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Output | Software Solutions | Proofing | Color, Screening and Calibration | Scanning | Digital Photography | Consumables | POS
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abort -- Sends an unconditional abort to all subsystems. The drum, carriage, autoloader, and all other moving subsystems are stopped. Brings the recorder to an idle, safe state as soon as possible.
act beep on|off -- Turns the beeper on steadily until deactivated. This will override a pulsing beeper.
act bpulse on|off -- Activates the beeper in an oscillating mode controlled by hardware. If the act beep on is active, this function is overridden.
act chiller on|off -- Start or stop actively chilling and circulating the chiller fluid for the thermal head. Normal operation calls for the thermal head to control the chiller, but this command is available for testing. NOTE: The chiller must be on for this command to work, the chiller should come on with power, but use of the "act pump" command can turn it on and off.
act chpump on|off -- Turns the thermal head chiller on or off. This command does not initiate any fluid chilling or circulation, that is done with "act chiller". Normally, whenever the machine is on, the chiller should also be on.
act dblow on|off -- Turns on and off the air flow to the "whisker" jet on the thermal head. So far, use of the whisker jet is not necessary on a ThermoFlex for use with ablative media.
act dvflow on|off -- Activates a vacuum to be drawn on the drum for holding plates on for imaging. The dvflow command opens a valve redirecting the drum vacuum pump suction to the drum. Only applies to old drum vacuum systems.
act dvpump on|off -- Applies or removes power from the drum vacuum pump. This pump is normally turned on at startup and left running until power-down.
act imfl on|off -- Turns the IMAGING LED flashing feature on or off. This is overridden by pwsol on.
act imsol on|off -- Turns the IMAGING LED solid illumination feature on or off. This will override the state of pwfl if on.
act lcvr on|off -- Applies pressure to the locking side of the double acting cylinder used to lock the flash cover.
act ldfl on|off -- Turns the LOAD/UNLOAD LED flashing feature on or off. This is overridden by pwsol on.
act ldsol on|off -- Turns the LOAD/UNLOAD LED solid illumination feature on or off. This will override the state of pwfl if on.
act pwfl on|off -- Turns the POWER LED flashing feature on or off. This is overridden by pwsol on.
act pwsol on|off -- Turns the POWER LED solid illumination feature on or off. This will override the state of pwfl if on.
act startlt on|off -- Controls the light inside the Start/Continue push-button on the user interface panel.
act tfloat on|off -- Controls the float system on the table top of a Thermoflex machine. This pillow of air is used to 'float' a plate while the operator moves it around on the stainless steel surface.
act tfloatlt on|off -- Turns on or off the lights in the Table Float push-buttons located at 3 corners of the ThermoFlex.
act tvac on|off -- Controls the vacuum system on the table top of a Thermoflex machine. This vacuum is used to hold a plate down while the operator peels the cover sheet off of a digital flexo plate.
act tvaclt on|off -- Turns on or off the lights in the Table vacuum push-buttons located at 3 corners of the ThermoFlex.
act ucvr on|off -- Applies pressure to the unlocking side of the double acting cylinder used to unlock the flash cover.
act xamode on|off -- Activates whatever external alarm (if any) is connected to the ThermoFlex using the provided 2 pin interface.
ale [init] -- As "ale" stands for "autoloader electronics", this command can be used to display the general autoloader system status or to initialize the autoloader system. Use "ale" to display the status, consisting of the system air pressure and engine temperature. Use "ale init" to initialize the complete autoloader system. This is identical to the initialization sequence the machine goes through after power-up, or before a manual load or unload command if there is no workstation connected. The "table init" and "engine init" commands are subsets of the full initialization.
carriage away -- Moves the carriage at maximum speed towards the away switch. Note that issuing this command will often result in loss of carriage position accuracy, since the carriage will usually be stopped while travelling at maximum speed.
carriage home -- Moves the carriage to position 0 which is nominally 5 mm from the home switch. It will only move to the home switch if the carriage is not already initialized.
carriage idle -- The carriage is stopped immediately and all current is removed from the motor (i.e. no holding torque is applied). This command will cause the carriage subsystem to lose track of its position and requires initialization.
carriage init -- The carriage subsystem is reinitialized regardless of whether it is necessary or not.
carriage (move <velocity> [cau|sps]) -- The carriage moves at the specified <velocity>. A positive velocity moves the carriage towards the away switch and a negative velocity moves it towards the home switch. The velocity is specified in mils per second unless either the cau or sps option is used. This command truncates the specified carriage speed to the nearest 8 mils/s.
