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Pathfinder v4 Release Notes

v4.17.00.3054

  • Pause on Step. A new feature has been added to Pathfinder that allows the user to pause while running a part. This is for cases where the operator wants to inspect the part and potentially open and re-close the clamp, such as on a hem smash, for example. This feature is engaged by checking the “Pause on Step” on a particular operation. This will cause the controller to stop motion but remain in run mode when that step is completed. Running the part can be resumed by the normal methods for initiating run.

Configuration updates:

  • Added Parameter 311 – Clamp Positioning Tolerance – to JornsSingleBendFullRetrofitV2ClosedLoop configuration.
  • Removed backgauge enable output from ASCHydraulicV2 configuration.
  • Added new JornsSingleBendHydraulicUpgradeV1 configuration for single-bend machines outfitted with a double-folder hydraulic upgrade package.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Translation Issue in Handling Steps. There was a bug in Pathfinder where the labels for the Clamp Open Height and Gripper Pressure fields in part handling steps would not be translated. This bug has been fixed.
  • Serial Number Not Populating in Edge Settings. There existed a bug in Pathfinder such that the serial number would not get populated under certain conditions when loading the Edge Settings view. This bug has been fixed.

v4.16.03.3030

  • Fixed French Translation. The French translating in Pathfinder for the abbreviation “LB” (Lower Beam) was set incorrectly. This has been corrected to “Tablier.”
  • Move Batch Stop From Manipulation Bit Field to Separate Property. A change has been made to Pathfinder to move the Batch Stop indicator out of the manipulation bit field to a separate property in the sequence step object. This change was originally made on the new sequencer branch and originally only deployed with the special sequencer release, but has now been ported to the main branch in order to alleviate database version conflicts between the two branches. The remaining changes on the new sequencer branch will be merged at a later date.

Configuration updates:

  • Updated JornsTwinmaticClosedLoopV2 configuration with changes from first install.
  • Updated JouanelPTS31 configuration to support 6mm and 19mm geometries.

v4.16.02.3021

  • Updated French Translations. The French translations in Pathfinder have been updated to include new strings.

Configuration updates:

  • Added JouanelPTL31 configuration
  • Updated JouanelPGL configuration with parameter changes
  • Updated JouanelPTS24 configuration with parameter changes
  • Updated JouanelPTS31 configuration with parameter changes
  • Updated JouanelPTS33 configuration with parameter changes

v4.16.01.3016

  • Clarify Material Validation Failures. Material validation failure reporting in Pathfinder has been updated to clarify the reason for a material failing the validation check in order to distinguish between a failure due to a missing geometry in the material definition and a failure due to a missing upper or lower tool in the material definition.

Configuration updates:

  • Updated JornsTwinmaticClosedLoopV2 with new default parameter values and calibration.
  • Corrected Gripper01 and Gripper02 machine options to include open limits in JornsTwinmaticClosedLoopV2 configuration.
  • Added AltGripper01 and AltGripper02 machine options to JornsTwinmaticClosedLoopV2 configuration.
  • Updated JouanelPTS31 with new parameter defaults.
  • Removed MaximumMeasurementCount field as a required field in calibration data.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Changing Available Geometries Causes Material Validation Failure. A regression was introduced in Pathfinder with the material validation changes such that modifying the list of available geometries would cause Pathfinder to begin failing the material validation check at startup. This bug has been fixed.
  • Unhandled NullReferenceException in DisposeCurrentDialogPresenter. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where an unhandled NullReferenceException could be thrown by DisposeCurrentDialogPresenter if the current dialog presenter was null. This bug has been fixed.

v4.16.00.3007

  • Middle Hem Mode. A new feature has been added to Pathfinder to control the method used for forming middle hems. New parameters have been added that allow the operator to choose whether a middle hem is formed by performing a single bend with a single close, two bends with a single close, or a single bend with two closes (Parameter 754 – Middle Hem Mode), as well as the offset for the first of the two hem closes if that option is selected (Parameter 755 – Middle Hem Mode – First Hem Close Offset). This replaces the functionality provided by Parameter 714 – Add Second Bend on Inside Hem Close. The default setting is to use a single bend with a single close.
  • Added Support for ClampPressureReached Input Function. Support has been added to Pathfinder for the ClampPressureReached input function. This input signals when a given pressure threshold has been reached.
  • Preferred Gripper Offset. A new feature has been added to Pathfinder to allow the operator to select a Preferred Gripper Offset using Parameter 890. This value establishes the gripper offset that the operator would prefer to use by default barring any problems with gauging or interference at that position on a given step. As long as this gripper offset is valid, Pathfinder will use this value by default. If this gripper offset is not usable on a given step, then Pathfinder will deviate to use whatever gripper offset is necessary to grip the part on that step. This parameter can be used in conjunction with an extendable backstop to gauge parts using a preferred extended backstop position instead of the default, fully-retracted backstop.
  • Validate Selected Configuration Name at Startup. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to validate the selected configuration filename against the configuration name stored within the configuration file. Previously, a vulnerability existed where these names could differ, which would cause unexpected behavior in saving and recalling parameters, calibration, etc. This change ensure that the issue will be detected right away at startup.
  • Backstop Extend Selection Wizard. A new feature has been added to Pathfinder to aid in selecting the correct gripper offset to correspond to a given backstop extend position. When multiple backstop positions are available, a button will appear next to the Gripper Offset field. Clicking this button will display a dialog where the user can select which backstop extend position they would like to use on that step, which will then populate the Gripper Offset field with their selection. The Gripper Offset field is used by the controller to determine what, if any, backstop extend position to use for that step.
  • Avoid Gripping on Hems. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to avoid gripping on formed hems whenever possible. When calculating operation values, Pathfinder will now attempt to choose a gripper offset that avoids closing the grippers on the flange of an already-formed hem. It will only grip on a hem as a last resort if there is no viable alternative when using the gripper.
  • Log Profile Data to Diagnostics when Profile is Sent to Controller. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder such that profile data will be logged to diagnostics each time a profile is sent to the controller. This data includes identifying information for the profile, the sequence used, the bend sequence, manipulations, and operation values.
  • Refactor Material Mismatch Handling. Changes have been made to Pathfinder concerning the manner in which material mismatches are handled when the user attempts to enter Run mode.
    • If the selected geometry does not match the geometry used to generate the current operation values, the user will be prompted to either regenerate operation values using the current selected geometry or back out. If the user wants to revert back to the geometry that was used to generate the profile’s operation values, they must back out and follow the normal process for doing so (in addition to performing the appropriate tooling swaps.)
    • If, after the geometry check has passed, the selected material does not match the material used to generate the current operation values, the user will be prompted to select one of the following options:
      • Select the material used to generate the current operation values and then run the profile using the current operation values.
      • Regenerate the operation values using the currently selected material.
      • Cancel and exit Run.
    • This replaces the previous message scheme for handling geometry and material mismatches.

Configuration Updates:

  • Added Load Assist parameters to JornsTwinProClosedLoop configuration.
  • Disabled Gripper Open limits in JornsTwinProClosedLoop configuration.
  • Fixed Parameter 748 name and description in Jouanel and Premel configurations.
  • Added Parameters 240 and 288 to JornsTwinmaticClosedLoop, ThalmannTDv1, ThalmannTDv2, and ThalmannTDv2ClosedLoop configurations.
  • Modified bending beam raw count offset in JouanelPTS31 and JouanelPTS33 configurations.
  • Added backstop extend I/O to JornsTwinPro configurations.
  • Added ThalmannThakoV2OLBG configuration.
  • Added SchroederMAKIIV2 configuration.
  • Added JornsTwinmaticClosedLoopV2 configuration.
  • Removed Parameter 457 from SASV2 configuration.
  • Added shear slow limit inputs to SASV2 configuration.
  • Added Parameter 728 to JornsTwinPro and JornsTwinmatic configurations.
  • Added Parameters 422, 423, 425, and 426 to all 5223 and 5225 configs.
  • Added Parameters 727, 728, and 731 to every configuration that did not have them already.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Maintenance App Intermittently Throws Cross-thread Exception. There existed a bug in the Pathfinder Maintenance App such that it would intermittently throw an exception for cross-thread access to a user control in the progress window. This bug has been fixed.
  • Pathfinder and Maintenance App instances not being correctly stopped. There existed a bug in Pathfinder such that the method for force-killing an instance of the Pathfinder executable or the Maintenance executable would sometimes fail. When this happened, it would require the user to manually kill the process via Windows Task Manager. This bug has been fixed.
  • Errors in French Translations for Minimum and Maximum Velocity Errors. Errors in the French translations for axis minimum and maximum velocity errors have been corrected.
  • Calibration Not Re-sent When Geometry is Changed. A regression was introduced in Pathfinder such that calibration data would not be re-sent to the controller when the selected geometry was changed. This regression was introduced with previous changes to move the sending of calibration data to a background thread to prevent a deadlock in status processing. This bug has been fixed.
  • Dashes in Geometry Name Cause Failure to Save or Load Selected Geometry Properly. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the presence of a dash character (‘-‘) in a geometry name would cause the selected geometry to be both incorrectly loaded and saved. This bug has been fixed, and any number of dashes can now be included in geometry names.
  • Second Hem Close Has Clamp Position of Zero. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the clamp closed position populated in a second hem close operation would be zero. This bug has been fixed.
  • Profile Categories Can’t be Edited Under Some Conditions. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the user was unable to edit profile categories under some conditions. This was a result of the profile category editing being grouped with the graphical/non-graphical selection for first-time profile creation. This bug has been fixed and profile category editing is now allowed all the time.

v4.15.02.2935

  • Add Norwegian Translations. Norwegian language translations have been added to Pathfinder.

Configuration Updates:

  • Update Jorns TwinPro configurations.
  • Update JouanelPTS33 geometries.
  • Disable ThirdManPedal in JornsFlexAnalog configuration.

v4.15.01.2922

  • Clarify Diagnostics Settings Options. The Diagnostics Settings page in Pathfinder has been changed such that the “Write Diagnostics Info to Disk” setting is now named “Enable Diagnostics.”
  • Display Warning if No Backup Drive Found. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to display a warning message to the user at startup if no USB backup drive is found on the system. A USB backup drive comes installed in new machines, and is not typically removed in the course of normal operation. If a user has removed the drive in order to transfer backups, this warning message is to remind them to put the drive back so that Pathfinder can continue creating automated backups.
  • Warn User if Automatic Backup Fails. Previously, if an automatic Pathfinder backup failed, it would only log this failure to the system logs. This could allow a backup failure condition to continue unnoticed for a long time, which could result in data loss. A change has been implemented to display a warning message to the user at startup if the automatic backup fails.
  • Change Diagnostic Naming Structure for I/O. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to change the diagnostic naming scheme for inputs and outputs such that any inputs or outputs that are directly related to an axis will use the name of that axis as their naming prefix. This will allow related I/O to be easily grouped with their related axis in the diagnostics viewer, and any filtering that captures an axis will also capture its related I/O.
  • Move Auto-Backup Archive Copying to Background Thread. Pathfinder installations that have a large size on disk can take a significant amount of time to copy a backup to the USB drive. This can cause the startup process to take a long time. To alleviate this, the copying of the backup archive to the backup drive has been moved to a background thread. This will allow Pathfinder to quickly start up, even if the process of copying the backup takes a long time.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Diagnostics Settings Allows Invalid Combination. There existed a bug in the Pathfinder Diagnostics Settings view where it would allow the “Send Diagnostics Info to AMS” setting to be checked while the “Write Diagnostics Info to Disk” setting was unchecked. This is an invalid condition. This bug has been fixed.
  • Malformed PathfinderSpec File Causes Unhandled Exception. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where a malformed PathfinderSpec file would cause a seemingly unrelated unhandled exception later in the startup process. This bug has been fixed, and an incorrectly formatted PathfinderSpec file will now be handled gracefully.

v4.15.00.2905

  • Service Locator. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to allow service endpoints to be migrated seamlessly without requiring a new release of Pathfinder. Previously, all service endpoints were hard-coded, some with the option of a user-defined override, which meant that migrating a service endpoint would require a new release of Pathfinder or a manual update on each Pathfinder installation. With this change, Pathfinder fetches all service locations from a service locator api each time it starts up. These locations are persisted locally in case a connection to the service locator endpoint cannot be established. In the request to the service locator, Pathfinder provides its serial number, application ID, application version, operating system, and operating system version – this information can be used in the future to selectively point different Pathfinder systems at different endpoints.
  • Provide Serial Number to Ingress Settings Endpoint. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder such that it will now provide its serial number in the request to fetch diagnostics ingress settings. This enables the server to dynamically change the preferred diagnostics block size being published by a specific Pathfinder system based upon whether a web user is currently live-streaming or has recently live-streamed data from that system.
  • Warn User When Creating an Open Hem with Size Zero. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder such that a warning message dialog will be displayed to the user if they enter a dimension of zero for an open hem feature in the graphical profile editor. Users might think that entering a dimension of zero will cause the feature to become a closed hem, but this is not the case. An open hem with a dimension of zero is not equivalent to a closed hem. The warning prompts the user to replace the open hem feature with a closed hem feature if they intend to create a fully smashed hem.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • New Sequencer Crashes When No Sequences Found. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where it would crash with an exception related to GDI+ if no sequences were found using the new sequencer. The root cause of this bug was a mismatch in return type for a method in the native sequencer DLL. The native assembly was returning a double, but the managed wrapper was expecting a long.
  • Pathfinder Crashes if no Serial Number Defined. Pathfinder would crash with an unhandled exception if no serial number was defined in the PathfinderSpec file. This has been fixed, and now Pathfinder gracefully exits with a user warning if no serial number has been defined.
  • Non-Graphical Profile Saving Regression. A regresssion was introduced in Pathfinder that prevented new, non-graphical profiles from being saved. The root cause was that the success of the base profile update operation was not being checked prior to attempting to update profile operations or sequence steps. This bug has been fixed.
  • Nuisance Error Related to HandleManipulationChanges Fills Logs. Changes have been made to Pathfinder to mitigate issues with a nuisance error filling up the logfiles. Many instances of NullReferenceExceptions thrown in HandleManipulationChanges were being logged, but this condition is not necessarily invalid or worth of a log entry. Checks have been implemented to reduce the logging of this exception to only noteworthy cases.

