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Author Topic: Mach4 tooltable  (Read 1479 times)

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Mach4 tooltable
« on: December 14, 2017, 09:08:27 AM »
Hey everyone...been working on a small xyz mill and 99% complete. Have this last problem. I must change the end mills manually when the gcode calls for a tool change. From my experience, the initial tool is used for establishing the ZERO z height.  For me, this is set to the height of my plate of AL that I am milling. I lower the Z till it contacts the plate. This Z offset value is placed in the TOOL FIXTURE TABLE under G54. NOTE: I do not place this z offset in the TOOL TABLE for this end mill. This works perfectly. For the 2nd end mill, I insert the end mill at the tool change request, I lower it to the AL plate, and put the Z offset value in the TOOl TABLE for the appropriate tool number. This WORKS perfectly. The problem is the 3rd tool change. For the 3rd end mill, I do the exact same procedure but the mill is NOT getting the correct height for the tool. The gcode seems to be holding the value for the 2nd tool and adding it to the 3rd tool. I am using a generic post to generate the gcode using Fusion360 and a PMDX422 board via USB connection. (I ran a test with three tools 1/4, 1/8 and 3/16 flat end mills. The G54 initial z off set was -.9195 in, The 1/8 was -.6533 in and the 3/16 was -.2380 in. The 3rd tool the 3/16 was milling above the plate by .6533 in which was the z offset from the 2nd tool?) Thanks any help you can offer.
Re: Mach4 tooltable
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2017, 10:05:50 AM »
Just a thought, were you in tool #2's offset still when you measured tool #3?  All offsets need to be relative to #1.  I'm sure you know this but if perchance you forgot to reset to tool#1 before measuring too #3 this would be the result.

TIA

RT
Re: Mach4 tooltable
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2017, 11:38:51 AM »
I think you are in the right area... The MACH4 screen shows what the tool #should be and it shows the ACTIVE H OFFSET. While stepping through the program, the Active H off set seems to filp all over the place. At the point of the tool change, when I am moving the Z to touch the plate, the Active H offset shown on the screen DOES NOT match. It is the previous tool. Still playing a bit. At this point.