

You’ve got the basic picture of how MDI will work, so now it’s time to get into the exact g-codes you’ll want to use and get them together on a Cheat Sheet for you.


Get familiar with where the DRO’s are located on your CNC machine.
SHARK CNC TOUCH PLATE THICKNESS HOW TO
Look up in your operator’s manual how to go about accessing MDI for your controller. When not running a program, you can type G-Code commands into the MDI field for immediate execution. Just to the left of them is the MDI type-in field. You can see the XYZ DRO’s on the lower right. Digital Read Outs (DRO’s)Ĭheck out this Mach3 Standard Mill home screen: We’ll get to our g-code cheat sheet for you shortly, but let me finish setting the stage first. With MDI, you input short commands that tell the machine what to do. Press the MDI key on your CNC control panel to go to MDI mode… MDI is accessed via the MDI key on your CNC machine’s control panel: You can use MDI commands to machine your part, but even if you plan to run a part program, MDI is still super useful for setup operations. With MDI, CNC can be quick and dirty just like manual machining. MDI offers a lot of power while requiring very little learning. You just type in your line of g-code, press a button, and the machine executes it. The idea is to enter g-codes on a line which are executed immediately by the machine–you don’t have to write an entire g-code program when a line or two will suffice. The Manual Data Input Mode (MDI) is one of the modes your CNC machine can operate in. But setting up to precisely cut to a certain point is much faster and easier with MDI Mode. Yes, you can cut in Jog Mode and it’s sort of like using handwheels or a power feed on your manual machine. MDI Mode is the trick you’ll use to unlock even more productivity than Jog Mode. Select axis and speed then spin the wheel…īut, there is a better approach if you’re actually trying to do some machining as opposed to touching off a setup. Here is a typical pendant with an electronic handwheel (called an “MPG” or “Manual Pulse Generator”) for jogging:Ī pendant for jogging a CNC. You generally select an axis, select a speed or multiplier (x1, x5, x100 or whatever), and then operate the control to move the axis. Jogging is where you’re spinning a simulated electronic handwheel, or holding down a button or joystick to make the axis move. For example, you probably already know about “Jog Mode”, which is one way to cause the machine to move. There are two approaches and each one involves a “mode”. Once you get used to the idea of using your CNC in that capacity, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is. Imagine how much that would improve your productivity and your parts if all power feeds had that capability. By mastering those 9 simple g-codes I mentioned and a feature called MDI that we’ll cover shortly, you can tell your “power feed” exactly what coordinate to stop on. Most manual machinists would see a machine like that as a tremendous improvement over handwheels and no DRO’s, and wouldn’t hesitate to use such a machine.īut it gets better. It’s just an indicator telling you the exact coordinates the machine is at every step of the way.