Configuration Updates:

  • Added Parameter 352 – Gripper Clearance Height – to Jorns TwinPro configurations
  • Added Parameter 889 – Gripper Collision Crisis Distance – to Jorns TwinPro configurations
  • Added IO for status lights to JornsFlexAnalog configuration

v4.14.04.2858

  • Reduce Store and Forward Max Retry Time. After failing to post data to the diagnostics endpoint, Pathfinder will wait a period of time before retrying. After each consecutive failure, this wait time is doubled up to some upper limit. After a successful post, this retry time is reset to the minimum. The max retry time limit was originally set to 20 minutes. This has turned out to be too long for cases where there is a brief outage while diagnostics is actively being used. To speed up the process of recovering from an outage, this max retry time has been reduced to two minutes.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Fix Ingress Settings Error Handling. There existed an issue in Pathfinder with the error handling for fetching diagnostic ingress settings from the server. If the server returned a value that Pathfinder couldn’t deserialize, Pathfinder would log an error and then write a null value to the ingress settings. This would in turn prevent Pathfinder from publishing diagnostic data to the endpoint. This bug has been fixed.
  • Make New Backgauge Parameters Visible. New backgauge parameters were recently introduced in Pathfinder, but were not made visible in the UI because the hard-coded range for backgauge parameters keys was not updated at the time. This has been fixed and the new parameters (178, 179, and 180) are now visible.
  • Parameter 166 Displayed Twice. There existed a bug where Parameter 166 – Backgauge Stopping Reaction Distance – was displayed twice in the UI. This bug has been fixed.

v4.14.03.2845

  • Expose Configuration Validation Error Messages to User. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to expose all configuration validation errors to the user when a validation check at startup fails. Rather than simply displaying a generic, top-level error message, the entire chain of validation error messages will be displayed. This will help the user more quickly identify the specific problem that triggered the validation failure.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Bug in Generic Parameter Overriding Look. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the presence of a generic parameter (ParameterStore) in an override file would cause the set of generic parameters in the base file to get dropped. This bug has been fixed.

Configuration Updates:

  • Added ASCV3 and ASCV3_Hemmer configurations
  • Added Backgauge Slow Distance Forward (p127) to ASCHydraulicV1 configuration
  • Added Backgauge Stopping Reaction Time (p130 to ASCHydraulicV1 configuration
  • Added new Backgauge Slow Distance Reverse (p178) to ASCHydraulicV1, ASCHydraulicV2, BradburyV2, JornsSingleBendFullRetrofitV2OpenLoop, PremelV2, PremelV2_WithFinger, and SASV2 configurations
  • Added new Backgauge Stopping Reaction Time Reverse (p179) to ASCHydraulicV1 and BradburyV2 configurations
  • Added new Backgauge Stopping Reaction Distance Reverse (p180) to ASCHydraulicV2, JornsSingleBendFullRetrofitV2OpenLoop, PremelV2, PremelV2_WithFinger, and SASV2 configurations
  • Added Backgauge Stopping Mode (p128) to SAS configuration
  • Corrected negative Clamp Stopping Reaction Distance Reverse (p344) in ASCV2 and ASCV2HeavyDuty configurations

v4.14.02.2824

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Error in Modify Offset Logic. A bug was introduced to Pathfinder with the recent changes surrounding raw count offsets and the Modify Offset behavior. An error in the logic for whether or not to allow a Modify Offset was introduced that resulted in incremental encoders being blocked from modifying the calibration offset. This bug has been fixed.

v4.14.01.2821

  • Dynamic Diagnostic Datablock Size. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to allow Pathfinder machines to use a dynamic block size for sending diagnostic data to the cloud. Each Pathfinder machine will periodically poll the diagnostic endpoint to find out what block size it should be using, and will adopt that block size on the next created block. This will allow for efficient storage use under normal circumstances while also facilitating lower latency from Pathfinder to diagnostic viewer during live diagnostic streaming.

Configuration updates:

  • JornsFlexAnalog: Added parameters 251, 346, 350
  • JornsFlex: Added parameter 346
  • ASCV2: Added parameter 346
  • ASCHydraulicV2: Added parameter 346
  • BradburyV2: Added parameters 346, 410
  • ASCV2HeavyDuty: Added parameter 346
  • JornsRabco: Added parameters 346, 410
  • JornsSingleBendAnalogV2ClosedLoop: Added parameter 346
  • JornsSingleBendFullRetrofit: Added parameters 346, 410
  • JornsSingleBendFullRetrofitV2ClosedLoop: Added parameters 346, 410
  • JornsSingleBendFullRetrofitV2: Added parameter 346
  • JornsSingleBendFullRetrofitV2OpenLoop: Added parameter 346
  • Fixed “CanBeCalibrated” setting for shear axis in all Thalmann configs.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Fetching raw count offset quietly fails if parameter doesn’t exist in config. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where, when sending down calibration data, if the Raw Count Offset parameter for an axis was not present in the configuration, it would quietly fail and revert to an offset of zero. This bug has been fixed. A new validation step at startup has been created to detect this problem, and a unit test has been created to detect it as well.
  • Early Exception at Startup Causes Unhandled KeyNotFoundException in DependencyInjector. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where, if any exception was thrown early on in the startup phase, it would cascade into an unhandled exception and crash due to a KeyNotFoundException being thrown by the DependencyInjector. This bug has been fixed.
  • Cross-Thread Exceptions in Pathfinder Edge Settings View. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where cross-thread exceptions would be thrown when updating Edge status with the Edge Settings view open. This bug has been fixed.

v4.14.00.2796

  • Basic Eclipse Pro Integration Added. Pathfinder now reports enough basic information for Eclipse Pro to compute runtime, cycles, part counts, and downtime. This includes a configuration panel for configuring the network location of the Eclipse Pro server.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Display Warning When Disk Usage Blocks Edge Sync. Pathfinder will block Edge syncing when disk usage reaches the “constrained” level, and will display a warning to the user when attempting to save profiles. However, users do not always save Edge profiles in the course of their normal workflow, so they would not see this message. An additional warning has been added for when disk usage is “constrained” and Edge Sync is enabled but blocked to notify the user at login that Edge syncing is suspended until disk usage is reduced.

v4.13.21.2769

  • Improved Edge Status Logging. Changes have been made to Pathfinder to improve status logging related to Edge Sync. More detailed information will be recorded to the system logs, and more information will be displayed in the Edge settings view.

v4.13.20.2761

  • Firmware update

v4.13.19.2757

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Unhandled NullReferenceException thrown when modifying offset. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where an unhandled NullReferenceException would be thrown when performing a Modify Offset if no Radius Adjust to Clamping Beam Offset Table was defined. This bug has been fixed.

v4.13.18.2754

  • Change Shear Position Format. A change has been made to Pathfinder to clarify the shear position display. Instead of displaying a simulated position, the shear position will be displayed in terms of time.
  • Dependent Axis Offset Table. A new feature has been introduced to Pathfinder to alleviate positioning issues with mechanically-dependent axes by accounting for movement that is invisible to the feedback device. A dependent axis offset table models the relationship between an independent axis and its dependent axis. The table consists of a mapping from absolute positions to relative position offsets. The table is sent to the controller, which uses it to correct the reported position and positioning targets for the dependent axis. Pathfinder also uses the table when performing a Modify Offset operation. When setting up a machine, the independent axis must be referenced first. Currently, the only supported table type is a Radius Adjust to Clamping Beam Offset Table.
  • Hydraulic Oil Temperature Display. A change has been made to Pathfinder to display the hydraulic oil temperature in the axis position display when the machine has a temperature sensor.

Configuration updates:

  • Jorns Twinmatic backgauge calibration updated.
  • Backgauge home limit input removed from ASCV2 and ASCV2HeavyDuty configurations.
  • Radius Adjust to Clamping Beam Offset Table added to ASCV2 and ASCV2HeavyDuty configurations.
  • Clamp calibration updated in ASCV2 and ASCV2HeavyDuty configurations.
  • Added Parameter 332 – Maximum LBB to Move CB – to JornsRabco and RoperWhitneyElectric configurations.
  • Added Parameter 159 – Minimum CB to Move Backgauge – to RoperWhitneyElectric configuration.
  • Added new ThalmannThakoV2OrigServo configuration.
  • Added homing direction for backgauge and bending beam to ASCV2HeavyDuty configuration.
  • Added new JornsFlexAnalog configuration.

v4.13.16.2718

Configuration updates:

  • Corrected JornsTwinmaticClosedLoop internal name.
  • Corrected calibration list IsReadOnly setting in JornsTwinmaticClosedLoop, ThalmannThakoV2EIP, ThalmannTZ, and ThalmannZRv2 configurations.

Issues resolved in this release include:

  • Configuration Name Mismatch Prevents Parameters from Saving. There existed an issue in Pathfinder where a mismatch between the configuration name inside a configuration file and the name encoded in the filename itself would lead to parameter changes not saving correctly. This has been fixed in the affected configurations, and a unit test was created to detect this condition.
  • Calibration Screen Crash if IsReadOnly Set to False. There existed an issue in Pathfinder where the calibration screen would crash if the IsReadOnly property in a calibration measurement list was set to false. Editing calibration tables is not currently supported in Pathfinder, so IsReadOnly should remain set to true for all calibration measurement lists defined in each configuration. The affected configurations have been corrected, and a unit test has been created to detect this condition.

v4.13.15.2715

Issue Shutdown Command Before Displaying Exception Message. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to ensure that, prior to displaying an unhandled exception message for an impending crash, a shutdown message is sent to the controller.

Expand Limits for Overbend Angle Field. The limits in Pathfinder for the overbend angle field in machine operations have been expanded to positive and negative 45 degrees.

Improve Overlay Icon Behavior. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to improve the overlay icon behavior in run mode. Previously, certain icons were basically constrained to one slot or another, and there was not a consistent scheme for determining which icons took precedence. This would sometimes result in unexpected behavior. This has been refactored such that the top two highest priority icons that are active at any given time will be displayed, without any icons being specifically constrained to either icon slot.

Configuration updates:

  • Rolled latest Jorns Twinmatic configuration changes into new JornsTwinmaticClosedLoop configuration.
  • Added JornsFlex configuration to support new Jorns single-bend cabinet design.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Reset Edge Info When Edge is Disabled. There existed an issue in Pathfinder where there was no way to completely clear out the Edge registration info. This would prevent fixing registration issues or updating a registration on a new PC after restoring from a backup. This has been resolved by clearing out all Edge registration info after Edge Sync is disabled and Pathfinder is restarted.
  • BackgaugeGripperCount Throws Unhandled Exception. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where an unhandled KeyNotFoundException would be thrown by MachineSetup.BackgaugeGripperCount if no gripper feature groups were defined. This bug has been fixed.
  • Parameter Editing Not Disabled in Run. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where parameters could still be edited in run mode. This would result in the controller rejecting the parameter changes, but those changes were still being saved in Pathfinder. This bug has been fixed, and parameters can only be edited when the controller is not in run mode.

v4.13.13.2562

  • Show Unchecked Image for Limits Enabled Control in Jog Panel. Previously, the Limits Enabled checkbox would be blank when unchecked, leaving the user with no indication of where the box is. This has been resolved by displaying a blank checkbox image when the user unchecks the box.
  • Added Error 358 – FoldGuard Overrun Test Active.

Configuration Updates:

  • Added input for FoldGuard Overrun Test signal to JornsTwinmaticClosedLoop configuration.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Bad Dispose Pattern Implementation Causes Memory Leak. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where a bad Dispose() pattern, which was replicated throughout the code base, caused numerous user controls to be retained in memory. These Dispose() implementations were not being called because they did not override the base implementation of Dispose() in a parent class. This bug has been fixed.
  • ProgressBarPanel Not Disposed by SequenceView. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the ProgressBarPanel used to display sequencer progress would not be disposed once the SequenceView was closed. This would result in an ever-growing number of instances of the ProgressBarPanel being retained in memory as the user entered and exited the Sequence View. This bug has been fixed.
  • BindingSource Objects Not Disposed in Calibration Screen. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the BindingSource objects used to populate the calibration table in each calibration screen would not be disposed when the user exited the calibration screen. These object instances would be retained in memory and contribute to accumulating memory usage. This bug has been fixed.
  • ToolsViewPresenter Not Being Disposed. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the ToolsViewPresenter would not be disposed, and so a new instance of the ToolsViewPresenter would be retained in memory each time the user opened the Tools View. These instances would accumulate indefinitely, contributing to the accumulation of memory usage in Pathfinder. This bug has been fixed.

v4.13.12.2548

  • Suppress Nuisance Error Messages in Sequence View. The Sequence View in Pathfinder has been updated to suppress nuisance error messages that occur during manual sequencing. Now error messages will only be displayed after the manual sequence has been finalized.

Configuration Updates:

  • Added closed loop support for Jorns Twinmatic.
  • Added simulation configuration for Jorns Single Bend.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Main Dialog Does Not Reflect “Allow Stamping Mode” Setting Changes. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where changes to the “Allow Stamping Mode” setting would not be reflected in the UI until after a restart. This bug has been fixed, and changes to the parameter are now reflected immediately in the UI.

v4.13.11.2533

Configuration Updates:

  • Added new configuration ThalmannFlowV1.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Hazard Zone Area Sense 2 localized name spelled incorrectly. This has been fixed.
  • Allow Safety Stop Switch Position Discovery on 5225 Using Referencing. There existed an issue in Pathfinder where a 5225 motion controller with a clamping beam axis using analog feedback could not intialize the position of the safety stop switch. This was due to a combination of changes made to the reference screen as well as limitations of the 5225’s current logic for finding the switch position. Previously, on a 5225 controller, the safety stop switch position would only be initialized when jogging the clamp with reference mode enabled. But Pathfinder now only enables the clamp reference button if the clamp is using an incremental encoder. As a workaround until updates are made to the 5225 firmware, the Pathfinder reference screen has been updated to use a special case such that the clamp reference button will be enabled on 5225 motion controllers with analog feedback on the clamp, allowing the safety stop switch position to be initialized using reference mode.
  • Save Dialog Appears Behind Main Dialog. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the save dialog could appear behind the main dialog, effectively locking out the user if they had no way to switch windows. This was due to the fact that the save dialog was not being displayed modally. This has been fixed, and the save dialog will now always be displayed modally with the main dialog as its parent.
  • Default RA Position Set to Zero on Hem Closes on Double Folder. There existed an issue in Pathfinder on double folders where the default radius adjustment position on a hem close operation would default to the radius adjustment position of the previous step. This is usually acceptable on single folders, but on double folders it presents an issue. It can introduce an axis conflict, and it can also impact the quality of the hem close. The default radius adjustment position on hem close operations on double folders has therefore been changed to zero. This will avoid the axis conflict and provides a neutral starting point for the user to further tweak the radius adjust position if they choose.
  • Firmware Flash Fails on 5225. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where a firmware flash operation on a 5225 motion controller would fail if the motion controller’s serial number field contained any null characters. This would lead to a mismatch error and cause Pathfinder to abort the flash attempt. This bug has been fixed.
  • Edge Sync Fails if Category Contains Apostrophe. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where Edge syncing would fail if there were any profiles in a sync payload with a category or subcategory containing an apostrophe. Improper sanitization of the category and subcategory names would cause Pathfinder to attempt to insert them as new even if they already existed in the database. This bug has been fixed.

v4.13.10.2504

  • Send hem type to controller. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder such that the hem type will now be sent to the controller in each hem close operation. If the hem is a closed hem, the controller will perform a pressure move. If the hem is an open hem, the controller will perform a position move.

