Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: How do you make a manual tool change then re zero the Z?

« on: July 19, 2016, 05:03:28 PM »

Here is the screen set...
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

Touching off is ok but  a plate would be more accurate, simple to make/fit if you have a spare input on your control board.

Wow good stuff! Thanks

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: How do you make a manual tool change then re zero the Z?

« on: July 19, 2016, 02:18:42 PM »

Have a look into the excellent 2010 screen-set by GER21 on here - it's damn good and has tool changing down to a fine art.

I am in the same position as I 'm converting a Bridgeport mill and that has R8 too.

Also might want to look at youtube - TTS tooling, looks pretty good and repeatable too.

My thoughts were pretty much the same as yours - change tool, use touch-plate to get Z zero, run part, rinse, repeat...

I use the touch-plate on my mini-mill and its pretty accurate.

I'm wanting to touch the top of the part I'm working on, I have no plate yet either. TTS holders and a power draw bar would be awesome but this is all I have to work with right now.

Do you have a link to that thread?

3

General Mach Discussion / How do you make a manual tool change then re zero the Z?

« on: July 19, 2016, 01:27:53 PM »

Hello guys I am pretty new to this and I'm working with Fusion 360 and Mach3 on a small Bolton Tools M4 machine. My problem is this machine has a R8 spindle with ER32 collets so every tool change is completely manual and it will need to be re zeroed between tool changes.

How do I go about doing this? Should every tool have its own code? I would like to part zero start job then when it's time to change tools the z goes up to home. Then I can change tool, zero that tool by touching off and hit cycle start again to keep the job going.

I've been searching for this for a while and cant really find anything that helps, am I missing something? I feel like this should be a common question or everyone has a auto tool changer.

Thanks in advance.