Messages

231

General Mach Discussion / Re: Putting tools in tool holders

« on: March 08, 2015, 08:13:13 PM »

And here is what I believe to be one of your tools converted to work in my machine by changing the bearing.

232

General Mach Discussion / Re: Putting tools in tool holders

« on: March 08, 2015, 08:12:22 PM »

And here is what I believe to be a tool for your machine next to a tool made for my machine....

233

General Mach Discussion / Re: Putting tools in tool holders

« on: March 08, 2015, 08:11:13 PM »

Here is what I have collected off eBay. I probably bid against you on some of it LOL

234

General Mach Discussion / Re: Putting tools in tool holders

« on: March 08, 2015, 08:00:43 PM »

What is the difference in that taper and a bt30 taper? I have tooling that looks just like that and it is the same dimensionally as mine above the bearing. In fact I had to buy Chiron retention knobs. They are exactly the same. However if you ask for Pratt and Whitney Tapemate C stuff, forget it. My machine is basically a Fanuc Drillmate Series C. Their first Robodrill. They changed to a different retention knob and got rid of the bearing though on the next up models.

235

General Mach Discussion / Re: Putting tools in tool holders

« on: March 08, 2015, 07:37:31 PM »

Haha, how funny is that. You have the same tool holders as me. The only difference is mine is a 15mm wide bearing only without the brass plate. I might have some parts you want. I bought some of that tooling and am in the process of converting it to my bearing.

That looks like you put a lot of work into getting that setup. I feel like I am spinning my wheels. Whole weekend gone and about all I did was watch a bunch of BobCAD videos.

236

General Mach Discussion / Re: Putting tools in tool holders

« on: March 08, 2015, 07:36:08 PM »

Here is my machine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjc9--rOPrs

The tools are held in a turret with a snap ring. The tool holders have a bearing on them. It grabs the retention knob and pulls them up in there.
The change is purely mechanical. It just moves Z up past the home and that pulls on things to rotate the turret. It is kind of like a ratchet with a rod that pulls to rotate it to the next spot.

I could probably leave a turret hole open and manipulate Z to just grab and ungrab the tools without going high enough to rotate it.
Maybe that gives you some ideas on how I should do it?
I have two of these:
http://wildhorse-innovations.com/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=80
One is setup as a probe and the other as the touch plate.

237

General Mach Discussion / Re: Putting tools in tool holders

« on: March 08, 2015, 07:15:55 PM »

So I would always have one of my 7 positions occupied by the probe?
I would probe the surface of the part.
Then set that as zero.
Then have all the other tools hit the touch plate?

Does not make sense to me. I wish their was a video of this somewhere. Will have to look.

I would think the touch plate is used for all heights and the probe for edge finding. I don't think you can touch the probe to the plate either because they would both compress.

238

General Mach Discussion / Re: Putting tools in tool holders

« on: March 08, 2015, 06:54:13 PM »

So, those numbers are not critical? If I did want to run simulations, I could just set them close to about where my tools will end up in the holder?
I guess drawing my tool holder is not critical either?

I do have an econo-probe touch plate that I wanted to use. I also have an econo-probe setup as a probe.
I am still trying to figure out how to wire both those up.

Do you touch off the face of the part, or off the table?
Does it matter what tool you pick as the master?

239

General Mach Discussion / Putting tools in tool holders

« on: March 08, 2015, 04:58:04 PM »

First off, I am just learning this CNC stuff. I have a little manual experience.
I have a 7 tool changer machine with mach3 on it. I have it working as it should and my tool change macro is working also. It changes to the right tool when I command it manually.
I have BobCAM.
My questions is, how do I load my tools in the tool holders? For example..do I have to precisely measure how deep I put my end mill into the holder? Do I have to precisely measure how deep I put a bit into a chuck?
I am researching all this, but it might be faster to understand if I ask some simple questions one at a time.

In BobCAD you have to tell it your overall lengths and protrusion lengths. Is the overall length the whole length of the tool and holder from the spindle, or the length of the tool before you sink it into the holder?

Frustrating to get going on this.

240

General Mach Discussion / Touch Probe & Tool Height Setter Hookup

« on: March 08, 2015, 12:23:25 PM »

I have two Wildhorse Econo-probes. One is setup as a tool height setter, and one is set up as a probe. I want to use both.
Can I have them both connected at the same time?
I was thinking of mounting the height setter on the back corner of my table and just leaving it hooked up.
Then the probe would go into one of my tool holders and either always stay loaded with the wire safely wound around it somehow, or I would pull the tool from the turret and make a place it can be hung inside the machine out of the way.
So, the probe may or may not get electrically disconnected, but I was going to leave the tool height setter one always hooked up.
I was going to install two stereo jacks on the inside panel of my machine for this. I am just not sure if they would be wired in parallel internal and just share the same input, or if they would be on separate inputs?
Starting from scratch today on this...