carriage moveto <position> [cau] [<speed>] -- Moves the carriage to a specified <position>. If the cau keyword is left out, <position> is specified in mils as measured from position 0. If the cau keyword is added, <position> is specified in "counts". The carriage moves to position at <speed> mils/second. If <speed> is not specified, it defaults to maximum. The value of <position> is an unsigned real number and <speed> is an unsigned integer.
carriage stop -- The carriage is stopped immediately and a holding torque is applied. Although the carriage will not lose complete track of its position with this command, the accuracy of its position may suffer if the carriage was moving too fast when the stop command was issued. The edge_speed NVS parameter (set carriage espeed) is a good indicator of the maximum speed at which the carriage can be stopped without degrading its positional accuracy.
chiller on -- Turns on the compressor in the chiller unit if a chiller is installed and the cable is detected. If something is wrong, an error will be reported.
chiller off -- Turns off the compressor in the chiller unit if a chiller is installed and the cable is detected. If something is wrong, an error will be reported.
chiller pump on -- Turns on the chiller unit and starts the circulation pump. This command completes successfully only if the chiller unit is installed and the cable is detected. If something is wrong, an error will be reported.
chiller pump off -- Turns off the chiller unit and the circulation pump. This command completes successfully only if the chiller unit is installed and the cable is detected. If something is wrong, an error will be reported.
clear -- Use this to tell the autoloader system to not bother trying that last part of whatever command it was working on before it got an error and suspended. In other words, to "clear" from the current command. This command will only do something if the autoloader is indeed suspended.
dr off -- Turns off the debris removal system if its installed and a cable is detected. No filter check is done.
dr on -- Turns on the debris removal system only if its installed and the cable is detected. Part of the start up sequence is a filter check to make sure one is present but not full. An error is reported if something is wrong.
drum cal -- Available starting at version 1.09 of the drum software module. The purpose of this command is to calculate and put into effect a correction offset that will compensate for dead-band drift within the drive amp (in certain specific cases). This command applies a torque ramp to the drum and measures the point at which movement occurs. If that value of torque is above the drum friction (dfrict) then it sets the deadband offset (doff) to the measured value minus dfrict.
drum edge -- Moves the drum so that the reflective plate edge detector strip is aligned with the laser head.
drum hold -- Holds the drum at its current position with maximum torque. The servo stops holding if the drum moves by more than 100 (6?) position counts or if the required drive current is at a maximum for too long.
drum idle -- Removes all current from the drum motor, i.e., no holding torque is applied. The drum is not braked even if spinning at a high speed.
drum init -- Initializes the drum subsystem. This drum is automatically initialized at the beginning of the first drum operation after a power-up or a reset.
drum move
drum soft -- Holds the drum at its current position with a soft torque.
drum spin [<velocity>] [c] -- Rotates the drum at the specified velocity.
drum stop [h] [p] -- Stops the drum in less than one rotation and idles the drum if the h option is not specified. The drum servo actively brakes the drum.
engine [init] -- Displays the status of, or initializes, the imaging engine. If just "engine" is entered, then the status of the entire engine and everything near it is displayed. This basically includes the status of all internal cable detects.
flush [resume|clear] -- Flushes all image commands and plates from the system.
flashcvr idle -- This command will idle the flash cover locking cylinders by removing pressure from the locking side, applying it to the unlocking side to fully retract the cylinders and then releasing active pressure altogether to allow a spring return to a neutral position with detent.
flashcvr lock -- Locks the flash cover by fully extending the cylinders located beneath the panel. Once locked, even removing air pressure will not unlock the flash cover, positive pressure must be applied to retract the cylinders. Note that if using ACT commands you must deactivate lock AND activate unlock to actually unlock the cover.
flashcvr unlock -- Unlocks the flash cover. This command will remove pressure from the locking side of the cylinder and apply it to the unlocking side thus fully retracting the cylinders. There is no detent in the unlock state, one must go to the idle state to achieve the detent effect.
fsave all -- Downloads all the contents of NVS to a file on the terminal device. Note that the file is downloaded as an ASCII file stored in the Motorola S-Record format.
list macros -- Displays the list of 26 single character abbreviations to many commonly-used commands. When a single alphabetic character is entered at the Diagnostic Monitor, it is interpreted as a macro and the appropriate substitution is made.
