A CLFILE is a ANSI standard generic output file for tool (cutter) path information that is

required by most postprocessors. There are 3 formats for the CLDATA that is
contained in the CLFILE.

1. Binary Cutter Location (BCL) - this is the old school traditional format containing
computer dependent numbers (both integer & real) and characters. This file was
unreadable to any text editors. Was only readable by an APT postprocessor that
supported BCL.

2. ASCII Cutter Location (ACL) - This file is structured the same as the BCL but is
readable by text editors (all the integers & numbers are in text form). This format is
rarely used because words were still ASCII coded integers.

3. Source Cutter Location (SCL) - This file is based on the APT programming
language, but most all computations are resolved, there is only the resolved cutter
path (no geomery) and machine tool control syntax like COOLNT, SPINDL, etc. This is
the file and format that the machine maker is refering to and is basically the only one
of these three used with CAD/CAM systems today.

The MasterCAM generic output file has a .NCI file extension and contains ASCII text
that is readable by a text editor (don't use a word processor) in the dos text format (no
fonts!), but you will not be able to easily read this file format because it is similar to the
ASL file in that most of the syntax is in a coded integer form and is documented in
"MasterCAM Book for Windows" ISBN 1-886552-01-0 Chapter 21.

Sample NCI file:

20004
1 3 1 0 0.125 0. 0. 180. 41 1 2. 0. 0. 1200 2 4
20005
0 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0.
20007
0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0 0. 0. 0
1001
0 100 2 1 41 1 0 1200 2. 2 0.236 3.996 0.1 0. 0. 0. 0 0.
81
1 0.236 3.996 -0.5 0. 2. 0.1 0.05 0.04 0.04 0.1 0.1 0. 0. 0. 0.
100
0 0.236 2.526 -0.5 0.1 0.
100
0 0.236 2.41 -0.5 0.1 0.

Sample APT SCL file:

PARTNO 012 THIS IS A TEST
MACHIN/ VMC4X ,FADAL4,UNITS,INCHES,OUT,INCHES
SEQNO/ 100.,INCR, 2.
FROM/ .00000, .00000, .00000
LOAD/ TOOL, 1.,LENGTH, .0000,ADJUST, 1.
SPINDL/ RPM, 1200.
RAPID
GOTO / .23600, 3.99600, .10000
COOLNT/ ON
CYCLE/ DEEP ,DEPTH, .5000,CLEAR, .1000,IPM, 2.0000,STEP, .0500
GOTO / .23600, 3.99600, .00000
GOTO / .23600, 2.52600, .00000
GOTO / .23600, 2.41000, .00000
CYCLE/ OFF
LOAD/ TOOL, 2.,LENGTH, .0000,ADJUST, 2.
SPINDL/ RPM, 1200.
RAPID
GOTO / 6.10400, 3.01200, .10000
COOLNT/ ON
RAPID
GOTO / 6.10400, 3.01200, .10000
GOTO / 6.10400, 3.01200, -.25000
FEDRAT/ IPM, 5.000
GOTO / 6.10400, 3.20900, -.25000
GOTO / 2.36300, 3.20900, -.25000
GOTO / 2.36300, 3.01200, -.25000
GOTO / 6.10400, 3.01200, -.25000