Messages

801

Works in progress / Re: New IPS (Interactive Programming System) Professional Screen for Turn

« on: September 09, 2011, 09:05:27 AM »

Thanks Hood and I read that but I dont follow the screens that pop up that go with the machturn program. Where do I find this multiple offset page?

Why do I see 253 tools and one set of offsets to go with each tool?

802

Works in progress / Re: New IPS (Interactive Programming System) Professional Screen for Turn

« on: September 09, 2011, 08:52:00 AM »

either way (has or hasn't), where do you put it in?
T0101 T0102 T0103 offsets I still only see one per tool, I opened the machturn program, go to Tool Table, change tool 253 and then go to Tool Table Editor and see it has changed tool 253.

I find only one offset per tool. and find nothing other than Tool 1 thru Tool 253

Seems pretty straight forward to me.
Your going to have to explain it better to me. Winking at me is not working for me to understand where your coming from, LOL

803

Works in progress / Re: New IPS (Interactive Programming System) Professional Screen for Turn

« on: September 09, 2011, 08:16:39 AM »

sorry don't have the manual handy.
If that is true, Then I don't understand the 253 tool table then.
So you can have a T25301 and a T25302 and a T25303
Where do I put in the tool and wear offsets for each of them?
Sorry i don't follow then.
Unless we are looking at two different tool sheets.
My version I get one Geometry and Wear offset per tool.
Version R3.043.039
 
write a small program and fill in the tool table with some know values and then call the tools up using single block and step thru the program and watch the DRO and see how they are updated.

804

Works in progress / Re: New IPS (Interactive Programming System) Professional Screen for Turn

« on: September 09, 2011, 07:49:29 AM »

Not in mach3  it is tool 201
Look at the tool sheet they don't have separate offsets and tools, it all one call up.

This is a very unique controller don't confuse this with industrial controllers tool offset systems.

805

Works in progress / Re: New IPS (Interactive Programming System) Professional Screen for Turn

« on: September 09, 2011, 07:39:59 AM »

Guess you are not following me:
There are 253 tools available in the setup page
T01  is tool 1 with its setup data for the first side
T101 is still tool 1 with its own setup data that is the ghost tool for the second side.
T201 is still tool 1 with another set of offsets, (I have no reason to think this functional unless I have a third side to turn)

T53
T153
T253

And I don't know of a lathe that you don't have to set up for every job you put in it, who can leave or use 99 tools in any lathe?
Whenever you setup for a new job you have to qualify your tool positions. Or you are looking for a crash.
You don't set up Tools offline like you do Mill tools in a qualified holder that has a gauge line to work from.
You physically have to put the tools in the machine and touch them off.
I'd love to see a picture of a lathe that has more than 99 tools. I've never even seen a controller with that many tools available (offsets yes T0101 thru T0199).
Mach3 is the first for me but it is a controller with milling / routing in mind first. The lathe thing was an after thought and it is obvious that the tool tables were never addressed for turning centers. Now we just have to be creative and use them functionally.

You should not use Mach3 Tool offset page for your Tool setup sheet. Just because you have all these available doesn't mean you should just fill them all in. There is a systematic approach to setting up a new job. Don't clutter up the Tables with numbers that you wont relate to in 6 months. Create a Job sheet with all data that is needed, then fill in the controller with only that. Clear out the rest because it will be useless anyways. Never setup a job with anymore than it takes to get the job done and others can follow your logic.
KISS (keep it simple stu...)

Now you just have to figure out how to parse the number to call up the last two digits in the T number to get the right position on your turret. Should be able to do that using a VB script in your tool change macro. Also a check in the script to be aware that sometimes people forget and only use one number instead of two (T1 = T01) so it would need to check for that possibility.

806

Works in progress / Re: New IPS (Interactive Programming System) Professional Screen for Turn

« on: September 09, 2011, 12:01:00 AM »

That's your only option with mach3 unless you can get the powers to be to change the way tool offsets are entered and used.

Unless you do this; T01 and Tool T101 are the same tools: T02 and T102 are the same tools, mach3 has lots of offsets to use. Then it makes logical sense to see that a T101 or T102 is the operation 20 and T01 and T02 is the operation 10. And I don't have to figure out what turret slot i'm using i know its the last two digits. Can not imagine more that 99 tools on a lathe.

807

Works in progress / Re: New IPS (Interactive Programming System) Professional Screen for Turn

« on: September 08, 2011, 10:39:35 PM »

Say you going to use one tool to turn and face both sides of a part; (Why use two right?)

there are two ways to setup a machine depending on the controller.

First way you have tool T01 and T02 set up with the same X offset but the Z offset will be the amount you leave for the second side. (Say .060") Now on the first side the finished face is set to zero for T01. After machining the first side and you flip the part now the finished face using T02 on the second side is Z zero. Now in production I can check the tool setup page and assure myself that they are still set at the amount I want to leave. If they are not its time for a refresher training.

The second way is using the same T01 tool but you call up offsets to use such as T0101 or T0102. And they are the same in X but different in Z by .0600"

They both work but on a turret machine or a machine that indexes tool slots, guess what; it indexes so in that case you have to use the second method or you would have to have multiple tool with an offset for each tool. I don't like to have multiple tools of the same unless I am running high production and have a tool management system. (After so many parts it uses the alternate tool)

I'm not big on having ghost numbers (tools that I make up just to get offset)

You could use G10 to grid shift everything but that's not a good way to handle tool setups.
Of course you could work offset for each side. But it is not usually customary to program that way due to operator overload. And on Fanuc controls additional offsets is an option that they make you pay for. (And it is not cheap) Most never buy that option on a turning center, where on a Mill it is part of the package.
Oh ya G10 is an option that has to be bought too. along with background editing which I love.

So it comes down to the type of tool offset package is contingent on how the tools are loaded, turret or flat sliding table.
I prefer the second method  because it makes more sense to the operator to call it the same tool, but have different offsets depending on what feature he is machining. Because generally we only let them change wear offsets and limit to relatively small increments. Thus protecting them from moving to far to fast or fat fingers. For the most part I can walk up to any controller and tell looking at that screen the conditions of my inserts. If the wear offsets are less than half of the tool nose radius I know that all is pretty well (depending on the job and tolerances of course), but if I see a number that is high in value, I know something is not right in some way.

Proper tool setup is very critical when you are doing parametric programming using variables. Because it is easy to start changing numbers to get the part back in spec. But as soon as they change parts they are way off based on the variables saved and used the last time that part was made. 

Hope that helps.

808

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.

« on: September 08, 2011, 06:45:06 AM »

hell I thought it was chocolate or a thin brownie. Never crossed my mind it was Ham, even though I could see it was a porker. Cute idea. What is it again that you drink? LOL

809

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.

« on: September 07, 2011, 01:44:47 PM »

What is it? Must be a UK thing!

810

VB and the development of wizards / Re: Filter for Start LED, OemLed(804)

« on: September 07, 2011, 08:33:49 AM »

I like the ftp site to get some older info

ftp://www.machsupport.com/

I just don't know why all the files are not found in the folders in that location.