list map -- Displays the memory map for the MPE. The lowercase identifiers are the names that are used for the
list pattern [<n>] -- Displays a list of the built-in test patterns available.
list status -- Displays a summary of the recorder's current state.
list sys -- Displays information about the system memory usage.
list version -- Displays a list of firmware and hardware version information. This command is very useful for debugging problems with the satellite board SPI chain, as it reads and displays the satellite board version registers.
load -- Manually loads a plate onto the drum. TThere are five basic ways to enter this command:
mask off <flag #> -- If the off option is used, the mask for the specified
mask on <flag #> -- The status flag corresponding to the listed <flag> number will be masked. Masking a flag means that even if there is a problem with the component, no error will be reported directly.
mode media <media number> -- Changes the current diagnostic media type to <media_#>.
nvs dump -- Displays all active, saved, and default parameters. The display does not pause for viewing, but you can stop the scrolling on the display by pressing Esc.
nvs load <subsys> [<index>] [cal|cfg] -- Restores the active values of a subsystem's parameters from saved values.
nvs save <subsys> [<index>] [cal|cfg|
nvs save all <password> -- Saves all the active parameters for all subsystems. This command should be used carefully, since it is easy to unintentionally overwrite previously saved values.
nvs upgrade <previous version> -- Saves all the active parameters for all subsystems. This command should be used carefully, since it is easy to unintentionally overwrite previously saved values.
nvs upgrade <previous version> -- Saves all the active parameters for all subsystems. This command should be used carefully, since it is easy to unintentionally overwrite previously saved values.
reset boot -- Resets the software so that the boot monitor starts up but does not transfer control to the application software.
reset head -- Resets the exposure head. This is a "cold" reset since software and hardware are reset unconditionally.
resume -- Use this to tell the autoloader system to resume, or try again, that last part of whatever command it was working on before it got an error and suspended. This command will only do something if the autoloader is indeed suspended.
stage getfocus -- Goes to the focus servo and reads the current focus values. Displayed back are sum and error values for interpretation. Please note that in order to get these values to match those obtained from a "head install on" command a sequence of other commands needs to be executed.
stage home -- Moves the head stage to its home position. It is very similar to a 'stage init' command except that it doesn't perform a full initialization which is what makes the init command as slow as it is.
stage init -- Use this to move the head stage to its home position. Once returning there, the position counter in the motor controller is automatically reset. The move home is done at MEDIUM speed.
stage install -- When the head is to be installed or removed, this command should be used. The away tab is aligned in integration and should NEVER be moved because it sets the position where the access holes line up allowing easy installation/removal of the head stage from the carriage. Once bolted onto the carriage, the head stage is powered up and sent home (use stage init command) and then you use this stage install command to move the stage to the away position, at this point the position counter is read and the value hstage_away_pos in the autoloader nvs is updated. Here the head should be mounted and zeroed on the drum using the set screw method with "head install on". Every time this command is used, the nvs will be updated and an nvs save is recommended afterwards.
stage moveto dest [ "um" [speed]] -- Used to move the head stage to a specific position at a specified speed. You must enter a destination either in motor steps or in microns, if you use microns then you must follow the value with " um" or it will be treated as steps. After specifying a destination you may optionally specify a speed, either SLOW, MED, or FAST. These speeds are setup in the "aldrv #" nvs subsystem. The ThermoFlex uses aldrv 1.
stage stop -- Stops movement of the head stage. This can be used to selectively stop the stage, although a general abort also works and can be faster to enter.
stage zero -- Simulates the zeroing procedure done after a plate load to focus the head on the media. The sequence of events is displayed step by step and media thickness is displayed at the end. Before executing this command, there should be media on the drum and the parameters in "state plate_loc d" should accurately represent said media. The only parameter actually observed is the media_type parameter to determine surface reflectivity and such.
table -- Displays the status for the load/unload table on the ThermoFlex. The ThermoFlex machine only supports the status form of this as the table itself doesn't move and the air systems can easily be controlled by act commands or from the buttons on the machine. The ThermoFlex table air systems are auxilliary meaning they aren't required for operation.
unload -- Manually unloads a plate from the drum. If the plate status is labelled as a "flyoff" in "plate_loc d status", then you will be prompted as to whether it's really safe to unload the plate or not. This is awfully handy when the plate is partially unclamped but still safe to unload, or when something else (like your hand) has caused a false flyoff.