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DMC-1700/1800 Chapter 5 Command Basics • 79
Chapter 5 Command Basics
Introduction
The DMC-1700/1800 provides over 100 commands for specifying motion and machine parameters. Commands are
included to initiate action, interrogate status and configure the digital filter. These commands can be sent in ASCII
or binary.
In ASCII, the DMC-1700/1800 instruction set is BASIC-like and easy to use. Instructions consist of two uppercase
letters that correspond phonetically with the appropriate function. For example, the instruction BG begins motion,
and ST stops the motion. In binary, commands are represented by a binary code ranging from 80 to FF.
ASCII commands can be sent “live” over the bus for immediate execution by the DMC-1700/1800, or an entire
group of commands can be downloaded into the controller’s memory for execution at a later time. Combining
commands into groups for later execution is referred to as Applications Programming and is discussed in the
following chapter. Binary commands cannot be used in Applications programming.
This section describes the DMC-1700/1800 instruction set and syntax. A summary of commands as well as a
complete listing of all DMC-1700/1800 instructions is included in the Command Reference.
Command Syntax - ASCII
DMC-1700/1800 instructions are represented by two ASCII upper case characters followed by applicable
arguments. A space may be inserted between the instruction and arguments. A semicolon or <enter> is used to
terminate the instruction for processing by the DMC-1700/1800 command interpreter. Note: If you are using a
Galil terminal program, commands will not be processed until
an <enter> command is given. This allows the user
to separate many commands on
a single line and not begin execution until the user gives the <enter> command.
IMPORTANT: All DMC-1700 or DMC-1800 commands are sent in upper case.
For example, the command
PR 4000 <enter> Position relative
PR is the two character instruction for position relative. 4000 is the argument which represents the required position
value in counts. The <enter> terminates the instruction. For specifying data for the X,Y,Z and W axes, commas are
used to separate the axes. If no data is specified for an axis, a comma is still needed as shown in the examples
below. If no data is specified for an axis, the previous value is maintained.
To view the current values for each command, type the command followed by a ? for each axis requested.
PR 1000 Specify X only as 1000
PR ,2000 Specify Y only as 2000
PR ,,3000 Specify Z only as 3000