Configuration Updates:

  • Corrected Clamp Laser machine option in Jouanel PGL configuration.
  • JouanelPTS33 calibration and parameters updated.
  • SchechtlMAEv1 I/O and calibration updated.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Operation values not recalculated after editing open hem. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where operation values would not be recalculated after editing the dimension of an open hem. This bug has been fixed.
  • Some startup exceptions not logged. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where exceptions thrown early on in the startup process would not be logged. This bug has been fixed.
  • SqlCeException thrown on first startup. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where a SqlCeException would be thrown on first startup after a clean install. This bug has been fixed.

v4.13.09.2480

  • Added support for Error 357 – FoldGuard Clamp Down Activation Fault – to Pathfinder. This error indicates a problem with ones of the redundant Clamp Down Allowed signals from the FoldGuard controller.
  • Note: This release also includes an important 5226 firmware revision.

v4.13.08.2472

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Blank serial number in diagnostic data. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where a serial number could be accessed before the value had been loaded from the HardwareSpec file. This would result in a blank serial number being propagated to the diagnostics service within Pathfinder, which would manifest errors on the server when processing data. This bug has been fixed by forcing the HardwareSpec to be loaded from file as soon as the object is instantiated and accessed in memory.

v4.13.07.2467

Revised diagnostic data format. The data format for diagnostic data in Pathfinder has been revised. The new format organizes data by signal in order to store it more efficiently. The old format will continue to be supported by the diagnostics server for the time being.

Enhanced Edge connection indicator. The Edge connection status indicator in Pathfinder has been enhanced. The indicator will show an animated blue icon to indicate active syncing, a static blue icon to indicate idle syncing (still active, but waiting to poll for more changes), a static red icon to indicate idle syncing after an error, and an animated red icon to indicate active syncing after an error. After an error has occurred, if the following sync cycle succeeds, the icon will return to blue. Sync errors will be logged to file.

Configuration updates:

  • Backgauge and clamp calibration updated for JornsSingleBendFullRetrofitV2ClosedLoop configuration.
  • Corrected inversion setting for Jouanel PTS home limit switches.

v4.13.06.2450

Configuration updates:

  • Added Parameter 174 – Loading Step Sheet Offset – to all configurations that lacked it.
  • Added Shear Forward Slow Sensor Input to ThalmannTDV1 configuration.
  • Added Parameter 888 – Default Load Assist Mode – to all 5226 configurations that lacked it.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • UnhandledException in shear dialog. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where an unhandled NullReferenceException would be thrown when opening the shear dialog from the Open Profile view. This normally isn’t possible, but due to another bug, the shear dialog button could be enabled in the Open Profile view. The NullReferenceException was being thrown due to a reference to the current profile, which is set to ‘null’ when the Open Profile view is displayed. This bug has been fixed.
  • Unhandled Exception when closing shear dialog. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where an unhandled exception could be thrown when closing the shear dialog, specifically when the shear dialog was opened with a saved profile open and the Machine Operations tab selected. This was due to the form’s graphics objects being accessed before the form had been loaded. This bug has been fixed.
  • Cross-Thread Invocation Race Condition in MainDialog. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where each property in the MainDialog was vulnerable to a race condition involving cross-thread invocation. Each property has an underlying value, and if that value is changed, the new value is processed and will trigger changes in the UI. When a background wants to update something in the UI, it must invoke the action onto the UI thread – this means the action gets scheduled on the UI thread by being added to the message queue. The race condition occurs because the updating of the underlying value is executed on the background thread, but the propagating of that value to the UI is invoked onto the UI thread. This creates a delay during which the UI thread can perform its own update to the underlying value and propagate it. This causes the UI state and the property value to be desynchronized. This bug has been fixed by forcing both the updating of the underlying property value and the propagation of the property value be invoked together onto the main thread in one action.
  • Menu buttons not locked down when logging directly into Open Profile view. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the menu buttons would remain enabled when logging in directly to the Open Profile view if a controller message dialog popped up immediately after logging in. This bug has been fixed.
  • Exiting and Re-entering Run Mode causes instructive icons to not display. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where exiting Run mode and then re-entering Run mode would cause the instructive icon(s) for the current step to stop displaying. For example, if the “Painted Side Up” icon was active before exiting Run mode, it would not show up again when re-entering Run mode. This bug has been fixed.
  • Double taper part orientation icons appear. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where two copies of the tapered part orientation icon (“Wide Edge Left” or “Wide Edge Right”) would appear when loading a tapered blank. This bug has been fixed.
  • Parameter 888 – Default Load Assist Mode does not display correctly. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the drop-down list for Parameter 888 – Default Load Assist Mode would not display correctly. It would show a blank selection each time the page was loaded. This bug has been fixed.
  • Finger is selected on first bend step even if gripper is a viable option. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the finger was selected as the gauging method on the first step, even in certain cases where the gripper was a viable option. This was due to an issue with the way the part position was being calculated when loading the part for the first time. This bug has been fixed.
  • Unhandled exception when Default Load Assist Mode is set to Loading Table with no Loading Table. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where an unhandled exception would be thrown when generating operation values if the Default Load Assist Mode was set to Loading Table but no Loading Table was present. This bug has been fixed.

v4.13.05.2435

  • Added language: Finnish

v4.13.02.2393

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Profile details dialog fails to populate, corrupts profile properties. A bug was introduced to Pathfinder with a previous bugfix that caused the profile details dialog to stop populating correctly. This also caused it to corrupt properties of new profiles, assigning the profile type to Edge. This bug has been fixed.

v4.13.01.2390

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Unhandled ArgumentException thrown by GraphicalProfileView. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where an unhandled ArgumentException could be thrown by the GraphicalProfileView just after closing it. This was due to a race condition between a timer tick event and the view disposal. This bug has been fixed.
  • Jog Panel speed and limits buttons broken. A bug was introduced in the Tools View performance optimizations in Pathfinder that broke the event handlers for the Jog Panel speed selection and Limits Enabled buttons, rendering them non-functional. This bug has been fixed.
  • Jog Panel speed and limits buttons not visible. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where, at some screen resolutions, the speed selection and limits enabled buttons would be hidden. This bug has been fixed.

v4.13.00.2382

Change reference screen to use dedicated reference button for all controller models. The reference screen in Pathfinder has been updated in order to make all controller models reference the same way. Previously, the jog buttons were used to reference axes on a 5226 controller, and dedicated reference buttons were used to reference axes on 5223 and 5225 controllers. Now, a dedicated reference button is used to reference each axis regardless of the controller type. There is also a distinct “Referencing Axis” status message displayed in the status bar while referencing an axis in order to distinguish from the “Jog” state. Holding the reference button for an axis will cause the controller to move that axis to find the referencing switch, which can be a home switch or a limit switch depending on configuration. While referencing, the axis may move back and forth in either direction to get a precise reading for the location of the switch.

Prevent user from modifying offset on an axis until it has been referenced. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to minimize unnecessary Modify Offset operations. The Modify Offset button should only have to be used when provisioning a new machine or after installing a new feedback device. As such, the Modify Offset button for a given axis will remain disabled until that axis has been re-referenced in the reference screen within that session of the Tools view. This is to ensure that users always perform those steps in the correct order (reference first, then modify offset if necessary.)

Indicate in status bar when an e-stop condition is present. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to indicate when an e-stop condition is present using the status bar on the main dialog.

Lock out Run button when an axis needs referencing. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to improve the user experience around referencing. Previously, when an axis needed referencing, the Run button would still be enabled, and the user could press the Run button, at which point an error message would be displayed telling the user that an axis needed referencing. Now, the run button will remain disabled if any axis needs referencing.

Indicate in the status bar when any axis needs referencing. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to indicate when an axis needs referencing. If any axis needs to be referenced, the controller cannot enter run mode. When the machine is otherwise ready to run, but has an axis that needs to be referenced, the status bar on the main dialog will display a message indicating this state.

Lock out Run and Jog buttons when an e-stop condition is present. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to improve the user experience concerning e-stop conditions. Previously, when an e-stop condition was present, the run button and jog buttons would remain enabled, seemingly indicating to the user that they could enter run mode or jog an axis. Upon pressing any of these buttons, an error message indicating that an e-stop condition is present would be displayed. Now, these buttons will remain disabled while the e-stop condition is present, making it clear that these actions cannot be performed until the e-stop condition is cleared.

Change floating point metric display conversion. The format for displaying lengths in millimeters in Pathfinder has been updated. Previously, when converting from inches to millimeters, two decimal places would be removed when displaying the value. For example, if a field was configured to show inches out to three decimal places, that field would display only one decimal place in millimeters. This would result in a loss of information, particularly with calibration tables where the positions are defined out to two decimal places in millimeters. This has been changed, and now when converting from inches to millimeters, only one decimal place of precision is removed. For example, fields that display a position out to thousandths of an inch will display out to hundredths of a millimeter when displaying in metric units.

Tools View Loading Performance Improvements. Improvements have been made to Pathfinder to improve the loading performance of the Tools View. Most of these improvements involved changes that are transparent to the user. One noticeable change is that, when loading, the Tools View no longer loads the Clamping Beam Position parameter page by default. Instead, it loads with an empty center pane, which speeds things up so that the user does not have to wait on the Clamping Beam Position parameter page if they intend to navigate to some other page.

Configuration Updates:

  • Added generic parameters to every configuration for defining the reference direction on each axis.
  • Added new configuration for ASC Heavy Duty machine.
  • Updated ASCV2 bending beam calibration.
  • Fixed Parameter 419 localized name in every configuration.
  • Expanded limits for Raw Count Offset parameters.
  • Updated I/O in JornsSingleBendAnalogV2ClosedLoop configuration to support three man pedal.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • ArgumentOutOfRangeException thrown by FinishedProfileDraw. There existed a bug in Pathfinder such that an unhandled ArgumentOutOfRangeException would be thrown by FinishedProfileDraw.UpdateProfile() if the presenter object had already been disposed. This bug has been fixed and checks have been added to properly handle this condition.
  • ArgumentOutOfRangeException thrown by GetSelectedSequenceOperations. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where an unhandled ArgumentOutOfRangeException would be thrown by SequencerProfileDraw.GetSelectedSequenceOperations() due to a lack of bounds checking. This bug has been fixed.
  • OverflowException thrown when entering or scanning a profile id to search. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where invalid data entered into the search dialog could cause an unhandled OverflowException to be thrown. This bug has been fixed, and invalid search data is now properly handled.
  • Corrected controller status values. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where some of the controller status values did not match the foldbus spec or the controller implementation. This bug has been fixed.
  • ArgumentOutOfRangeException thrown by UpdateFeature. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where an unhandled ArgumentOutOfRangeException would be thrown by FinishedProfileDraw.UpdateFeature() after editing a feature. This was due to a lack of bounds checking. This bug has been fixed.
  • Unhandled exception when opening External Tools view if Utility folder does not exist. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where an unhandled exception would be thrown if the Utility folder did not exist when attempting to open the External Tools view. This bug has been fixed.
  • Win32Exception thrown by Dispose(). There existed a bug in Pathfinder where a Win32Exception regarding the creation of a window handle could be thrown from a Dispose() method. This was due to a faulty Dispose() pattern that was used in each of Pathfinder’s custom UI controls. This bug has been fixed and all Dispose() implementations in UI controls have been corrected.
  • New PathfinderDbContext objects being spawned unnecessarily. An optimization was made to Pathfinder to eliminate the unnecessary instatiation of PathfinderDbContext objects when creating new calibration measurements, profiles, features, sequences, etc.
  • Error logging of communication errors prints all zeroes for message data. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where log entries regarding communication errors would print all zeros for message data. This bug has been fixed.
  • Unhandled exception in SendCommand when exiting Pathfinder. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where an unhandled exception would be thrown in SendCommand while exiting Pathfinder. This was due to a race condition where the UdpClient object in FoldbusEthernet_IO could be disposed out from under the comm thread while the comm thread was in the middle of sending or receiving data. Then the comm thread would return from a send or receive and attempt to access the UdpClient object again, and then throw an exception. This bug has been fixed by adding locking around access to the UdpClient object such that the comm thread must finish a send/receive cycle before the client can be disposed.
  • Unhandled ArgumentOutOfRangeException when switching to operations tab. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where an unhandled ArgumentOutOfRangeException could be thrown when switching to the operations tab after deleting a profile feature. This bug has been fixed.
  • KeyNotFoundException thrown by CalculateAdjustedWidth. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where an unhandled KeyNotFoundException could be thrown by CalculateAdjustedWidth while generating operation values. This was due to a lack of proper argument validation. This bug has been fixed.
  • Message dialogs can leave main dialog locked out. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where message dialogs popping up in front of the main dialog could leave the main dialog locked out. This bug has been fixed.
  • MessageDialogPresenter can thrown unhandled Wind32Exception. There existed a bug in Pathfinder such that MessageDialogPresenter could throw an unhandled Win32Exception if the intended “owner” form was in the process of being created or disposed. This was due to the fact that MessageDialogPresenter did not check the IsHandleCreated property of the target form. This bug has been fixed.
  • Some CommExceptions not logged to file. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where some CommExceptions would not be logged to file, which could hide certain communication issues. This has been fixed and all CommExceptions are now logged to file.
  • SqlCeCommand objects not disposed properly. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where SqlCeCommand objects were not being disposed properly. Rather than disposing these command objects in the context in which they were instantiated, the command objects were being left to be disposed by the Garbage Collector which processes the Dispose() method on the GC thread. This apparently can cause problems with Sql Compact, because freeing native resources on a different thread from the thread on which they were allocated can cause corruption of the database engine, particularly the locking system. The symptoms of such a corruption are hard to pin down, but appear to involve either cryptic exceptions being thrown from within the Sql Compact library, or random timeouts and issues accessing the database, both of which we have observed in the field. The solution is to ensure that command objects are disposed in the context where they’re created, essentially guaranteeing that they are created and disposed on the same thread. This fix has been implemented.
  • ArgumentException thrown when logging out of Sequencer View. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where an unhandled ArgumentException could be thrown when logging out from the Sequencer View. Specifically, if the user logged out directly from the Sequencer View while a long-running auto-sequencer job was still going, an ArgumentException would be thrown as soon as the job completed. This is mainly due to a problem with the design of this view, but has been remedied with a check in the auto-sequencer callback that ensures that the view has not been disposed before attempting to update it.

