Spraying

Programming attributes

The display of the programming attributes in the Programming defaults and Active program dashboards is defined in a Settings.xml file. With a standard installation, a default file is located at the path <install>\E2Plugin\Technologies\SprayingTechnology\Standard\ControllerSettings. Specifc spraying technology content of the attributes can be found at the path <install>\E2Plugin\Technologies\SprayingTechnology\Standard\TechTabs.

The following generic attributes have been defined.

Tech tab	Container	Attribute	Description
Program base
Tool data

Manufacturing geometry

Toolpath calculation

Technology base

At software delivery and standard installation, a default file with brush definitions is located at the path <install>\E2Plugin\Technologies\SprayingTechnology\Standard\TechTabs.

Surface spraying





Contour spraying

Toolpath quality


	The program reference information.
Base frame	The reference frame of the program.


	Tool information.
Tool resource	The name of the tool.
Technology	The applied technology.
Automatic tool change
Tool frame	The tool frame that runs the toolpath.


	The mapping of the tool frame axes with the corresponding vectors on the process geometry.
Normal direction	The alignment of the tool frame Z axis with the normal direction of the process geometry.
Tangent direction	The alignment of the tool frame X axis with the tangent direction of the process geometry.


	The global transformation of the manufacturing geometry.
Translation in X,Y,Z	The global translation in X,Y or Z direction.


Rotation around X,Y,Z	The global rotation around the X,Y or Z axis.


	The boundary conditions on the manufacturing geometry to calculate the toolpath.
Distance start point	The distance of the first in-process point from the process geometry start position.
Distance end point	The distance of the last in-process point to the process geometry end position.
Reverse process direction	To reverse the manufacturing process direction, i.e. changes start to end position and vice verse.


	The approximation of the manufacturing contour to calculate the toolpath.
Mode	The mode to approximate the contour.
Max. sag	The maximum allowed deviation between the geometry and calculated toolpath.
Max. distance	The maximum distance between two in-process toolpath elements along the contour.

Event relink tolerance	The tolerance to find the nearest TPE after a toolpath re-computation, to assign the existing event to. This attribute is hidden by default.


	The offset of the toolpath element from its original location on the manufacturing geometry.
Sheet offset	The offset in (surface) normal direction.
Tangential translation	The offset of a toolpath element in its tangent direction.
Bitangential translation	The offset of a toolpath element in its bi-tangent direction.

Tangent rotation	The rotation of the toolpath element round its tangent vector.
Bitangent rotation	The rotation of the toolpath element round its bi-tangent vector.
Normal rotation	The rotation of the toolpath element round its normal vector.


	The motion of the spray nozzle.
Spraying speed	The velocity along the in-process spraying path.
Off spraying speed	The velocity along the off-process path.
Accuracy	The motion accuracy on the toolpath path.

Comment	A text comment.


	The events to activate the spray nozzle.
Gun activation	The rule when to activate the spraying gun.
Applies to	The activation rule will be applied to a single gun or all present guns.
Gun number	In case of a single gun activation, the gun that will be activated.

Brush control	The rule where to activate the brush.
Brush number	The brush number that will be applied.

Speed control	The rule to set the velocity along the toolpath.
Accuracy control	The rule to set the accuracy along the toolpath.


	Additional (optimization) conditions to calculate the toolpath.
Tangent absolute	A switch to automatically apply a tangent absolute direction on the in-process path of the operation. The tangent direction of the first in-process point will be used as reference.


Ext. axis backprog.	The axis values of an external resource, like a positioner, as been set at the first position of the in-process path, will be propagated backwards up to the approach of that in-process path.


	The strategy to compute the tracks of the toolpath.
Specification mode	The mode to compute the tracks.
Align plane normal with world	The alignment of the intersecting plane.

Translation in X,Y,Z	The global displacement of intersecting plane in X, Y or Z direction.

Rotation around X,Y,Z	The global rotation of the intersecting plane round the X,Y or Z axis.


