What is a postprocessor?
A postprocessor is a program that reads a CL file and produces a CNC program for a specific machine tool. Some “posts” are custom written for a specific tool/controller combination and others are generated via systems provided by postprocessor vendors. There are also generic posts that support, for example, 3 axis machining centers with many specific features customized using tables. A postprocessor should be able to produce correct output for automatic tool changers, cycles, tool offsets, origins, circular and other interpolation, and other features specific to a tool/controller combination. The output from a postprocessor should be usable in the controller without further modification. Creating a postprocessor using specialized packages is a fairly simple task. Writing custom posts has always been somewhat of a black art practiced by folks with a bizarre love of terms like “tool axis vector”, “linearization”, “zero-suppression”, and “modality”.
