This document is provided as a reminder of commands available in SPEC for beamline control. It is designed to jog the memory of commands that may have been forgotten rather than be an alternative to first-hand instruction. A more update version of  useful commands can be found on the id13 wiki available through the intranet.

It is not recommended that users utilise commands they are unsure about or have not previously used under local contact supervision. Remember that many of the commands provided here could lead to permanent beamline damage if used inappropriately!

 

Shutter commands

The following are commands used for shutter control on EH2/EH3:

shob/sho

Open both EH safety shutters

shcb/shc

Close both EH safety shutters

fshopen

Open the fast shutter

fshclose

Close the fast shutter

fshstate

Return the current state of the fast shutter

fshvct6

Set the fast shutter to automatic mode

 

Detector commands (marccd)

mccdon

Turn on the MAR detector for data capture

  

mccdoff

Turn off data capture on the MAR detector

  

mccdnewfile

Sets new file saving settings for detector

  

mccdbin n

Sets MAR binning (n=4=1024x1024, n=2=2048x2048)

  

blmenu

Enter beamline menu (can be used to change detector settings)

  

 

Movement commands (basic for eh2 and eh3)

The following are movement commands for the motors on ID13. The commands can be applied to any motor (m) and for any position (p) or distance (d) as follows:

mv m p

Move motor m to absolute position p

mvr m d

Move motor m relative distance d

tw m d

Progressive tweak of motor m by distance d

 

Scan commands (basic for eh2 and eh3)

The following are scan commands for the detectors on ID13. A scan is any operation involving the capture of a diffraction pattern for time (t) in seconds. In the case of the commands involving motor movements motors (designated m1, m2..) the relative distances (designated d1, d2..) and scan steps (designated s1, s2..) are given in the syntax as follows:

ct t

Data capture at current position for t seconds

ctw m1 d1 t

Progressive tweak of motor m1 by distance d1 capturing data in t second scans

dscan m1 d1 d2 s1 t

Distance scan of motor m1 from relative positions d1 to d2 in s1 steps and t seconds per scan

dmesh m1 d1 d2 s1 m2 d3 d4 s2 t

Distance mesh scan of motors m1 and m2 between relative positions d1 to d4 using a mesh of s1*s2 steps and t second scans

timescan t

Sucessive t second scans at current position

 

Beamline motors (eh2)

This list shows all commonly used beamline motor names, and the distance units of movement:

 

IN SPEC (sample environment & apertures)

strx

Sample stage x axis (positive towards detector) (mm)

stry

Sample stage y axis (positive towards door) (mm)

strz

Sample stage z axis (positive towards ceiling) (mm)

srotz

Micos rotation stage (degrees)

sroty

Huber goniometer y axis tilt (degrees)

srotx

Huber goniometer x axis tilt (degrees)

piy

PI stage y axis (positive towards door) (mm)

piz

PI stage z axis (positive towards ceiling) (mm)
 
IN BIGMIC (microscope, beamstop and detector)

trdet

Detector rail motor (positive away from optics) (mm)

sbsz

Beamstop z axis (positive towards ceiling) (microns)

escap

Beamstop y axis (positive towards door) (mm)

microz

Vertical microscope translation (mm)

 

General commands

These commands are more general in nature. The inclusion of motor names (designated m) and limit values (designated l1,l2..) is also given:

newsession

Start a new SPEC session (saving to a new log)

wa

Show all motor positions and limits on screen

wm m

Show motor m position and limits on screen

set_lm m l1 l2

Set the lower and upper safetly limits of motor m

pon

Printer on

poff

Printer off

reconfig

Beamline reconfiguration, used only for catastrophic failures