Macro Variables

The addresses a macro reads and writes. For the language they belong to, with arguments, arithmetic and branching, see Custom Macros.

Vacant is not zero

A variable that has never been given a value is vacant, written #0. Test for it before trusting a number:

IF [#5083 EQ #0] GOTO 100   (tool 3 has never been measured)

Some variables can never be vacant: the clock, the machine signal bits and the R parameters always hold a value, so testing those against #0 is dead code.

Your own variables

Range	Are	Live
`#1` … `#33`	local: arguments and scratch	per call, cleared on return
`#34` … `#99`	reserved	reads are vacant; a write is a block error
`#100` … `#499`	common	lost at power-down
`#500` … `#9999`	common, retained	kept when the machine is switched off

An argument the caller left out of a G65 reads vacant, so a macro can tell “not given” from “given as zero”.

Position

Variables	Hold
`#5021` … `#5026`	machine position: X, Y, Z, A, B, C	read-only
`#5041` … `#5046`	work position, in the active offset	read-only
`#5061` … `#5066`	where the probe last triggered	writable
`#5070`	`1` if the last `G31` triggered, `0` if it ran to target	writable
`#5161` … `#5166`	the position `G28` returns to	writable
`#5181` … `#5186`	the second reference position, for `G30`	writable

The two read-only pairs are refused rather than ignored: a program that writes to one stops on that block. They read the position as the block executes, not as it is parsed.

Check `#5070` before you read a trip position

A G31 that does not touch leaves #5061 … #5066 holding the previous trip. They are not cleared on a miss, deliberately. That means a macro that reads #5063 without testing #5070 first can measure yesterday’s touch and never know.

G31 Z-50. F100.
IF [#5070 EQ 0] GOTO 900    (never touched, do not use #5063)
#100 = #5063

Offsets

Variables	Hold
`#5211` … `#5216`	the `G92` shift, as a report
`#5221` … `#5386`	the work offsets: `G54` at `#5221`, and each further system twenty later, six axes each, up to `G59.3` at `#5381`

Writing a work offset takes effect on the blocks that follow, the same as G10 L2. Writing #5211 changes the register only: the G92 shift the machine is actually using does not move with it.

There is no variable for “which offset is active”. Read the modal state from the program instead of looking for one.

The tool table

#5081 onwards is the number the control cuts with: geometry plus wear:

Variables	Hold
`#5081` … `#5180`	tool length in use, tool 1 first
`#5500` …	tool length geometry, as measured
`#5600` …	tool length wear
`#5700` …	tool radius geometry, radius and never diameter
`#5800` …	tool radius wear
`#5900` …	tool type, as a number

Every band is indexed the same way, tool 1 first, and all cover the same tools.

Writing #5081+i sets the geometry and leaves the wear alone, so a correction the setter made survives a macro that re-measures the tool. It does that by subtracting the current wear, so read and write in the same breath. A wear value that changes in between lands in the geometry.

#5081 is vacant while a tool has neither geometry nor wear. Writing a wear value on its own is enough to stop it being vacant, which is why a probing macro tests the length rather than the wear.

Machine state

Variables	Hold
`#3000`	raise your own alarm: `#3000 = 12 (TOOL TOO SHORT)` stops the program with that message	write
`#3002`	operating hours: the control adds to it, so a write is a reset	both
`#3011`	date, as `YYYYMMDD`	read-only
`#3012`	time, as `HHMMSS`	read-only
`#3026`	the tool in the spindle	read
`#3901`	parts made, machine-wide, counted at `M02` / `M30`	both
`#3902`	parts required	both
`#9901`	tool changes since the machine was built	both
`#9902`	cutting hours since the machine was built	both
`#1000` … `#1031`	machine signals from the PLC, one bit each	read-only
`#1032`	the same 32 signals as one number	read-only

With #3902 set, cycle start is refused once #3901 reaches it. Clear #3901 or raise #3902 to carry on. See Production Counts and PLC Signals in Macros.

What the control publishes for you

Variables	Hold
`#900` … `#921`	the last probe cycle’s result: which cycle, its status, what it wrote, and `#911` stamped with the run those values belong to
`#800` …	what a block search collected: the tool, speed and position to restart at, and the M codes to replay
`#850` … `#856`	the point a feed-held program will return to; `#850` says whether there is one, and an axis the machine does not have is vacant

These are ordinary variables, so a macro can overwrite them. They are also retained, so a result survives a power cycle: compare #911 against #901 before believing a probe result, or you may read the run before last.

`R` parameters

R0 … R99 are a second set, separate from #, written R1 = 25.4. An R that was never set reads 0, not vacant.

Where to go next

Custom Macros: the language these belong to.
Probing from a Program: G31 and the result record in use.
Tool & Work Offsets: the same numbers, from the panel.