v4.12.09.2338

Parameter 351 – Opening Part Clearance Buffer Distance. A new parameter has been added to Pathfinder to allow users to fine-tune the auto-calculated clamp opening height. Parameter 351 – Opening Part Clearance Buffer Distance – controls the extra buffer distance added to the auto-calculated opening height on operations or manipulations that require the part to pass under the clamp. For example, if the clamp must be opened to a bare minimum of 0.75″ to get a hem under the clamp in order to close it, and Parameter 351 is set to 0.25″, then Pathfinder will automatically set the clamp opening heights on the preceding stem to 1.00″. This user-tuneable buffer distance will allow the user to account for variations in blank size or material springback, as well as maximize or minimize space for maneuvering parts under the clamp depending on preference.

v4.12.07.2316

Relax constraints on loading with gripper on initial step. A change has been made to Pathfinder to relax the constraints when loading an unbent sheet with the grippers on the initial loading step. For narrow blanks, Pathfinder used to require that the blank be long enough to stick out at least as far as the Loading Step Sheet Offset when gauged against the backgauge, and if it couldn’t, it would revert to using the finder instead. This has been changed so that Pathfinder prefers loading at a position where the sheet sticks out to the Loading Step Sheet Offset distance, but will still load at the minimum backgauge position if the sheet is narrower than that but still wide enough to stick out beyond the clamp nose. If the sheet cannot be loaded against the grippers such that the sheet edge at least reaches the clamp nose, Pathfinder will revert to using the finger to gauge.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Flurry of diagnostics parsing failures can lead to sluggishness due to file logging. There existed an issue in Pathfinder where a flurry of repetitive diagnostic parsing exceptions could cause Pathfinder to be sluggish or even appear to hang upon exiting due to a backlog of pending log file writes. This has been addressed by filtering errors that will be logged to file to minimize duplicates. Each time a parsing error is encountered, it is checked to see if it is considered “distinct.” If it is considered distinct, it is logged. Any new instances of that error which occur within five minutes of that first instance will not be considered distinct. Once the five minute clock runs out, the next new instance of that error will again be considered distinct, and any instances that follow within five minutes will not be considered distinct.
  • Loading step backgauge position does not adhere to backgauge minimum position. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the minimum backgauge position was not enforced when calculating the backgauge position for loading steps. This bug has been fixed.

v4.12.06.2306

Updated French language translations.

Configuration Updates:

  • Parameter 728 – Hem Delay – has been added to all 5223, 5225, and 5226 configurations. The default value for 5223 and 5225 configurations has been set to 1.5 seconds, and the default value for 5226 configurations has been set to zero seconds.
  • Updated RoperWhitneyElectric configuration with new parameter values, clamp calibration, and bending beam calibration.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Diagnostic status subscription is not disposed when closing Diagnostics screen. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the subscription to the diagnostic status created by the diagnostics screen was not disposed when closing the diagnostics screen, which could result in attempted access to disposed objects and potentially accumulation of allocated memory. This was a result in a bug in the way that diagnostic status updates were tracked with observables. This bug has been fixed.
  • Successive errors or successes in diagnostics connection attempts are all logged. There existed a bug in Pathfinder that would cause repeated errors or repeated successes with the diagnostics connection to be logged to file. This is not the intended behavior. The intended behavior is that only transitions from error state to success state or vice versa are to be logged. In other words, only the first of a series of identical errors should be logged, or the first of a series of successes should be logged. This bug has been fixed.
  • Diagnostics Settings screen doesn’t display latest status. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the status displayed in the diagnostics settings screen would not display the current status unless the diagnostic connection status changed while the screen was open. Otherwise, it would only display “Not started.” This bug has been fixed.

v4.12.05.2297

Added New Parameter 350 – Outside Hem Close Opening Height. A new parameter has been added to Pathfinder. Parameter 350 – Outside Hem Close Opening Height – defines the default clamp opening height that is used just prior to a hem close operation with the part outside the machine. Previously, this opening height would default to the minimum clamp opening height on an outside hem close operation. The opening height after an outside hem close operation was also hard-coded to one inch. Now, the opening height prior to an outside hem close operation will default to the value of Parameter 350, and the clamp opening height after an outside hem close operation will be calculated the same way opening heights are calculated for other types of operations (accounting for profile shape, part manipulations, etc.).

Parameter 336 Name and Description Updated. The name and description for Parameter 336 in Pathfinder have been updated to more accurately reflect its usage. It has been renamed to “Hem Close Opening Height – Automatic.” This parameter sets the ultimate clamp open height that the controller automatically moves the clamp to during a hem smash in full automatic mode with the part secured in the grippers. Its purpose is to ensure that the part clears the clamp when being drawn back in. This is a separate, distinct value from the clamping beam opening height that is set individually in each operation step.

On a machine with grippers, when performing a hem-bend followed by a hem-smash with no handling step in between and the part secured in the grippers, the clamp will first open to the height defined in the operation step, then move the backgauge toward the clamp, then raise the clamp to the value defined by Parameter 336 before finally drawing the part back in and smashing the hem with the clamp. This is the only case where Parameter 336 is used.

Configuration Updates:

  • Parameter 336 (Hem Close Opening Height – Automatic) has been removed from all single-bend configurations that it had been included in (is not used on single bend machines).
  • Parameter 350 (Outside Hem Close Opening Height) has been added to all configurations.

v4.12.04.2293

Discrete IO Axis Definition Changes. Changes have been made to Pathfinder concerning axes that use discreate I/O for speed control. Support for the new DiscreteIOSlow and DiscreteIOFast axis output types have been added. The OutputType has been updated for every TwoSpeed OpenLoopMotor or OpenLoopHydraulic axis definition in every configuration that has one. Validation tests have also been added to ensure that TwoSpeed open loop axes are configured properly.

Configuration Updates:

  • Updated OutputType for TwoSpeed OpenLoopMotor and OpenLoopHydraulic axis definitions in Bradbury, Jorns, and Roper configurations.
  • Updated backgauge calibration for JornsSingleBendFullRetrofitV2ClosedLoop configuration.

v4.12.03.2285

Added parameter for selecting the default load assist mode. Parameter 888 – Default Load Assist Mode – has been added to Pathfinder. When Load Assist is enabled, this parameter sets the default Load Assist Mode for the loading step at the beginning of the operation sequence.

Added text to reference screen to indicate unreferenced axes. The reference screen in Pathfinder has been updated to display the names of the axes that need to be referenced if the controller indicates that the machine is not completely referenced. This list of axis names is displayed in the text box where the referencing instructions used to be displayed.

Known issues resolved with this release:

  • Edge Sync task potentially executed on multiple threads with shared connection. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the Edge Sync task could potentially be executed on two different threads simultaneously. On every sync attempt, the sync task is dispatched to a timer thread pool. If one sync attempt took more time to process than the sync interval of one minute, then the following sync attempt could start before the previous one finished. This would result in the sync task being executed on a second thread in a timer thread pool, and these two threads would share the same connection object. This is a problem, because SQL Compact database connection objects are not thread-safe, and sharing them across threads can result in strange, intermittent errors due to corrupted internal state. This bug has been fixed, and each sync attempt creates its own new database connection to access the database.
  • Edge Sync Timer Refactoring. There existed an issue in Pathfinder where an Edge Sync attempt could overrun its timer interval, and a subsequent sync attempt would be initiated while the previous one was running. Protection against this was implemented in the form of a lock. This condition has now been alleviated by refactoring to ensure than at Edge Sync attempt can only start if the previous attempt has completed.

v4.12.02.2273

Known issues resolved with this release:

  • There existed a bug in Pathfinder where opening the Backgauge2 calibration screen would cause the displayed encoder count to flicker in every calibration screen thereafter. This was due to the CalibrationUC control not getting disposed properly when switching away from the Backgauge2 calibration screen, which would cause Pathfinder to continue requesting the BG2 encoder count. These BG2 requests would be sent alongside requests for other axis encoder counts. Other calibration screens would see both types of responses and interpret them all as if they were for the currently selected axis (the response message gives no indication of the axis for which it is reporting the encoder count), thus causing the count to bounce between the BG2 count and the count of whatever other axis was selected. This bug has been fixed.

v4.12.01

Configuration updates:

  • Changed default backgauge positioning tolerance in SchechtlV1 configuration.

Known issues resolved with this release:

  • Text comm logging tied to diagnostic comm logging setting. A bug was introduced into Pathfinder with the enhancements to diagnostics that caused the thread responsible for writing comm data to the comm log text file to not start. This thread is responsible for logging comm data to both the text file and to store-and-forward (diagnostic comm logging), but was only allowed to run when diagnostic comm logging was enabled. This caused the comm data queue to grow indefinitely, which would eventually cause a Pathfinder crash. This bug has been fixed.
  • RunModeSubStateSet command still being sent. A bug existed in Pathfinder such that a nuisance error would be silently logged to the system logfile every time a user would open or close a calibration screen. In the past, the RunModeSubStateSet command (0x0044) would be sent to “activate” calibration mode any time the user opened a calibration screen or to “deactivate” calibration mode upon closing a calibration screen. In Foldbus V4, this command is no longer used, and is not supported on 5226 motion controllers. However, Pathfinder was continuing to send this command, which was being rejected by the controller and logged to file. This bug has been fixed, and all usages of this deprecated command have been removed.

v4.12.00

Reintroduce Diagnostics. Diagnostics functionality is being reintroduced to Pathfinder following the implementation of various bugfixes and performance improvements.

The interface to diagnostics store-and-forward has been refactored such that all writes to the database get placed into a single queue, and a single thread is responsible for batching these writes and committing them to the database. This has alleviated performance issues that existed previously, stemming from contention for database access from numerous writers simultaneously attempting to write data.

To maximize diagnostic history on machines disconnected from the internet, data compression has been introduced for diagnostic data, enabling the retention of much more data before hitting the database size limit.

An emergency blocking feature has also been introduced which will enable a user to block all diagnostic functionality in the event that diagnostics is preventing Pathfinder from running. Creating the blocking file (named “block.diagnostics”) in the Pathfinder folder will prevent any of the diagnostics services from running and will prevent diagnostic data from being written to disk.

UDP diagnostic data is now being published in one-second chunks and changes are being queued and written at one-second intervals in order to minimize the delay between the time when changes are reported by the controller and the time that those changes are available in the cloud.

v4.11.01

Configuration updates:

  • Clamp calibration updated for SchechtlV1 configuration.
  • Parameter 748 display fixed for BradburyV2 configuration.
  • Added FoldGuardWithHandshake machine option to BradburyV2 configuration.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Machine Option conflict issue. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where selecting a machine option would not de-select conflicting machine options, and an unhandled exception would be thrown when clicking OK to exit the machine option dialog with conflicting options selected. This bug has been fixed, and Pathfinder will automatically de-select any conflicting machine options when the user selects a machine option.
  • Items that appear in multiple machine options not handled properly. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where axis or I/O definitions that were shared between multiple machine options would not be handled properly. The first machine option to be processed would take precedence and force its enabled state onto the item in question. Instead, every machine option should be evaluated before deciding the enabled state of the shared item. This bug has been fixed.

v4.11.00

Configuration updates:

  • Added new configuration to support Schechlt MAE with 5223 motion controller.
  • Updated ASCv2 configuration with changes from the field.
  • Added new configuration to support Roper Whitney Electric with 5226 motion controller.
  • Updated ASCHydraulic configuration descriptions to show that the backgauge is hydraulic.
  • Added closed loop backgauge generic parameters to applicable 5226 configurations.
  • Added Foldguard machine option to all ASC configurations.
  • Fixed gripper offset limit parameters in Jorns Twinmatic configuration to ensure they get sent to the controller.
  • Added Hydraulic Pump Motor Fault input and Hydraulic Pump Run output to ASCHydraulicV1 and ASCHydraulicV2 configurations.
  • Inverted backgauge front and rear limits and un-inverted finger up and down limits in the ASCV1 and ASCHydraulicV1 configurations.
  • Added SMCouv geometries to Jouanel PTS configurations.
  • Fixed clamp laser machine option in Jouanel configurations.
  • Fixed minimum clamp position SentToController setting in Roper configuration.
  • Added machine options to 5226 configurations to control key switch configuration for selecting operator modes (legacy two-man, fail-to-safe two-man, and three-man).

Added Error 355 – Operator Mode Has Changed. Added support to Pathfinder for motion controller Error 355 – Operator Mode Has Changed. This error message will be displayed when the operator mode is changed via the key switch, offering visual feedback to the user.

Changes to System Information View. Changes have been made to the System Information view in Pathfinder to show more information, including the controller board revision and, if a slave controller is connected, information about the slave controller’s firmware version and build date.

Firmware Tracking Changes. Changes have been made to improve the way Pathfinder tracks and enforces motion controller firmware versions. In the past, firmware files were deployed once as part of an automatic update, and then deleted once the firmware was installed to the controller. Pathfinder did not track the firmware version – it simply deployed these transient firmware files.  Once the file was gone, Pathfinder had no way to know what version of firmware it needed. This made it impossible to automatically get the correct firmware installed on the controller after a rollback using a backup. This also made it difficult to get the correct firmware installed after a manual update. The user also had the option of declining to install a firmware update, which could result in the machine being run in an untested and unsupported configuration.

Now, Pathfinder has the necessary firmware files embedded within the application, and can always flash a controller regardless of whether Pathfinder was restored from a backup, installed with an automatic update, or installed with a manual update. Pathfinder now also forces a firmware update when needed instead of giving the user the option to decline the update. Each version of Pathfinder will require a specific firmware version for each motion controller hardware type, and Pathfinder will require this firmware version to be installed in order to jog any axis or run any parts on the machine. The selected configuration must also be compatible with the connected controller in order to jog any axis or run any parts (e.g. A configuration for a Jorns with a 5226 board requires that a 5226 be connected before Pathfinder will allow the machine to run).

