graphtec-autocut

Auto-layout and cut rectangular pieces on a Graphtec Craft ROBO Pro (CE5000-40-CRP) cutter from a simple Excel sheet.

The vendor software (ROBO Master Pro) is abandoned on Windows 11, but the hardware speaks the open GP-GL protocol, so it can be revived with OSS. Define your pieces in a spreadsheet, let the tool pack them onto the material, preview the layout as SVG, and (Phase 2) stream the cut paths over USB.

Workflow

# 1. Generate a blank order sheet
python -m autocut template -o order.xlsx

# 2. Fill in the conditions (top block) and the pieces (table below),
#    collect everyone's pieces into one sheet, and send it back.

# 3. Pack the pieces and preview the layout
python -m autocut pack order.xlsx -o preview.svg

# 4. (Phase 2) Generate GP-GL cut paths + offline self-check
python -m autocut gpgl order.xlsx -o cut.gpgl

Sheet/layout settings come from the order sheet; CLI flags (--sheet-width, --sheet-length, --gap, --no-rotate) override per run.

Order sheet format

One .xlsx is the whole order: cut conditions on top, pieces below. Saving the filled sheet records exactly what was cut and with what settings, so the next similar job starts from a copy.

Condition header (label / value rows): order name, date, material, blade, sheet width/length, piece gap, 90° rotation, speed, force, blade offset, passes.

Pieces table — the reader auto-detects this header row, accepts common variants such as 部品名/短辺/長辺/必要数, and strips furigana:

名前	幅mm	高さmm	数量	グループ	メモ

In v1 the cut conditions are reported by gpgl so they can be entered on the cutter panel (PRIORITY=MANUAL); driving them via GP-GL command codes (PRIORITY=COMD) is a later step.

Status

• Phase 1 — Excel → layout → SVG preview: working.
  • Bin packing via a self-implemented Shelf FFDH packer.
  • No third-party dependencies — pure Python standard library (.xlsx is read/written by parsing the underlying zip+XML), so it runs on a minimal Python without pip.
• Phase 2 — GP-GL cut-path generation: working (offline). gpgl emits M/D cut paths and self-verifies by parsing the output back to mm and comparing against the layout (no machine needed). Machine-specific constants (steps/mm, origin, Y direction, terminator, init & cut-condition commands) are parameters to confirm on the real cutter during cut tuning.
• Phase 2 — USB send + cut-condition tuning: not yet. Target route: usbipd-win (USB/IP) to attach the cutter into WSL2, then send GP-GL from Python.

Project layout

src/autocut/
  models.py      # Piece / Sheet / Placement / LayoutResult
  excel_io.py    # tolerant .xlsx reader (stdlib)
  xlsx_write.py  # minimal .xlsx writer (stdlib)
  template.py    # blank fill-in template generator
  layout.py      # Shelf FFDH packer (swappable for rectpack later)
  svg_out.py     # SVG preview renderer
  gpgl.py        # GP-GL cut-path generation + offline round-trip self-check
  cli.py         # `template` / `pack` / `gpgl` subcommands
tests/           # stdlib unittest (no third-party deps)

The layout and Excel-reader interfaces are kept separable so rectpack and openpyxl can be slotted in once a richer Python environment is available.

Hardware notes (CE5000-40-CRP)

Max speed 60 cm/s · precision ~500 µm · max material thickness 250 µm · effective cut width ~350 mm · USB / RS-232C · GP-GL / HP-GL.

License

MIT