PAL2020: How to rewrite old PAL programs.

With the reform of the PAL norms in 2020, quite a few changes came our way. G17 is now G15, G86 and G88 remain, but many new or modified cycle addresses have been added, and so on and so forth.

However, we found out through interesting exchanges with the participants in our new webinar series, “PAL2020: What’s Changing in Machinists’ Exams,” that the PAL2020 commands feel like deciphering hieroglyphics.

But since we’re not all likely to be Indiana Jones, we’d like to give you a little overview of the changes in this newsletter – To decipher the hieroglyphics, so to speak.

Here you can find a table with the comparison “PAL2008/PAL2012” and “PAL2020” (status spring 2023):

To the comparison: “PAL2008/2012 ↔ PAL2020” >

Well, now you can understand the hieroglyphs a bit better, but you still have a lot of programs that run with the old PAL standard, or more precisely, don’t run anymore. What about that?

One trick that is so easy and old that you might not even think of it is the search-and-replace function in SYMplus™. You can use it to rewrite anything that can be replaced one-to-one, like G17 with G15. And this is how you proceed:

1.

Open the program, which you have programmed in an older PAL coding, in the mode “PAL2020”. You will then get the message, “The NC program is faulty!” This is exactly what we want to change, so just click it away with “F10”. In your editor, the last block that does not correspond to the coding according to PAL2020 will now be marked. Here in our example, the exercise program “LAGER3” from the workbook “Plane Swing”, is the line “N65 G17 CR180 AR90”.

2.

Press the “F1” key to select “Search/Replace” and enter “G17” in the “Search for” field and “G15” in the “Replace with” field:

Then click “Replace All” to replace “G17” with “G15” throughout the document. Finally, apply this edit by pressing the “F10” key.

3.

Next, in our example, the line “N45 G48 G40 R10 Z0” is marked as incorrect, because after PAL2020 the commands for tangential approach and departure have also changed:

Replace them according to the same principle: “G48 G40 R” becomes “G40 G46 RR”. And then “G41 G45 D” = “G41 G45 DL”.

And already you have done quite a lot of work without having to trudge through the lines piece by piece.

Everything else (like changing cycle addresses) is explained on our support page:

http://cnc-keller.yoursupport.de/cnc.en/entries/000605/rewrite-old-pal-programs-for-pal2020

Have a nice day and best regards.

  – Your KELLER.Software Team

Much more from KELLER.Software …

Reach your learning goal quickly and efficiently: it’s not easy to successfully pass the IHK final exam for machinist turning or machinist milling.

To support you in this endeavor, we have developed SYMplus™, a special PAL software. Here, the focus is on practical exercises to achieve the greatest possible learning success.
Learn more >

Next Appointments in the KELLER.Academy:

Basics of graphical programming (CAD/CAM) with SYMplus™

• 13.-14. April 2023
• 25.-26. June 2023

Exam preparation PAL

• 20.-21. April 2023

Basic DIN/PAL programming with SYMplus™

• 11.-12. May 2023
• 29.-30. June 2023

Driven tools, level swivel and reform PAL2020

• 25.-26. May 2023

Further Information >

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