The purpose of this article is to clarify the requirements of the Microvellum part labels used for CNC nesting Auto Labeling systems. For those not familiar with these systems, the CNC machine either prints and places the label on the sheet at the correct location, or gets the printed label from a separate label printer and places it on the sheet at the correct location. The placing of the label is usually done before machining the parts and does not require human involvement.

The functionality in Microvellum to do this is contained in code. To supplement this functionality, the part label must be configured as per the requirements below. If this is not done, the program may display errors, the labels may not match the parts on which they are placed, or the number of labels printed will be wrong.

If you need to customize your label, it is highly recommended that you start with one of these part label templates: “EMF3x3RollFeed,” “EMF4x2RollFeed,” or “EMF8x4RollFeed” (the 8 x 4 label is used in certain circumstances where the print resolution is not sufficient with the 3 x 3, or 4 x 2 labels). If these templates are not used, strictly observe the requirements in the tutorial below ! It demonstrates the steps required to convert a label that was not set up based on one of these templates.

Tutorial:

Our default labels configured to work with auto labeling systems all contain the string “EMF” in the name. Here are the steps to modify an existing non-EMF style report to work with auto labeling systems.

Make sure that the work order you are using to modify the label has been processed, and a print preview was done on a label in the Processing Center.

Open Toolbox and click Toolbox Setup > Design Reports > Design Placed Parts Label Report.

Click the button “New Report from Existing” to create a new report based on an existing template. Select the report you want your new report to be based upon. Make sure it includes “EMF.”

Give the new report a different name in the Report Setup screen, click the option for Microvellum Factory, and click OK.

Click the button “Designer” to open the report designer.

Click the tab “Page 1” to open the page workspace and make sure there is only one databand with the data source set to “OptimizationResults.”

If there is a databand named DataSheetQty with the data source set to “1,” move all the text and picture components from the databand “DataSheetQty” to the databand “DataOptimizationResults” – locating them precisely as they were on the databand “DataSheetQty” so as not to change the layout and printing of the labels (see image above). The relative position of each component should not change during the move process. Rather than trying to move each component individually, we recommend that you select all the components together by windowing them from the bottom or side, or by holding the Ctrl key down while selecting multiple components.

It may be necessary to set the property “Locked” for each component to “False” if you cannot move them from one databand to the other.

After the components have been moved, delete the databand DataSheetQty.

If the label contains other databands besides DataOptimizationResults and DataSheetQty, make sure they don’t contain event code that is needed for custom functionality. If they don’t contain the necessary code, delete them. (If the text and picture components are located on them, relocate them as explained above). If they do contain the necessary event code, you must determine what to do with the code. You may need to obtain assistance from Microvellum to make that determination.

Verify the databand DataOptimizationResults (with its data source set to OptimizationResults) contains only one filter expression with two sort expressions as follows. Delete any additional sort expressions.

Verify the databand DataOptimizationResults contains only one filter expression with the exact code as follows. Delete any additional filter expressions.

IIF(OptimizationResults.PrintFlags.Contains(Environment.MachineName & Environment.UserName), True, False)

Preview the report, making sure there are no errors. Note the name of the label, save and close the report.

Reset the current part label to the new label in the Processing Center > Labels > Current Part Label, and test the label output.