Hi guys,
I want to be able to combine hot-wire cutting of polistirene foam with 4 axis milling. For time saving reasons basically.
I do big sculpture in polistyrene, working from 3D  stl files, which I process in DESKPROTO,  and then I mill them  in my home built 4 axis miller . For big pieces, even with a 160mm long carbide tool and fast feeds, it’s a verrrry slow process. There are commercial machines, ALARSIS.com  have one, and HOTWIRE DIRECT another, (see http://www.hotwiredirect.com/ for a video of what I need)  that come with fabulous software that allows you to rough with hotwire, and on the same machine, mill for the finish pass. Result is speed gained in machining process. Unfortunetly, they don’t seem to sell the software they use separately ; -(.
So I´m looking for a program that would help me edit the g-codes DESKPROTO  generates, and find only the ones a hot wire cutter needs to work on the silhouette. What I need to do is identify, then select, then group aside, 1)  all the X axis g-codes, and 2) only the highest (Z axis codes) on each Y axis position.
Typically, the g codes from DESKPROTO or any similar program (for the purpose of this query I have greatly simplified things)   for an stl file are:
One X value, e.g
G1 X1.000 F6000
 Followed by many hundreds of Y and Z values.
G1 Y1.100 Z10.000
G1 Y1.300 Z14.000
G1 Y1.500 Z9.500
Followed by another X axis instruction
G1 X2.000 F6000
Followed again by many hundreds of Y and Z values.
G1 Y2.700 Z2.000
G1 Y4.500 Z3.000
G1 Y6.300 Z4.500.
What I need to “extract” (then save) would be:  1) every X instruction, and 2) only the highest Z axis instruction for all those Y axis instructions,  and 3) no Y instruction, which would look  something like this:
G1 X1.000 Z14.000 F6000
G1 X2.000 Z4.500 F6000
Can anyone suggest some G Code  edit software or some fairly quick & easy edition process that I could use to sift thru and organize these specific g-codes?

Thanks!!     Frank Norton