Xilog Plus
Xilog Plus is SCM's programming environment for its machining centres. It writes .xxl, a plain-text program with one command per line, and it is the format almost every SCM part program starts life in.
- Type
- Programming software
- Based in
- Italy
- Part of
- SCM Group
- Programmed with
- Xilog Plus, WinXISO
- Machine control
- Xilog, Tria
- File formats
- .xxl, .pgm
One command per line, and that is the whole structure
An XXL program has no sections, no indentation and no block nesting. It is a list of lines, each beginning with a command word and followed by parameters written as a letter and a number joined together, such as X492.923 or Z-81.000 or T43. There is no separator between the letter and its value and none is needed. Because the file is text, a program can be diffed, searched and fixed in any editor, which is a considerable advantage over the compiled form.
H sets the panel up before anything moves
The first command that matters is the header: H DX DY DZ, giving the panel length, width and thickness, optionally followed by a reference corner, a rotation, a unit marker and a definition flag. Everything after it is measured in that frame. Get the header wrong and every coordinate in the program is wrong with it, which is why netool refuses a file whose header it cannot read rather than assuming a default panel.
SY chooses which face you are working on
SY=<n> selects the side of the panel the following operations apply to. It is a small command with large consequences: the same X and Y mean different physical places depending on which face is live. This is also the command that does the most work during a conversion to woodWOP, because the two systems name and number the faces differently, and a face mapped wrongly puts a hole through the outside of a finished part.
The G moves look like ISO but are not G-code
G0 positions, G1 cuts or plunges, and G2 and G3 sweep arcs clockwise and anticlockwise. An arc is written as its end point plus I and J, the offsets to the arc centre, which is the ISO convention. woodWOP does not do it that way: it writes arcs by radius, so every arc has to be re-expressed on the way across rather than copied. Boring is separate, with B for a plain bore and the XB family for the variants, and PAR declares a named parameter so a program can be resized without being rewritten.
Getting an XXL somewhere else
There are two directions. Down to the machine, an older control wants the compiled binary: netool compiles the 11 documented commands to PGM in the browser and publishes what each one encodes to. Across to Homag, woodWOP wants an MPR, and netool writes one, reporting 44 reason codes for anything it declines to translate. SCM's newer Maestro environment writes .xcs rather than .xxl, and that is a different format netool does not read.
File formats on this site
Converters for these formats
XXL to PGM converter
Convert Xilog Plus .xxl programs to the binary .pgm format read by older Morbidelli CNC controllers.
Open toolXXL to MPR converter
Turn a Xilog Plus XXL program into a woodWOP .mpr program for Homag, Weeke and Brandt machines.
Open toolPGM to XXL converter
Read a compiled Morbidelli .pgm program back as the Xilog text it was made from.
Open toolPGM to MPR converter
Turn a compiled Morbidelli PGM program into a woodWOP .mpr program for Homag, Weeke and Brandt machines.
Open toolMPR to XXL converter
Turn a woodWOP .mpr program into a Xilog Plus XXL program for SCM and Morbidelli machines.
Open toolMPR to PGM converter
Turn a woodWOP .mpr program into a compiled Morbidelli PGM program for SCM and Morbidelli machines.
Open toolXXL to G-code converter
Turn a Xilog Plus XXL program into plain ISO G-code for routers that take it.
Open toolPGM to G-code converter
Turn a Morbidelli PGM program into plain ISO G-code for routers that take it.
Open toolRelated entries
- MorbidelliSCM Group machining centres, programmed in Xilog Plus
- SCM GroupSCM and Morbidelli machining centres
Common questions
What is an XXL file?
It is the part program written by Xilog Plus: plain text, one command per line, describing a panel and the operations performed on it. It opens in any text editor and it is the source form of an SCM program, as opposed to the compiled binary PGM the machine may want instead.
How do I open an XXL file?
Any text editor will show you the contents, since the file is plain text. To see the toolpath rather than the words, drop it into netool: it draws the program from the commands it reads, which is usually enough to tell at a glance whether the file is the one you meant.
How are arcs written in XXL?
As G2 or G3 with the end point and then I and J, the offsets from the start point to the centre of the arc. That is the ISO convention. woodWOP instead writes arcs by radius, which is one of the reasons a conversion has to rebuild them rather than copy them.
Why does netool refuse some commands?
Because it can only prove some of them. Each of the 11 documented commands carries a support level: verified where the encoding was confirmed byte for byte against a machine-produced file, unverified where it was derived but never seen coming off a machine. Unverified encodings are labelled and refused in strict mode, and anything outside the documented set is refused outright rather than approximated.
Is Xilog Plus still supported?
SCM's newer environment is Maestro, which writes .xcs. Plenty of machines still in daily work run Xilog Plus and .xxl, which is exactly why these converters exist. netool covers the XXL world and does not read .xcs.