After the user logs into Pathfinder, Pathfinder will first check to ensure the connected controller is compatible with the selected configuration.  If the controller is not compatible, Pathfinder will display an error message and prevent the machine from moving any axis or running any parts. If the controller is compatible, Pathfinder will check to ensure that the controller’s firmware version matches the required version. If the version does not match the requirement, Pathfinder will notify the user and then initiate the firmware flashing process. Once this process is complete and the controller firmware matches the requirement, Pathfinder will proceed with configuring the controller and will allow the machine to jog axes and run parts once configuration is complete.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Calibration table vulnerability. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where calibration tables could potentially be sent to the controller with the calibration measurements in incorrect order. The controller requires calibration measurements to be sent in order of ascending encoder count value, but Pathfinder was not guaranteed to do so. This bug has been fixed.
  • Exception response to parameter value request handled improperly. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where it would fail to handle an exception response properly after a parameter value request (Command 0x0052). If the controller gives an exception response to this command, Pathfinder is supposed to interpret the response data differently than if it gives a normal response. The exception response contains an error code indicating why the controller rejected the command. In this case, Pathfinder was interpreting that value as the parameter value it requested and propagating that bad value. This bug has been fixed, and Pathfinder now interprets exception responses to this command correctly.
  • Exception response to encoder count request handled improperly. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where it would fail to handle an exception response properly after an encoder count request (Command 0x40A1). Pathfinder would interpret the exception response improperly and potentially update the UI with a bad encoder count which would make it difficult to correctly modify the encoder offset in the calibration screen. This bug has been fixed.
  • Encoder count polling not thread-safe. There existed a vulnerability in Pathfinder where the code responsible for polling the controller for encoder counts while in the calibration screen was not thread-safe. This vulnerability has been fixed.

v4.10.13

  • Added Parameter 177 – Minimum Backgauge Position to Raise Finger. This parameter sets a threshold below which the backgauge finger will not raise. This parameter is intended for use on machines where the backgauge finger rides up on the lower clamp surface as it approaches the clamp.

v4.10.12

Configuration updates:

  • Roper clamp calibration updated to be more accurate.
  • Parameter 748 – Halt Timeout in Automatic – added to all 5223 and 5225 configs.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Possible vulnerability in disk and database usage check timer.
  • Language name translations in Russian.
  • Diagnostic listener disabled. The diagnostic listening service in Pathfinder was still running and collecting UDP data from 5226 controllers, despite the fact that it never wrote any of the data to disk, since the writing of diagnostic data is still disabled in the code. It would collect diagnostic data from the controller, enqueue it, and then throw it away without writing it. While it is unlikely that this had any significant impact on system performance, it is still a waste of system resources. The listening service has now been disabled and will remain disabled until further diagnostics changes are deployed.

v4.10.10

Updated Russian translations. Russian translations in Pathfinder have been updated to reflect all localizable strings in the application as of 09-19-2018.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Pathfinder hangs when shutting down after having initialized communication.
  • Goat foot geometries missing from Jouanel PTS 33 default material.
  • Task Error Handler uses wrong request method.
  • Task Error Handler does not handle zero-length response properly.

v4.10.09

New License Key feature. A new feature has been introduced to Pathfinder to support temporary licensing of Pathfinder systems. By default, Pathfinder installations will be permanenetly licensed and have unlimited runtime. If necessary, however, a Pathfinder system can be granted a temporary license which will establish a finite runtime clock based on the parameters of the license. A temporary license will grant the machine a certain number of days of runtime, and when that runtime is exhausted, the machine will no longer run parts. Once the temporary license has expired, the only movement the machine will permit will be to move the bending beam home or raise the clamping beam. The runtime countdown can be reset with a new temporary license key, or the machine can be set to run indefinitely by programming a permanent license key. To generate a license key, a seed code must be gathered from the machine and sent to the license authority (AMS or an OEM). This seed code is used by the license authority to generate a new license key that, once programmed into the controller, resets the remaining runtime to the runtime granted by the license authority. Replaying the same license key will not grant additional time and will not reset the remaining runtime.

New Pre-Run Warning on Material Mismatch. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to detect and prompt the user regarding a material mismatch. The material used to generate a set of operations is now recorded in the database when the profile is saved (this was not necessarily the case in the past). When the user attempts to run a part in graphical mode, Pathfinder will check to see if the currently selected material matches the material that was used to generate the current set of operations. If the material does not match, Pathfinder will warn the user about the mismatch and ask if they would like to proceed. If the user opts to proceed anyway, Pathfinder will run the part using the operations as-is. If the user opts not to proceed, Pathfinder will then ask the user if they would like to re-generate the operation values using the currently selected material. The user can then choose the option that fits their needs.

Optional Operation Value Regeneration on Material Change. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to change the way a change in material selection affects the current operation list. In the past, selecting a different material would silently trigger a regeneration of operation values. This could lead to ambiguity about the state and origin of operation values, and where they came from. Now, the original material used to generate a set of operations is saved with those operations. When the user selects a material, Pathfinder will check to see if that material matches the material used to generate the current set of operations. If there is a mismatch, Pathfinder will ask the user if they want to re-generate operation values using the newly selected material.  The user can then choose to re-generate operation values, or keep them as-is.

Configuration Updates

  • Updated SASV2 configuration with changes from the field.
  • Added clamp and bending beam limit inputs to Roper Whitney config.
  • Added new 16mm and 24mm bending beam tools to Schechtlv1 config.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • System Time and Controller Name locked out when no write filter installed. Only impacted non-production PCs.
  • Material Selection Dialog Cancel Button missing.
  • Missing Geometries in Material causes problems downstream.
  • NullReferenceException Thrown by Status Processing.

v4.10.08

Fixed Modify Offset calculation. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where the Modify Offset button would cause the calibration to be set using a bogus offset value if the given encoder count value was greater than the largest point in the table. Instead of extrapolating the correct value based on the last points in the table, the offset calculation would simply return an offset of 500. The offset calculation was also brittle such that it required calibration measurements to be written in the config file in a specific order, otherwise it would fail to calculate the offset properly. This calculation has been overhauled and rewritten to be more robust. It can now interpolate or extrapolate to any point, regardless of whether it is less than the lowest point or greater than the largest point in the table. It can also correctly calculate the offset even when supplied with an unordered or randomly-ordered calibration table.

Configuration updates.

  • Added parameter 727 – Max Confirmation Pedal Delay to 5226 configurations that were missing it.
  • Removed Reference Encoder outputs from ThalmannZRv1 configuration.
  • Added Error Timer generic parameter to RAS Turbobend configurations for both clamping beam and bending beam.
  • Added Clamp Slow Speed Limit input to ThalmannZRv1 configuration.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Task error processing throws exception with 5225.
  • Parameter 133 missing name and description in UI.

v4.10.07

Disabled diagnostics. Diagnostics writing, syncing, and pruning have been disabled in Pathfinder until pending issues can be resolved.

Created diagnostics unit test for verifying all tables have pruning strategies. There existed a vulnerability in the Pathfinder diagnostics code where it was not obvious that a pruning strategy needed to be added for each new table that is created in the diagnostics database. This made it easy to add tables without pruning strategies, which would cause the database to grow indefinitely. This has been remedied with a new unit test that verifies that every table defined has a corresponding pruning strategy. This unit test is run on every build, and will cause the build to fail if any table lacks a pruning strategy.

v4.10.06

Improved consistency and quality of exception logging. The top-level unhandled exception logging in Pathfinder has been improved and made more consistent such that all exceptions should be reported and logged in the same format.

Raised maximum size limit in database connection string. The maximum database size limit enforced in Pathfinder by the database connection string was not revised to reflect the new database usage limits. This has been fixed, and the connection string limit is now set such that the database size will only be enforced by the new usage limit logic and not by the connection string.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Pathfinder not populating radius feature fields properly.

v4.10.05

Hid part visualization when Reconfiguration operation is occurring. An enhancement was made to Pathfinder to hide the part visualization when a Reconfiguration operation is occurring. Currently, this type of operation is only supported on RAS machines with a bending-beam-driven Radius Adjustment axis.

Added axis control method Open Loop Proportional Hydraulic I/O Coast. Support has been added to Pathfinder for the axis control method Open Loop Proportional Hydraulic I/O Coast. This corresponds to the firmware change referenced in SCN 3798.

Added display for gripper and finger dwell times. An enhancement has been made to Pathfinder to display gripper and finger parameters – particularly dwell times – on the Backgauge parameter view when no discrete axis definition is present in the configuration. When a discrete axis is defined, these parameters will instead be displayed on the Discrete Axis parameter view.

Disk and database usage limits. A series of enhancements have been made to Pathfinder to prevent disk and database usage from growing to the point that Pathfinder or the system crashes. There are four disk and database usage levels: Normal, Warning, Constrained, and Critical.

  • Normal – Under normal conditions, there is plenty of free space and Pathfinder allows database writes and profile saves without issue.
  • Warning – Under a warning condition, free space is becoming scarce, and Pathfinder will issue a warning message notifying the user that free space is scarce each time a profile is saved to the database.
  • Constrained – Under a constrained condition, free space is extremely scarce, and Pathfinder will block the user from saving new profiles to the database. Pathfinder will also stop accepting Edge profile updates (it will only accept Edge profile deletions). This behavior will continue until sufficient space is freed to go back into a Warning or Normal condition.
  • Critical – Under a critical condition, free space is too limited to allow Pathfinder to safely run without corrupting data on disk, and Pathfinder will immediately shut down upon encountering such a condition. This condition would indicate a bug and should not normally occur, and will require a user to manually free up space in order to allow Pathfinder to run.

Deleted Edge profile header is created if it doesn’t already exist. There existed a bug in Pathfinder that could cause the local profile database on Edge-synced machines to grow indefinitely over time. The root cause of this bug was in the handling of deleted profiles. To indicate that a profile is to be deleted, the Edge server sends a profile header with a flag set indicating that it is “archived” The handling in Pathfinder was written such that it assumed that any sent Edge profile that it did not find locally was supposed to be added. This logic was wrong. There is a potential case where a profile deletion (an archived profile header) is sent for a profile that does not exist in the local database. Such a deletion should simply be ignored, rather than adding the archived profile to the database (which is what Pathfinder was doing). Instead of deleting these profiles, Pathfinder would accumulate them. This bug has been fixed, and Pathfinder now handles profile deletions properly regardless of whether those profiles exist locally.

Added version number to Pathfinder main screen. The Pathfinder software version number has been added to the main dialog just below the Pathfinder logo. This will help ensure that the running Pathfinder version number is visible when a screenshot is captured or a photo is taken of the screen.

Configuration updates.

  • Added parameters 867 and 868 to ASCV2 and ASCHydraulicV2 configs.
  • Added output functions BackgaugeFingerMotorUp (0x27) and BackgaugeFingerMotorDown (0x28) to ASCV2 and ASCHydraulicV2 configs.
  • Replaced bending beam and clamp stopping reaction distances (232, 233, 343, 344) with stopping reaction times (210, 220, 309, 310) in RASTurbobend and RASTurbobendPlus configs.
  • Added axis control method OpenLoopProportionalHydaulicIOCoast (0x83) to RASTurbobend and RASTurbobendPlus for bending beam and clamp.
  • Added generic parameters 0x0603A – Bending Beam Sweep Angle, 0x203B – Minimum Analog Timer, and 0x403C – Minimum Velocity Speed to RASTurbobend and RASTurbobendPlus configs for bending beam and clamp axes.
  • Changed ThalmannTDv2 config Upper Bending Beam Retract FeedbackIndex and OutputIndex.
  • Added descriptions for Jorns closed loop configs.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Radius Adjust position on hem closes populates to minimum position.
  • Diagnostic database connection exceptions.
  • Pathfinder fails to load on Windows XP due to Sqlite compatibility issue.
  • StoreAndForward refernces unsupported DateTimeOffset type.
  • Force Resync can fail to initiate if user exits shortly after pressing button.
  • Pathfinder does not handle null thumbnail in Edge profiles properly.
  • Nuisance exception logged regarding Temp directory even when not performing auto-backup.
  • Unhandled exception errors.

v4.10.04

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Initiating a Force Resync will cause the Force Resync to repeat. This would give the appearance of a successful sync, but recent profiles would be intermittently available. After restarting Pathfinder, syncing would function normally again.

v4.10.03

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • KeyNotFound Exception thrown when finishing a step on configurations that lacked Parameter 211.
  • First Edge Sync error not logged.
  • Refactor Edge Sync error logging to distinguish between unique and duplicate errors.

v4.10.02

Changed RAS Radius Adjustment calibration table. The Radius Adjustment calibration table for the RAS Turbobend and Turbobend Plus machines has been updated in Pathfinder such that the count value represents a bending beam angle in thousandths of a degree.

Bending beam color changed. The bending beam color in the Pathfinder visualizer has been changed to light grey for all machine configurations other than Thalmann machines.

New Minimum and Maximum Material Thickness parameters. Two new parameters have been added to Pathfinder to constrain the material thickness allowed for a machine configuration. Parameter 752 – Minimum Material Thickness – and Parameter 753 – Maximum Material Thickness. These parameters are machine-specific and read-only and constrain the material thicknesses that are allowed to be defined in each material definition.

Default profile locking permission changed. The default profile locking permission for newly created users has been set to “disabled.” New users, by default, will not be given permission to lock and unlock profiles. This permission can, however, be granted by an administrator user.

Configuration updates. Added upper and lower Radius Adjust limits to RAS Turbobend configurations. Removed Parameter 206 – Power Mode Speed – from RAS Turbobend configurations. Added Parameter 411 – Radius Adjust Positioning Tolerance – to RAS Turbobend configurations. Added default material for ASC configurations. Fixed I/O Enabled settings to ASC configurations. Updated generic parameter values in RAS Turbobend configurations. Added descriptions for ASC configurations. Minimum clamp position updated in all Jorns configurations. Added load assist config options to JornsSingleBendFullRetrofitV2 configuration. Updated JornsSingleBendFullRetrofitV2 backgauge calibration.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Temp directories not getting cleaned up.
  • Forcing Edge re-sync caused profiles to be cached indefinitely, causing Pathfinder to accumulate more and more profiles until the SDF exceeded the size limit.
  • Changing Radius Adjustment in operation didn’t allow saving.
  • Radius Adjustment limits not enforced in operation.
  • Exception thrown after selecting the operations tab with a profile that is not sequenceable.
  • Other unhandled exception errors.

v4.10.01

Version mismatch in SQLite dependencies causes Pathfinder to silently fail to start. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where our internal diagnostics libraries were setup with a dependency on SQLite with allowed versions being 1.0.105.2 or later. At the time the latest diagnostics package versions were integrated with Pathfinder, this package version was no longer available, and so SQLite version 1.0.108.0 was installed. Apparently, there were breaking changes made between these versions, however, because the .NET runtime would fail to start when running our 1.0.105.2-dependent diagnostics libraries against the 1.0.108.0 assembly. To resolve this, the diagnostics libraries were updated to exclusively depend on 1.0.108.0 of the SQLite library (no open-ended version range), and Pathfinder was updated accordingly, thus resolving the issue. Since the SQLite package version is constrained to exactly 1.0.108.0 now, if this package version becomes unavailable in the future and there are potentially breaking changes between versions, those breaking changes will be avoided because both diagnostics and Pathfinder will be forced to update to the latest package version in unison rather than one or the other being allowed to lag.

