You can modify the following registry entries in the Option section of the PC-DMIS Settings Editor:
(Default settings are in bold.)
ExternalRotabType = Allen-Bradley - The value identifies the type of external rotary table. For the supported types, see the "External Rotary Table" topic. Because there is no default value for this registry entry, you must enter it.
ExternalRotabReverse = 1 - The value specifies whether to reverse the table’s native rotation direction in terms of + vs. - position. Set it to 0 for NO, or 1 for YES. Internally, PC-DMIS assumes that positive rotation is counter-clockwise. In other words, a position of +10 degrees represents 10 degrees of counter-clockwise rotation from the 0 position. A position of –10 represents 10 degrees of clockwise rotation from 0. If the table natively uses the same convention, set this to 0. Otherwise, set it to 1.
ExternalRotabToolOnTable = 0 - (Applies only to PC-DMIS version 3.0. Versions 3.1 and higher do not use this registry entry.) The value specifies whether the artifact (the tool) that qualifies probe tips is mounted on the rotary table. Set to 0 for NO, or 1 for YES. If it is set it to 1, you can select the "no the tool has not been moved" option when you qualify a new probe tip, even if the table has been rotated to a new position since the last qualification was done. You can do this as long as the rotary table hasn’t been recalibrated, and the tools physical location on the table has not changed.
ExternalRotabMoveMinDelta = 0.5 (half a degree) - The value establishes a threshold below which a table movement request is ignored. This is a positive real number. It represents the minimum-allowed magnitude of the difference between the current table position and the newly requested position.
ExternalRotabProtocol = COM3 9600 N,8,1 - The value sets the communications protocol for the serial connection to the rotary table controller. It specifies the communications port, baud rate, parity, data bits, and stop bits.
ExternalRotabPollComm = 0 - The value specifies whether to poll the communications port on a periodic basis to see if characters have arrived. Set the value to 0 for NO, or 1 for YES. Usually, you should leave the value set to 0. Only set it to 1 if you suspect communications errors due to PC-DMIS missing characters.
ExternalRotabInitTimeout = 5.0 - The value specifies a time-out (a floating point number in seconds) for a response to the initial attempt to communicate with the table when PC-DMIS starts. If the time-out occurs, the user is prompted as to whether to try to resend the command for which the response was not received within the allowed time.
A value of 0.0 disables this timeout.
ExternalRotabStatusTimeout = 2.0 - The value specifies a time-out (a floating point number in seconds) for a response to the request for the table position/status. If the time-out occurs, and if the value of ExternalRotabStatusAutoRetries has been exceeded, the user is prompted as to whether to try to resend the command for which the response was not received within the allowed time.
A value of 0.0 disables this timeout.
ExternalRotabMoveTimeout = 0.0 (no time-out) - The value specifies a time-out (a floating point number in seconds) for a response to a requested table move. If the time-out occurs, the user is prompted as to whether to try to resend the command for which the response was not received within the allowed time.
A value of 0.0 disables this timeout.
ExternalRotabStopTimeout = 10.0 - The value specifies a time-out (a floating point number in seconds) for a response to a stop-motion request. If the time-out occurs, the user is prompted as to whether to try to resend the command for which the response was not received within the allowed time.
A value of 0.0 disables this timeout.
ExternalRotabStatusAutoRetries = 1 - The value is the number (integer) of times a status request should automatically be retried in the event of a time-out before the user is prompted. This always applies to the status time-out, and it may apply to the initial time-out if it was a status command that timed-out on the initial communication attempt. It specifically does not apply to a move time-out or a stop time-out. The user must explicitly confirm the resending of commands that initiate or terminate table motion.
ExternalRotabMoveWarnDiff = 0.01 - The value establishes a threshold above which the user is given a warning and is forced to acknowledge that the position indicated in response to a move command is significantly different from the requested position. This warning can warn about poor table positioning accuracy or improper table response, or both.
A value of 0.0 disables this warning message.
ExternalRotabDriftWarnDiff = 0.001 - The value establishes a threshold above which the user is given a warning and is forced to acknowledge that the position indicated in a status request is significantly different from the previous table position. This warning can warn about table position drift that can cause inaccurate measurement results. This warning can also warn about improper table response if a move response is given before the table has completely settled into a stable position, and the following status request then receives a different position in its response.
A value of 0.0 disables this warning message.
Specific Notes
In general, all of the above registry entries apply to the Allen-Bradley table.
ExternalRotabDriftWarnDiff does not apply in the case where the table is taken out of Auto mode and the table is rotated manually using the control panel. It only applies while in Auto mode. Therefore, you can have drift warning enabled but you can manually move the table while PC-DMIS is running without getting the position-drift warning message.