	The actual displayed toolpath creation attributes depend on the applied track strategy.
Track distance	Geodesic : The distance between the individual tracks over the surface geometry. Parallel plane : The distance between the intersecting planes.
Guide curve offset	The offset of the track from the guide curve.
Ignore gaps	Switch to ignore gaps that are found in the manufacturing geometry.
Ignore up to	The maximum length of the gap that is being ignored. The length is measured along the toolpath for each track individually.

Process area resizing	The extension of the process area.
Tweak track calculation	The tweak, the deformation of the track to remain parallel.
Extend on gaps	The extension of tracks is applied also at gaps in the manufacturing geometry.

Track extension 1	The extension of the track to overrun the process area at the initial side.
Track extension 2	The extension of the track to overrun the process area at the opposite side.

Add / remove tracks at start	To duplicate or remove tracks at the start track of the toolpath. A positive value adds a number of copies of tracks, a negative value removes the number of tracks.
Add / remove tracks at end	To duplicate or remove tracks at the end track of the toolpath. A positive value adds a number of copies of tracks, a negative value removes the number of tracks.


	The starting location of the toolpath.
Approach side	The side on the process area where to approach.
Track sequence	The sequence of the tracks in default or inverted order.


	The off-process conditions of the toolpath.
Track link	The cross-over between the individual tracks.

Track lead in	The lead in on the track.
Offset tangential	The tangential offset of the lead in position.
Lead in on gaps	The lead in is applied on gaps that are found in the manufacturing geometry.

Track lead out	The lead out from the track.
Offset tangential	The tangential offset of the lead out position.
Lead out on gaps	The lead out is applied on gaps that are found in the manufacturing geometry.

Gap bridge	The bridge definition to cross over gaps.
Bridge height	The height of the gap bridge.


	To define an approach motion towards the in-process toolpath.
Approach	The number of approach steps.

Motion	The motion type for the approach.
Offset reference	The reference to determine the offset directions.

Offset tangential / bitangential / normal	The local offset of the approach step from the in-process toolpath start element.


	To define a retraction motion away from the in-process toolpath.
Retract	The number of retraction steps.

Motion	The motion type for the retract.
Offset reference	The reference to determine the offset directions.

Offset tangential / bitangential / normal	To local offset of the retract step from the in-process toolpath end element.


	To define an approach motion towards the in-process toolpath.
Approach	The number of approach steps.

Motion	The motion type for the approach.
Offset reference	The reference to determine the offset directions.

Offset tangential / bitangential / normal	The local offset of the approach step from the in-process toolpath start element.


	To define a retraction motion away from the in-process toolpath.
Retract	The number of retraction steps.

Motion	The motion type for the retract.
Offset reference	The reference to determine the offset directions.

Offset tangential / bitangential / normal	To local offset of the retract step from the in-process toolpath end element.


	The toolpath quality evaluation criteria. The exact content may vary per technology.
Unreachability	Evaluates unreachable situations of the robot or machine.
Collision	Evaluates collision situations.
Singularity	Evaluates singularity situations of the robot or machine.

Process angle deviation	Evaluates the process angle deviation from its reference value.

Axis limit proximity	Evaluates the proximity to the limits of the driven axis. Separated evaluation value range for linear and circular joint axis.
Axis speed	Evaluates the axis speed of all driven axis as a (absolute) difference between the start and the end motion between positions.

Program events

The generic spraying technology has the following programming events:

Motion events
Speed	Sets the velocity for the subsequent motions.
Accuracy	Sets the accuracy for the subsequent motions.
Dwell	Sets a waiting time at the path element for the tool to remain position until moving further.
Acceleration	Sets the acceleration for the subsequent motions.

IO signal events
Wait for signal	Adds a wait for an input signal event of the active controller.
Set signal	Adds a set output signal event of the active controller.
Synchronize robots	Sets an event to synchronize cooperating robots.
Set resource port	Sets a port of a resource.
Wait for resource port	Waits for a port of a resource.
Adapter actor	Sets a signal of a mechanical parent adapter to create or delete a mechanical connection during simulation.