Front Finger machine option added to Jouanel PTS configurations. The Jouanel PTS configurations in Pathfinder have been updated to include the Front Finger as a machine option. Previously, the Front Finger was hard-coded into a distinct JouanelWithFingers configuration. Now it is an optional feature in the Jouanel PTS configurations.

Updated RAS Radius Adjustment calibration tables. The RAS Turbobend and RAS Turbobend Plus calibration tables for the Radius Adjustment axis have been updated in Pathfinder to reflect the latest measurements gathered in the field.

v4.10.00

Warning icon for machine configuration. A new indicator has been added to Pathfinder to warn the operator to clear the machine for a reconfiguration operation. A reconfiguration operation is a sequence of machine movements that must be performed with the part removed from the machine. These movements during a reconfiguration operation are for modifying the physical configuration of the machine, not forming the part.

The first application for this feature is the RAS Turbobend and Turbobend Plus bending-beam-driven Radius Adjustment. In order to change the Radius Adjust position on these machines, the material must be removed from the machine, the bending beam must be locked into an eccentric, and then the bending beam must be positioned to set the radius adjust position. On the RAS Turbobend, the clamp is moved to the top of its range to engage the bending beam eccentric lock. On the RAS Turbobend Plus, the bending beam eccentric lock is engaged by an actuator driven by a controller output.

When the controller determines that a reconfiguration is necessary while running a profile, it notifies the PC via the periodic status response. The PC will then display a warning icon and a message indicating that the operator should clear the machine. The operator then guides the reconfiguration operation by pressing and holding the appropriate pedal or pedals. Once the reconfiguration is complete, the warning icon will disappear, and the operator can reinsert the part into the machine to continue bending. A reconfiguration operation will occur between any two operations where the position of the relevant axis must change. If there is no change in the position of the relevant axis between operations, then no reconfiguration will be performed. For example, if the Radius Adjustment position is the same in all operations of a profile sequence on a RAS Turbobend, then the profile will run with no reconfiguration operations at all. If the Radius Adjustment position changes from one step to the next, then a reconfiguration operation will be performed between those two steps.

v4.09.07

Added support for Jouanel PTS31 single-bend machine controlled by a 5226 motion controller.

Improved Task Error logging. The Task Error handler in Pathfinder was never fully implemented to take advantage of the Task Error reporting capabilities in Foldbus V3 and later versions. The handler has been rewritten to properly log all the relevant task error information made available by the controller, including the task error ID, the values of various memory registers, and a memory dump captured at the time of the task error.

Eliminated referencing instructions. The reference screen in Pathfinder has been modified such that it will no longer give potentially confusing or misleading instructions to the user regarding which axis or axes to move. It will only report whether reference mode is active and whether all axes are referenced. The status response flags used to communicate these instructions have also been repurposed.

Diagnostics settings screen layout issue. There was an issue in Pathfinder with the layout of the Diagnostics Settings screen where the label that displays status was obscured by the checkbox for enabling comm logging. This issue has been fixed.

Added support for ASC machines. New configurations have been added to Pathfinder to support several ASC machine types: ASCV1 (5225), ASCV2 (5226), ASCHydraulicV1 (5225), and ASCHydraulicsV2 (5226).

Configuration updates. Parameter 133 – Tolerance Testing Mode – was added to all 5225 configurations. Jouanel PGL configuration was updated with parameter changes from the field. ClampingBeamUpperLimit input was added to Roper config. ThalmannThakoV2EIP configuration was updated with changes from the field. Parameter 128 – Backgauge Stopping Mode – and Paramter 130 – Backguage Stopping Reaction Time – were added to the SchechtlV1 configuration. Added Parameter 218 – Raise Clamping Beam Overlap – to all 5225 configurations. Changed default value of Parameter 332 – Maximum LBB to Move CB – to one degree for all single-bend 5226 configurations.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Parameter changes not saved when exiting directly from Tools view. Pending parameter edits will now be saved as soon as the Tools view page is changed.
  • Visualizer not advancing to next step under certain conditions, specifically in cases where parameter values were set to unexpected, non-standard values.
  • Other unhandled exception errors.

v4.09.06

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Packaged 5226 firmware v4.01.08.

v4.09.05

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Edge Initial Sync can get stuck if total profile count increased during sync.
  • Edge Sync disabled after Pathfinder restart.

v4.09.04

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • FoldbusEthernet_IO not always disposed – this would leave the comm logging thread running under certain exit conditions, which would prevent Pathfinder from shutting down.
  • NullReferenceException thrown by CalibrationUC when no tool offsets defined.
  • RunStatistics thread not always shut down.

v4.09.03

Optimize Profile Import by excluding Edge profiles. Profile importing in Pathfinder has been changed such that only local profiles will be imported from the target database file. Edge profiles will be excluded.

Resolved unsupported reference to DateTimeOffset in Diagnostics library. There existed a bug in Pathfinder such that it would fail to start on PCs running Windows XP Embedded. The error message would indicate “Could not load type ‘System.DateTimeOffset’ from assembly ‘mscorlib, …’”. The root cause for this error was that the DateTimeOffset object (a DateTime object that also includes a UTC offset) was introduced in a service pack for the .NET Framework 2.0, but is not available in the version of the .NET Framework 2.0 used on our Windows XP Embedded PC images. Microsoft did not roll the assembly versions, so there is no way to target pre-service-pack assemblies instead of post-service-pack assemblies – they are identical in terms of version numbers. Developers are able to write and build code that references the DateTimeOffset object, the build server is also able to build this code, and the code will run on our Windows 10 machines, but it will not run on our Windows XP Embedded machines. The fix for this is to use the DateTime object instead, which exists in all versions of the .NET Framework 2.0. This fix has been implemented.

Removed Parameter 131 – Backgauge Resolution. Parameter 131 – Backgauge Resolution has been removed from Pathfinder. This parameter was made obsolete by the introduction of a backgauge calibration table.

Max Clamp Height Automatically Adjusted Based on Tool Offset. When swapping the clamp tool out for a tool of a different height, such as a goat-foot tool, the calibration for the clamp position is affected. To address this, a new ToolOffset value was previously introduced to be able to define how much taller or shorter a given clamp tool is from the standard tool. When switching between machine geometries (which triggers a change in the clamp tool), the ToolOffset for the new clamp tool is applied to the calibration table for the clamp position, so the clamp does not need to be re-referenced. The achievable max clamp position (in terms of the clamp tool face) is also affected – when a taller-than-standard tool is attached, the achievable max position is reduced. When a shorter-than-standard tool is attached, the achievable max position is increased.

Now, in addition to adjusting the clamp calibration, Pathfinder will automatically adjust the maximum clamp position when a machine geometry is selected that contains a clamp tool which is different in height from the standard clamp tool. When a shorter-than-standard tool is attached, the max position will be increased. When a taller-than-standard tool is attached, the max position will be reduced. This automatic adjustment occurs behind the scenes prior to sending the value to the controller. The parameter value in the tools view will still be displayed for the standard, non-adjusted height. If the baseline max clamp height is not large enough to accommodate the given tool offset, the user will be warned and the automatic adjustment of the max clamp height will not be applied.

The user will also be able to do a Modify Offset on the clamp position axis with non-standard-height tooling attached and selected, and this will carry over the correct calibration to the standard tool. For example, if the clamp loses encoder counts for whatever reason with a goat-foot tool attached, the user can take a measurement from the face of the goat-foot tool to the bottom clamp surface, and use that as the measurement value for doing a Modify Offset. When the tooling is switched back to the standard tool and the standard machine geometry is selected, the axis’ count offset will still be correct.

Note: This ToolOffset functionality will not work properly on machines that have a physical safety stop height switch. Any machine with a safety stop switch must have a separate configuration or configuration override defined for clamp tooling with a non-standard height.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Maintenance Tool halts when failing to find Updates or Backups directories.
  • Profile Import hangs indefinitely on connection open failure.
  • Parameter changes not saved when exiting directly from Tools view.
  • Other unhandled exception errors.

v4.09.02

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Unhandled exception during firmware flash.
  • Other unhandled exception errors.

v4.09.01

New menu option for launching TeamViewer from within Pathfinder. A new menu item has been added to Pathfinder to allow any user to launch TeamViewer if it is installed in the Utility folder next to the Pathfinder install folder.  There is a new menu item under Diagnostics called External Tools.  Selecting this menu item will bring up a page containing buttons for launching external tools if they are installed.  This includes a button for launching TeamViewer.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Communication thread would become unresponsive due to spending too much time processing controller responses and logging information.
  • Wrong packet ID logged for responses in Comm Log.
  • Exception thrown when exiting Pathfinder during a large Edge sync operation.
  • Issue with backgauge calibration tables for Thalmann TD configurations.
  • Issue with backgauge shapes defined in RAS configurations that would cause Pathfinder to fail to properly calculate operation backgauge positions for a number of profiles.
  • Other unhandled exception errors.

v4.09.00

Backup, Restore, and Update Tool. New backup, restore, and update functionality has been introduced to Pathfinder. A new Maintenance tool has been added to Pathfinder which replaces the functionality of the Updater tool. This Maintenance tool supports handling backup, restore, and update operations. Users will now be able to create backups from within Pathfinder and specify where they want to store those backups (local disk, USB, etc.). Users will also be able to restore backups from within Pathfinder using any backup created with the Maintenance tool. Backups are stored as compressed zip archives and contain metadata such as the machine on which they were captured, the date and time they were captured, etc. If an installation of Pathfinder becomes corrupted, this Maintenance tool can be run directly in order to find and restore a backup.

Updated diagnostics functionality. New Diagnostics functionality has been added to Pathfinder.  Diagnostic data from 5226 controllers as well as data from Pathfinder PC is now recorded to a database on the local PC. This includes such data as axis positions, controller state, PC system events, exception information, etc. In its default state, this database will temporarily hold diagnostic data up to the maximum size threshold, at which point it will begin deleting the oldest records based on priority and time rules.

This data can also be uploaded to an AMS server in the cloud by switching on the diagnostic uplink from the administrator settings menu. When diagnostic uplink is enabled, the local database will function as a temporary buffer for diagnostic data waiting to be uploaded. Tools for viewing and analyzing this data are in development will become available at a later date.

Feature Insert and Delete. New graphical feature functionality has been introduced to Pathfinder.  A new “feature insert” button has been added to the graphical profile editor. This button will allow the user to insert new features into the middle or at the beginning of a profile. Each click of this insert button will add a new segment and bend before the selected feature. The order of the inserted segment and bend will depend on whether a segment or bend is selected, such that the modified feature list will always alternate between a segment and a bend/radius/hem. The functionality of the feature delete button has also been modified such that it will remove the selected feature and an adjacent feature – this was done because removing a single feature and not one of its adjacent features will always result in an invalid profile. The feature append functionality has also been modified such that adding a bend, radius, or hem feature to the end of the profile will also add a trailing segment. The selection flow from one feature to the next will remain the same, however – the added bend will be selected first, then the trailing segment. Other than the very first segment of a profile, features will always be added or removed in pairs, which should reduce the number of clicks required to create a profile, and will eliminate the possibility of defining a profile that violates the alternating feature type rule (no two adjacent segments, no two adjacent bend-features).

Added RAS single-bend machines with a 5226 controller.

Parameter 749 – Require Pedal Press to Return Shear Home. This parameter controls whether a pedal press is required to send the shear to its home position after the shear has finished a move to its target. When this parameter is set to disabled, the shear will return home after a move automatically (this is the current default behavior). When this parameter is set to enabled, the shear will remain halted at its target until the operator presses the pedal again, at which time the shear will return home.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Unhandled exception error when a material table was not instantiated properly and contained no entries.
  • Operation speed for non-graphical operations would default to zero. Default is now 100.
  • Invalid backgauge modes could be selected in non-graphical operations. Now only available backgauge modes can be selected in non-graphical operations.
  • Bend down was selectable in non-graphical operations on single-bend machines. Now Bend Down is only selectable on machines that have an upper bending beam.
  • Other unhandled exception errors.

v4.08.07

Thalmann Thako – Added configuration to support a Thalmann Thako machine with 5226 motion controller and an Ethernet/IP backgauge servo drive.

RAS V1 – Added configuration to support a RAS single-bend machine with a 5225 motion controller.

Material table no longer extrapolates. In the past, bend adjustments would be fetched from the material table by using either interpolation or extrapolation from the entries in the table. For angles that fell between entries in the table, linear interpolation would be used. For angles that were less than the lowest entry, or greater than the greatest entry, extrapolation would be used. This would sometimes cause problems, and negative values could be calculated through extrapolation where they were not intended nor appropriate. Material table lookup behavior has been modified to only perform interpolation, as before, and to default to the nearest entry where it would previously use extrapolation. For example, if the angle to be looked up is 10 degrees, and the smallest entry in the table is 30 degrees, then the lookup will return the adjustment values associated with the entry at 30 degrees.

Removed High Flow Output and Parameter 747 – Require Continuous Pedal Down to Move shear from Jorns Single-Bend 5225 configuration. When these are supported, they were be reintroduced to the configuration.

Added Safety Stop Input to Thalmann ZR V1 Configuration

Allow clamp referencing for all 5225 configurations with a safety stop input. It has previously only been possible to reference the clamping beam axis if it has an incremental encoder feedback. But in order to register the initial safety stop height switch position on a 5225 controller, reference mode must be active while jogging the clamp. Instead of just being active when the clamp has an encoder, the clamp reference button will now also be active when the controller is a 5225 and there is a safety stop input. This will allow 5225 controllers to correctly register the safety stop height switch position even when the clamp does not have an encoder feedback.

Parameter 748 – Hydraulic Pump Auto-Shutoff in Run. This parameter has been added to all 5226 configurations in Pathfinder. This parameter controls the amount of time that the hydraulic pump will run while the machine is idle but in Run mode. Operations will sometimes leave a machine unattended and in Run mode for prolonged periods of time. This puts excessive wear on the machine. With this parameter, the customer will be able to control how long the pump will keep running after an operator stops interacting with the machine.

