeated revisions. Extensions and variations of G-Code are common even until now, especially across different machine tool manufacturers. In its older iterations, G-Code lacked true logical relationships and cannot integrate loops and conditional operators into a program. Through the years, G-Code has evolved into a language that is almost similar to high-level programming languages.
Compatibility problems brought about by subtle differences in G-Code implementation has been bridged by the use of CAD or CAM applications that can translate user-developed code into the appropriate G-Code. This is because most slicer software will convert a 3D model into the appropriate list of G-Code commands, which will then be sent to the 3D printer. This is all done automatically, and the operator never has to see the G-Code commands that the software generates.
Although the process of transforming a model to G-Code is practically made invisible by slicer software, they also offer an option to export the code as you can review and revise it manually. Models with complex geometries and overhanging features can still fail while printing when using an automatically generated G-Code script. Knowing G-Code will allow you to dive into the code and make minor adjustments here and there.
If you plan on doing this, then make sure that you also have a G-Code viewer and simulation tool on hand, because even the best coders make errors. It is a programming language almost exclusively made of commands — it rarely relies on conditional loops or any sort of logic. The 3D printer merely executes the command line by line. The best way to understand G-Code commands is to take a deep dive into the list of common commands used in 3D printing and analyze them one by one.
At this point, we should note that not all commands used in 3D printers are G-Codes.
What Are G-Codes and How Are They Used in 3D Printing?
While G-Codes control the positioning of the nozzle in 3D space, there are also M-Codes that control the miscellaneous functions of the 3D printer. These include the commands for the heating of the nozzle and print bed, fan speed, and opening and closing of the bed enclosure. Each command line starts with a generic G-Code or M-Code command, followed by a series of arguments. The requisite arguments will depend on the type of command to which they are attached to.
For example, the following command line is going to look very familiar to anyone who has ever looked at the G-Code for a standard 3D printing project:. This is basically a G1 command line followed by the necessary arguments on positioning, speed, and extrusion. This command-line dictates the target position for the printer nozzle, as well as the speed at which the nozzle will travel.
3D Printing G-Code Tutorial
The position argument of G1 is prefixed by the letters X, Y, and Z. The values appended to the letters determine the position of the nozzle based on the corresponding axes. In our first example above, the command will move the nozzle to position X10 and Y10 while its Z-position remains unchanged. Take note that the movement of the nozzle may be based on either an absolute axis or its relative position.