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General Mach Discussion / First post: Mach3 machine and workspace offsets, auto home, and auto tool offset
« on: July 26, 2017, 02:30:33 PM »
I have a small CNC mill and I'm stuck trying to navigate the whole offset thing. Here's what I'm trying to do:
I have a number of fixture plates, each set up to hold multiple copies of a particular part so that I can make five left handed skyhook brackets at a time, for instance. Only one fixture plate fits on the machine at one time.
Each plate has an x-y-z target that I can probe to locate the plate.
I'd like to locate the plate, and on each tool change, set Z offset relative to the plate.
My original approach was to auto-home the mill using the target on the current plate, so the machine coordinates match the plate coordinates. That works fine.
In the part program, I define a workspace coordinate system (G54, G55, etc.) for each part station on the plate. That also works fine.
However, when I change a tool and determine the new Z offset, that only applies to the current workspace. I can make a proper part in one workspace, but not in any of the others.
Is there a way to do Z axis tool offset and have it apply to all workspaces? Is there a better way of thinking about this?
Thanks for any help or insights.
I have a number of fixture plates, each set up to hold multiple copies of a particular part so that I can make five left handed skyhook brackets at a time, for instance. Only one fixture plate fits on the machine at one time.
Each plate has an x-y-z target that I can probe to locate the plate.
I'd like to locate the plate, and on each tool change, set Z offset relative to the plate.
My original approach was to auto-home the mill using the target on the current plate, so the machine coordinates match the plate coordinates. That works fine.
In the part program, I define a workspace coordinate system (G54, G55, etc.) for each part station on the plate. That also works fine.
However, when I change a tool and determine the new Z offset, that only applies to the current workspace. I can make a proper part in one workspace, but not in any of the others.
Is there a way to do Z axis tool offset and have it apply to all workspaces? Is there a better way of thinking about this?
Thanks for any help or insights.