Premel Bima – Added configuration to support a Premel Bima single-bend machine with a 5226 motion controller.

Known issues resolved in this release include:

  • Inverted input logic handling.
  • Maintain shear pedal parameter clamp up pedal issue.
  • Minimum velocity generic parameter issue.
  • Radius bend/Stamping Mode issues.
  • Backgauge shapes incorrectly defined for SASV2, JouanelHydraulic, and JouanelPGL configs.
  • Clamp open height on hem close calculation issue.
  • Highlighted operation hangs on manipulation step on single bend machines issue.
  • Other unhandled exception errors.

v4.08.06

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Unhandled exception errors.

v4.08.05

Shear Home Position parameter. A new parameter was added to configurations that support a shear. The parameter allows a user who is setting up a machine to set whether the shear is homed to the left or right side of the machine. This in turn adjusts the behavior of the shear jog buttons to reflect the relative movement of the shear from the operator’s perspective.

Removed Thickness field from Material Definition table. This field is no longer used in any meaningful calculations, so it was removed to prevent confusion.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Unhandled exception error on Windows XP PCs.
  • Unhandled exception error on Windows installation with a region setting other than “United States.”
  • Incorrect overbend angle calculation on radius features.
  • Empty log entries.
  • Other unhandled exception errors.

v4.08.04

Raygun crash reporting. Raygun crash reporting has been added to Pathfinder v4. In the event of a crash due to an unhandled exception in Pathfinder, a crash report will be sent to the AMS Controls Raygun server and a notification will be sent to engineering. This will enable engineering to track crash-inducing bugs and deploy fixes for them more quickly.

Removed Hem Close Opening Height from single-bend configurations. Parameter 336 – Hem Close Opening Height – has been removed from all single-bend configurations. It is only used on double-folders with grippers while performing a hem close with a gripped part.

Added Radius Adjustment position to shear operating and handling operation commands. Includes Radius Adjustment position in the commands for sending a shear operation and sending a handling operation to the controller. This prevents the controller from defaulting to a Radius Adjust position of zero on a shear operation or a handling operation (which is not a legal RA position on some machines).

High Flow Enable output. Added High Flow Enable output, which is used to trigger a “high flow” state in a hydraulic system. The output is initialized as deactivated when the system starts up. The output is activated at the start of each hydraulic axis move and is deactivated at the end of each hydraulic axis move. It is also deactivated when attempting to build clamp pressure on a clamp move when the clamp is closed. This output is intended for use on two-pump hydraulic systems that have a high-pressure/low-flow pump and a low-pressure/high-flow pump both driven by a common driveshaft.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Radius Adjustment position defaulted to invalid position.
  • Material editor did not allow for an entry of zero degrees.
  • Unhandled exception error during firmware flash operation.
  • Other unhandled exception errors.

v4.08.03

Minimum Velocity parameter. One of the many safety features of the 5226 is the minimum velocity test. This test is used to catch a bad encoder or show that an axis cannot physically move at that speed. This works by monitoring the calculated velocity of the axis once it has started outputting an analog signal equal to the slow speed parameter. If the calculated velocity fails to reach a certain level based on the Minimum Velocity Timer parameter the system will halt and throw an error message. The problem was that the level the velocity had to reach was based on the positional tolerance parameter of the axis. The units of this parameter will be in what the axis position unit is per second, i.e. inches/sec or degrees/sec. The parameter has a minimum limit of .01 to ensure it cannot be disabled by the user. Also added upper limit of 2 seconds to ensure the test cannot be disabled.

Throttle Speed Select. Some folding machines have installed safety features to ensure that the operator can make a part without hurting someone. One of these features is a clamp laser system. If the laser is broken when the clamp is moving down it will stop the clamp. Once the operator presses the clamp down pedal twice in a certain amount of time the system will be overridden. Once this happens the clamp is allowed to move down in a slower speed even if the laser is broken.

As an added feature a new valve was added to the hydraulic system that ensures that the clamping beam does not drop when moving in this overridden slow state and further enforces the slow speed. To turn on the valve a Throttle Speed Select output was created that will turn on when the laser system is overridden. A Throttle Speed parameter was also created that allows the user to choose what this slower speed will be. This speed and output will only be active above the safety stop height.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Stamping Mode (for radius bends) issue.
  • Unhandled exception error caused by SchechtlV1 configuration missing Clamp Maximum Opening Height parameter.
  • Other unhandled exception errors.

v4.08.01

Renamed Safe Speed Select to Throttle Speed Select. For clarity, this output function was renamed. This is used to enable a Throttle Valve in order to reduce the speed of a hydraulic axis.

Thalmann TZ – Added Clamp Throttle Speed parameter. This parameter sets the speed at which the clamp moves when the laser is blocked and the clamp is above the safety stop height.

Added logging for controller-updated parameter values that are out of bounds.

Updated Jouanel PGL geometry data.

Minimum Velocity Timer parameter. One of the many safety features of the 5226 is the minimum velocity test. This test is used to catch a bad encoder or show that an axis cannot physically move at that speed. This works by monitoring the calculated velocity of the axis once it has started outputting an analog signal equal to the slow speed parameter. If the calculated velocity fails to reach a certain level for in 0.5 seconds the system will halt and throw an error message. The problem is on some machines certain axes need more than the 0.5 seconds that is used.

Since 0.5 seconds was just an arbitrary time selected it became apparent that this time needed to become an adjustable parameter. The solution to this was the creation of a Minimum Velocity Timer generic parameter. With this parameter every axis can have its time adjusted for this test to make up for physical restrictions. If the parameter is not adjusted then the default used is still 0.5 seconds.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Shear Home Position parameter does not display properly on form load.
  • Shear dialog completed part count increments erratically.
  • Inverted polled inputs not initialized.

v4.08.00

“Force Re-Sync” button added to Pathfinder Edge administration page. A new feature has been added to Pathfinder to allow users with administrator privileges to force a complete Edge re-sync without exiting the application or manually modifying Edge configuration data.  A “Force Re-Sync” button has been added to the Edge administration page.  Pressing this button resets the LastSyncId and initiates an Edge Sync.  A complete re-sync can potentially be time-consuming, depending on the number of profiles in a customer’s Edge profile library, and should only be used in cases where the local machine appears to be missing profile changes even after a successful Edge sync.

Safe Speed Select output function. This new output function turns on a throttle valve in order to slow down an axis’ motion.

Updated ThalmannZRv1 clamp calibration. The clamp calibration for ThalmannZRv1 machine configuration has been updated to better deal with closing to a material-thickness position.

Display Drive Errors/don’t use generic Ethernet/IP errors. Ethernet/IP is a communication protocol between the controller and a drive that lets the controller send commands to make it move. If the drive has an error it will report this to the controller which will send a command to find out what kind of error the drive has. Once the controller gets the error it adds it to the error queue which allows Pathfinder to display the error to the user. A new way to add this error to the queue was implemented in which the controller would say it is an Ethernet/IP error, but also what kind of error it was and which axis drive has the error.

The problem with this implementation is that it is not implemented in Pathfinder nor does it have a true specification yet. This causes Pathfinder to only report a Generic Ethernet/IP error to the user. The fix to this problem was to revert the reporting of the error to Pathfinder back to its original specification in which the controller will only report the true error that is on the drive.

Safe Speed Select output. Some folding machines have installed safety features to ensure that the operator can make a part without hurting someone. One of these features is a clamp laser system. If the laser is broken when the clamp is moving down it will stop the clamp. Once the operator presses the clamp down pedal twice in a certain amount of time the system will be overridden. Once this happens the clamp is allowed to move down in a slower speed even if the laser is broken. As an added feature a new valve was added to the hydraulic system that ensures that the clamping beam does not drop when moving in this overridden slow state and further enforces the slow speed. To turn on the valve a Safe Speed Select output was created that will turn on when the laser system is overridden.

Jog in Slow/Safe Speed if under safety stop height. On folding machines as a precaution the clamping beam will stop at a dedicated safety stop height when moving down. This allows operators an opportunity to remove anything unwanted from the clamp surface before completely closing the clamp. As an added precaution the clamping beam will then move to a clamped position in a slower speed than above the safety stop height. The problem is that this reduced speed under the safety stop height only happens in automatic mode and not manual. To keep all types of movement consistent and safe manual mode will also move in a reduced speed under the safety stop height.

Stamping Mode for Radius Operations improvements. Controller will check if the bending beam is still in tolerance when the clamp is raised and once it is clamped. If the bending beam drifted out of tolerance at either of these two checks it will attempt to move into tolerance of the bend angle.

Warning: Stamping Mode Not Allowed. A new warning was implemented that will let the operator know why stamping mode is not allowed. The warning is Error Message 336 Stamping Mode Not Allowed. The conditions to get this error are that the clamp open height is above the safety stop height or the bending beam drifted past the bend angle plus tolerance. In these two conditions the bending beam will return to zero, display the warning and the operator is allowed to continue making the radius bend.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Incorrect gripper number sent to controller on tapered parts.
  • Reference Encoder button display conditions.
  • Pathfinder Edge-connected machines not receiving all necessary profile updates.
  • Shear Offset Distance being used on v4.
  • Clamping beam using slow speed above the safety stop height even when laser was not broken.
  • Closed Loop Controlled Stop causing jerking motion.
  • Calibration table had negative encoder counts.

v4.07.09

Added parameters to Jorns Single-Bend 5225 Configuration. Parameters 201 (Lower Bending Beam Encoder Direction), 301 (Clamping Beam Position Encoder Direction), and 321 (Clamping Beam Slow Distance) have been added to the Jorns Single-Bend 5225 configuration.

SAS Single-Bend Machine. Added configuration for SAS Single-Bend machine with 5226 motion controller.

Added support for Backgauge Deceleration Distance Parameters. Support for the backgauge deceleration distance parameters has been added to Pathfinder.  Parameter 175 is the Backgauge Forward Deceleration Distance.  Parameter 176 is the Backgauge Reverse Deceleration Distance.

Added New Controller Error Messages.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Non-Graphical Upper Retract Field Visible on Single-Bend Machine

v4.07.08

Move run statistics updating to separate thread. To resolve the recent issue with Edge profile header deletions blocking the UI thread and causing it to become unresponsive, the updating of run statistics has been moved to a separate thread.  Instead of processing the action to update the database directly, the UI thread offloads the updating of run statistics to a separate thread, which keeps the UI responsive and allows the run statistics to be updated in the background as soon as the database becomes available (e.g. during and after an Edge sync operation).

Roper single-bend 5225 configuration. A new configuration for Pathfinder V4 has been created to support a Roper single-bend machine with a 5225 motion controller.  This configuration includes support for the Kombi beam (rotating clamp tooling).  Using this configuration, the Kombi beam can be manually jogged to alternate clamp tooling

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Clamp Rotate axis jog buttons not available

v4.07.07

Increase max database size to allow quick recovery of bloated database files. Due to the recent issue with database files growing beyond the max allowed size by accumulating archived Edge profile headers, Pathfinder installs which pass the max database size threshold become unusable until data is manually deleted from the database.  This manual process is time-consuming and requires the involvement of Engineering, leaving customers down for extended periods of time once they encounter the database bloat issue.

To expedite the process of getting affected customers back online, the max database size has been increased from the default 256MB to 270MB.  This enables customer machines with bloated databases to be recovered simply by installing the latest update – no more manual culling of profile headers will be necessary.

v4.07.06

Change archived header deletion mechanism to minimize UI thread blocking. In Pathfinder, there was an issue with the recently-implemented archived profile header deletion mechanism where, with profile libraries with many archived profile headers waiting to be deleted and while in Run mode, the UI thread would intermittently block for upwards of 20 seconds, giving the appearance that Pathfinder had frozen.  This blocking would occur because the Edge-sync thread would have a lock on the database at the moment that the UI thread attempted to publish updates to run statistics.  This would cause the UI thread to become blocked waiting on the database lock, and the UI would stop responding for a period of time, then rapidly catch up.  With a database containing thousands of archived profile headers, this blocking would happen frequently, causing delays in production.

As a temporary measure, the deletion mechanism has been modified.  Instead of deleting profile headers in chunks of 250 (which takes upwards of 20 seconds to process), profile headers will be deleted in chunks of 10 (which take roughly one second each to process).  This will limit the time that the UI can spend being blocked, making it more responsive in cases where there are many pending header deletions.  Once a more permanent solution has been implemented, this modification will be reverted.

v4.07.05

Hide Reference Buttons for 5226 Controllers. The axis reference buttons in the reference screen have been set to hide when a 5226 controller is connected.  The reference buttons will still be shown when connected to a 5225 controller, which can only reference via the reference buttons.  The reference buttons only reference an axis in a single, hard-coded direction.

In the past, the 5226 only supported referencing via the reference buttons.  A change to the firmware enabled the 5226 to reference an axis while jogging.

Now, the 5226 controller supports referencing an unreferenced axis via the jog buttons from anywhere within Pathfinder.  A user can force a 5226 motion controller to re-reference an axis by using the job buttons in the reference screen.  Referencing via jog buttons on a 5226 can be done in either direction.  Since the 5226 is capable of referencing in both directions via the jog buttons, it was determined that it would be confusing to continue displaying the reference buttons.

Profile database outgrows limits due to accumulating archived profile header records on Edge-connect. There existed a bug in Pathfinder where Edge-connected machines could potentially exceed the maximum database size limit (256MB) by accumulating archived profile header records.  This would occur because, when profiles were deleted (archived) on the Edge server, all profile data except for the profile header would be deleted from the local database.  These profile headers, which contain relatively large (compared to other data) thumbnail images, would then remain in the database indefinitely.  For customers that publish a new Edge profile for each new order, these profile headers would accumulate quickly and eventually, new connections to the database would be rejected due to exceeding the maximum database size.  This bug has been fixed, and archived profile headers are now culled from the local database as part of the normal Edge synchronization mechanism.

v4.07.04

Added Parameter 466 to all 5226 Configurations. Parameter 466 – Maximum Clamp Height to Move Shear – has been added to all 5226-based configurations. This parameter sets the clamp height limit for the shear to be able to move. If the clamp is above this height, the shear is not allowed to move.

Added Thalmann TD B-Board Configuration. A new configuration for Thalmann TD with 5226 Rev B has been added to Pathfinder. The Rev B boards differ slightly from later 5226 revisions in terms of their configuration file settings, hence the need for a separate file.

Hid reference buttons for 5226 controllers. The axis reference buttons in the reference screen have been set to hide when a 5226 controller is connected. The 5226 controller supports referencing an unreferenced axis via the jog buttons from anywhere within Pathfinder. A user can force a 5226 motion controller to re-reference an axis by using the jog buttons in the reference screen. Referencing via jog buttons on a 5226 can be done in either direction.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Unhandled exception when selecting a new material in the non-graphical screen.
  • Unhandled exception after pressing blank calculation button on non-graphical screen.
  • Issues with bending beam label translations.
  • Jog panel in reference view did not display all button icons.

v4.07.03

Allowed 5226 to reference in either direction using jog buttons in Reference view. An enhancement for Pathfinder has been implemented that allows the 5226 to reference an axis in either direction. Previously, Pathfinder only supported referencing in one direction, which was hard-coded and didn’t necessarily reflect the direction that the home sensor was located. As a temporary measure, the jog buttons in the Reference view have been changed to trigger referencing so that the 5226 can reference in either direction. A more robust solution will be forthcoming. The 5225 still references using the single-direction reference buttons.

v4.07.02

Simplified settings for enabling referencing on a given axis. In Pathfinder, there existed multiple redundant and conflicting settings in the Setup object within each configuration file that determined whether a given axis (clamp, bending beam, etc.) could or should be referenced. These fields have been removed, and the fact of whether a given axis can be referenced is based only upon the feedback type for that axis.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • No default material for Schechtl configuration.
  • Clamping beam referencing not working.
  • Diagnostics view shows “OFFLINE” for every I/O assignment when not connected to controller.

v4.07.01

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Unhandled ArgumentNullException on login when no tool offsets were defined for a given configuration.

v4.07.00

Clamp tool offset per geometry. Up until now, Pathfinder has required a separate clamp calibration table for each clamp tool where the vertical dimension of the tooling differs from that of the default clamp tool. This required each such clamp tool (one with a different vertical dimension) to have its own configuration overrides file, and this in turn would require the user to restart Pathfinder when switching between clamp tools.

A new feature has been implemented that allows each clamp tool to reuse the same calibration table, and simply shift the position side of the calibration table to account for any difference in the vertical dimension of the clamp tool. This allows Pathfinder to account for differences in the tool dimensions without using a redundant definition for the encoder-count-to-position curve.

The default clamp tool is defined as having an offset of zero, and any clamp tools that deviate from the vertical dimension of the default tool will have an offset defined relative to the default tooling. For example, if the default clamp tool is 5 inches tall, and the goatfoot tool is 10 inches tall, then the goatfoot tool would have a tool offset of negative 5 inches.

Each of these tool offsets is defined in a list within the base configuration file, and each can be overridden in an overrides file. Any clamp geometry that does not have a tool offset defined is assumed to have a tool offset of zero. These tool offsets will be tied to the geometries defined in the configuration files, and will not be user-editable from the Pathfinder UI.

This feature will allow the user to change clamp tooling without restarting Pathfinder. Upon selection of a geometry with different clamp tooling, Pathfinder will recalculate the clamp calibration table based on the new tool offset, and send that calibration to the controller. The clamp position will instantly be updated, thereby reflecting the true position of the new tool.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Unhandled InvalidOperationException due to missing BackgaugeFingerShape.
  • Incorrect minimum position sometimes sent to auto-sequencer, depending on the selected machine configuration.

v4.06.00

New filed in material for operation speed. A new feature has been introduced in Pathfinder that allows the user to define an operation speed associated with a material. The operation speed defined for the selected material will be automatically populated to bend, hem close, and radius operations when defaults are generated. The operation speed for the shear step will not be updated using this value. The operation speed affects the speed of the bending beam. It also affects the speed of backgauge movement, but only for backgauge moves when the part is gripped. This feature replaces Power Mode for electric bending beams.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Referencing not working for 5225/5223.
  • Profile identifier not searchable with side panel search box.

v4.05.06

Updated French translations. French translations in Pathfinder have been updated using the data supplied by Jouanel.

Disabled Power Mode button. In Pathfinder, the Power Mode button has been disabled. Available only on configurations with an electric bending beam, this mode, when activated, would slow down the bending beam move speed in order to allow an electric-driven bending beam to generate more torque for bending heavier gauge materials. This behavior was handled in the controller. This mode no longer exists in the controller, and the button has been removed. A new feature to replace Power Mode is currently being implemented and will be available in a subsequent release.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Unhandled ArgumentOutOfRangeException while sketching.

v4.05.05

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Manipulations icons not displaying properly.

v4.05.04

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Unhandled NullReferenceException when switching to operations tab on empty profile.
  • Operator directive icons not displaying properly.

v4.05.03

Incorporated material thickness into pressure-derived clamp position calculation. On machines with no pressure transducer, Pathfinder would set the clamp closed position target to the Minimum Clamp Position, which would be set to some negative value representing the movement of the encoder past the zero point required to build up full pressure with no material in the clamp. This target would remain the same regardless of the thickness of the material being used. This position calculation has now been improved by incorporating the current material thickness into the calculation, which will allow for more consistent pressure to be built up regardless of material thickness.

Improved pressure-derived clamp position calculation to account for hem closes. The Pathfinder calculation for determining the clamp closed position based on material thickness has been improved to account for cases where a hem is being closed and the material thickness is effectively double what it would normally be. A closed hem is treated as having double the thickness of the thickness specified in the material definition. Double-thickness bends and triple-thickness Z-hems are not yet accounted for in this scheme.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Unhandled exception when attempting to engage Power Mode on some machine configurations, despite this functionality being unavailable.

v4.05.02

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Edge and Locked profiles still editable via sketching.
  • Unhandled exception when user fails to authenticate via UAC.

v4.05.01

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Locking or unlocking an Edge profile disables Save button.
  • Controller-driven parameter updates ignored if axes are moving.

v4.05.00

Profile Locking feature to prevent edits to certain profiles. A new features has been implemented in Pathfinder that allows an Administrator user to lock down profiles to prevent operators from editing them prior to running. A new user privilege has been created that determines whether a user is allowed to lock and unlock profiles. A profile must have a sequence and a set of operation values generated before it can be locked, and the selected material is also associated with a locked profile and will be recalled when a locked profile is loaded. Once a profile is locked, the user cannot edit the features, sequence, material, or operations associated with it. All profiles default to being unlocked, and all users default to having permission to lock and unlock profiles. Both Edge and Local profiles can be locked.

Added shear laser support to Thalmann TZ and Thalmann ZR configurations. Support for an optional Shear Laser has been added to all Thalmann TZ and Thalmann ZR configurations in Pathfinder.

Increased Edge Sync page size. The Pathfinder Edge Sync page size was previously set at 10, which meant that Pathfinder would only request 10 profiles at a time from the Edge server. The time spent waiting for the query to complete was large compared to the time spent downloading, which made the sync process relatively inefficient. This page size has been increased to 500, which will reduce the overhead time of waiting for a response relative to the time spent downloading profiles.

Remove auto-restart behavior in Edge Sync. In Pathfinder, the way the Edge server would previously return profiles to the client left the client vulnerable to skipping profiles if any profile changes occurred during the middle of a sync. To prevent this, the Edge sync process was setup to automatically restart the entire sync process if a change to an Edge profile was detected while syncing. This had the side effect of making the initial sync take an inordinate amount of time. For Edge tenants with relatively few profiles, this wasn’t a problem. However, at a certain number of profiles, an Edge tenant with active changes occurring would become impossible to sync. The Edge server has been updated to no longer leave clients vulnerable to missing profiles if changes occur during a sync, and so the auto-restart behavior has been removed from Pathfinder, which allows an initial sync to occur as fast as possible.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • NullReferenceException caught in Sequencer view when attempting to sequence certain profiles on a single-bend machine.
  • Selecting Clamping Beam Pressure parameter menu item causes later unhandled exceptions.
  • Selecting “Clock/Calendar” menu item causes unhandled exception in Windows 10.

v4.04.00

New feature for filtering available geometries in config file. A new features has been introduced in Pathfinder that allows an administrator user to filter the list of available geometries that a standard user can select in the main dialog. This list can be edited from the Advanced Settings page, and the filter will be saved to the install overrides for the current configuration. By default, all available geometries for a given configuration will be displayed until this filter is edited.

Refactored AMSDataLayerException reporting to provide more helpful information. The exception handling for AMSDataLayerException instances has been refactored to provide more information, including the full stack trace and data associated with the SQL exceptions that triggered them.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Unhandled OutOfMemoryException thrown by ListParameterDisplay with the message “Too many items in the combo box.”

v4.03.13

Added configuration descriptions for all production configs. Configuration descriptions have been added for all Bradbury, Jorns, Jouanel, and Schechtl configurations.

Added shear support to Thalmann TZ configuration. The necessary I/O definitions have been added to the Pathfinder Thalmann TZ configuration to support the optional installation of a shear.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Pathfinder causes strange behavior on controller after logging out.
  • Other unhandled exceptions.

v4.03.12

Updated Thalmann ZR interference pattern to be less restrictive. The outside interference pattern for the Thalmann ZR was setup such that the sequencer was rejecting or demoting potentially valid sequences. This has been modified to shift where the full-cost line around the bending beam and clamp sits, which alleviates some of the sequence costing issues previously seen on the ZR.

Added hem close operations missing a radius adjustment field. Up until now, Pathfinder has not displayed a field for the Radius Adjustment position on hem close operations. This has caused some confusion and issues in the field. This issue has been resolved, and the Radius Adjustment position for hem close operations is now available for editing, but will default to a value of zero.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Backgauge Mode “finger” errantly sent down on outside hem close operations.

v4.03.11

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Unhandled exception thrown when parameter 887 – Enable Load Assist – is missing.

v4.03.10

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Second operation selected as active after generating operations.
  • Search button left enabled when in Run mode.
  • FileNotFoundException when attempting to save Edge config for first time.

v4.03.09

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Missing parameter 451 – Shear Offset Distance – causes unhandled exception.
  • Profiles completed counter not working.
  • Highlighted step not advancing at end of part on 5226 single-bend machines.
  • Status response handler not identifying current operation correctly.

v4.03.08

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • In some configurations, parameter 237 was set to the units value “SECONDS.”
  • Error message causes main dialog to remain locked out after opening a profile via the search dialog.

v4.03.07

Added parameter 747 – Require Continuous Pedal Down to Move Shear. Parameter 747 – Require Continuous Pedal Down to Move Shear – has been added to all v4 configurations. This parameter tells the motion controller how to behave when operating the shear. If the parameter is set to “No,” a momentary pedal press will initiate a shear move, which will continue until completion without the need for holding the pedal down. If the parameter is set to “Yes,” then the operator must hold the pedal down continuously in order to keep the shear moving – if the pedal is lifted before the shear move is complete, the shear will halt.

Implemented more robust updating process for EdgeConfig file. There existed a vulnerability in Pathfinder such that a loss of power during an Edge sync could cause the EdgeConfig file to become corrupted. A new file writing scheme has been implemented for the EdgeConfig file to allow a copy of the EdgeConfig file to be recovered if the original becomes corrupted.

Disabled generation of missing thumbnails for Edge profiles. Previously, Pathfinder would attempt to generate thumbnails for Edge profiles if the thumbnails were missing. The method for generating thumbnails was problematic and would potentially throw unhandled exceptions. This thumbnail generation behavior has been disabled, and the Edge server is now responsible for ensuring that Edge profiles are sent down with thumbnails. Any Edge profiles that do not have a thumbnail will be displayed with the same icon as is used with non-graphical profiles.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Scanning a profile ID using the Search dialog occasionally results in grayed-out main dialog.
  • Other unhandled exceptions.

v4.03.06

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Unhandled ArgumentOutOfRangeException thrown by OperationManager.

v4.03.05

Removed SERCOS-specific backgauge speed parameters 124 and 125 from all configurations. Parameters 124 and 125 have been deprecated in the latest version of the Foldbus spec, and have been removed from all base configurations in Pathfinder v4. Instead of using these SERCOS-specific parameters for backgauge speed, all configurations will use the standard backgauge speed parameters.

Added Parameter 721 – Enable Bending Beam Two Man – to all v4 configurations. Previously, only Thalmann single-bend machines had this parameter in v4. Parameters 721 – Enable Bending Beam Two Man – has now been added to all v4 configurations.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Opening profile via search button prompts twice to save changes.

v4.03.04

Added status indicator for when the controller has entered Idle but calibration is still needed. Since version 3, Pathfinder has sent down calibration data after the “configuration complete” run state has been set on the controller. The result of this is that the controller goes into the “Idle” state and appears to be ready to begin jogging or running parts, but it is in fact still receiving calibration data for a moment or two after it enters Idle. The time it takes to finish sending this calibration data can vary. There has been no indication to the user that anything is going on with regard to setting up the controller. this issues has been remedied with the introduction of a status bar message indicating when the controller is in Idle but is waiting for calibration.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Duplicate conflicting calibration table send operations bug.

v4.03.03

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Gripper 1 option gets auto-selected on first startup with Thalmann ZRv1 configuration.
  • “Invalid flip/rotate/turn state!” unhandled exception on certain profiles.
  • Clamped icon doesn’t display properly in One Step view.

v4.03.02

Added Parameter 721 – Enable Bending Beam Two Man – to Thalmann ZRv1 configuration. Parameter 721 – Enable Bending Beam Two Man – has been added to the Thalmann ZRv1 configuration. This sets whether the second man pedal is required to initiate a bending beam move.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Backgauge finger shape missing from Thalmann ZRv1 configuration.
  • Opening a profile via Search button with unsaved changes causes screen lockout.

v4.03.01

Added Parameter 746 – Only Raise Clamp on E-Stop When Moving. Parameter 746 – Only Raise Clamp on E-Stop When Moving – has been added to the ThalmannTDv2 configuration. When set to “Yes,” the clamp will only raise on e-stop if it was already moving when the e-stop was triggered. When set to “No,” the clamp will always raise on e-stop as long as there is not a conflict with a bending beam.

Added Thalmann ZRv1 config (5225) to Pathfinder. The Thalmann ZRv1 configuration has been added to Pathfinder v4. This configuration is the exact same as the ZR configuration found in Pathfinder v2, which has a 5225 motion controller.

Known issues resolved with this release include:

  • Unhandled exception on profile import when Category case does not match local database.
  • Unhandled exception when attempting to modify Write Filter.
  • Non-graphical screen not advancing the highlighted step properly.
  • Require Administrator to enter password in order to log out into Windows.
  • Setting the PC name through Pathfinder doesn’t work on Windows 10.
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