TT and Moveable Plate

[cncman172]

Hey Gang,
I got one of those fixed position Tool Touchoff units and have it wired to input 4 on the Acorn. I can tell it to auto measure it that works now that I set Parameter 11 to 50004, and also set Parameter 44 to 50004 as technical support suggested in one of their posts.

I also have a moveable plate as well and that is also wired to Input 4. This is the same setup that Clint Branham posted a video of where he combined two macros. That video is locked and you can't ask questions.

My question is where to you put the TT thickness which seems to be Parameter 71, but I can't figure out where you put the thickness of the moveable plate. I am sure this is documented somewhere but I can't seem to find that parameter.

I think you establish G28 as the location of the fixed TT, but not positive. There are many write up on this topic and many provide different instructions. I have read the Ultimate Guide to Touch Probe and Tool Height setter, which was useful as it describes how it should work. Anyway I am getting closer, but need a few pointers on the last couple items to get this fully working. Thanks

Russ

[cbb1962]

Russ,

I used the instructions in the opening post of "tool setting options for Routers" viewtopic.php?f=63&t=1493

2. Setup your G28 Return #1 "Tool change position"
a) F1-Setup->F1-Part->F9-WCS Table->F1-Return
The fields under G28 are in machine position, press alt-d to toggle your display between machine position and wcs position
b) Jog the machine to the position you want to physically change the tool at. Enter the X, Y and Z machine position values displayed in dro. It is strongly suggested to leave Z at 0.
c)F10-Save

3. Setup your G30 Return #2 "Tool touch off device position" ** Not needed if you do not have a permanently mounted tool touch off device
a) F1-Setup->F1-Part->F9-WCS Table->F1-Return
The fields under G30P2 are in machine position, press alt-d to toggle your display between machine position and wcs position
b) Jog the machine to the position directly over your tool touch off device. Enter the X, Y and Z machine position values displayed in dro. It is strongly suggested to leave Z at 0.
c)F10-Save

4. Setup the height of the tool touch off device in parameter 71
a) F1-Setup->F3-Config(pw=137)->F3-Parms
b) Measure the height of the detector at it's location - enter that value in parm 71, press enter
c) Press F10 -Save

So G28 is the tool change position,
G30 is the location of the fixed TT,
Parm 71 is the thickness of the moveable plate.

[Sword]

Not sure, but what I think some may be getting hung up on is the "G28 is the tool change position". This is not the position of the fixed touch off, but it is the position where you the operator want to change out the old tool for the new tool before proceeding to the fixed touch off or the moveable touch off.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[cncman172]

Clint,
Thank you for your post. I setup G28 and G30 as Touch change position and TT position respectively.

The part I am still fuzzy on is the thickness of the TouchOff sensor and in my case it is 1.8615" thick. I put that measurement in Parameter 71. The one I can figure out is the moveable plate, which is 1.586" thick, this is just a sprint loaded puck you put on top of the top of the material at the start to set your Z=0 height. Most of these moveable plates are less than .25" thick.

I think the process watching the video from Clint was to home your machine, then establish your G54. Then job your Z axis down to the moveable plate to establish the Z0. The program would then account for the thickness of your moveable plate. Now on the next tool change it would go to your G28 and have the user change the tool. Then it would go to the G30 position and go down and touch the touchoff tool and take that measurement. Then it would go back to the position it was at prior to the tool change command. I think it takes the length of the tool using the TT and measures the difference between tools and knows where Z0 will be for the new tool. Might has this order off slightly.

I am clearly getting much closer, so thanks for the help.

Russ

[CNCMaryland]

Following this. I don't know the right answer, but the only thing I would like to comment on is normally the TT height doesn't matter. It's used to establish the length of the 1st tool, and then measures the next tools based off the 1st tool.

Parm 71 is the height of the movable touch off plate. You would set this to the thickness of the movable plate.

[cncman172]

CNCMaryland,
I think you hit the nail on the head. I am going to put in the height of the moveable plate. I think you are correct the actual height of the TT tool post does not matter is is always the same since it is fixed. One other question, when you setup the TT on the input screen it asks if you want it to subtract the height of the TT, so do you set that to No?

Thanks

Russ

[cncman172]

Well this must be come user input errors or something.

I also noticed each time you go into the Wizard it blows away Parameter 11, so my TT stops working until I go in and set parameter 11 back to 50004

I have the wizard set to subtract the length of the moveable plate. The plate is 1.586 inches thick.

I go and setup a G54 X,Y now I start to jog down to the top of the material and put the moveable plate on top of the material.

Then I got into setup Part, and move to the Z axis. Then I press the Auto button and the Z starts coming down slowly touches and then backs off just a little. Then I press save Z and what goes in the DRO is -1.586. What????

When I do this totally manually jog down to the top of the material until it just touches and press set Z it goes to 0.0000 which is perfect. So I still have something wrong when I try and use the moveable plate. I am not even to the TT tool for additional tool changes. Need to get this part to work first. Ugh

Russ

[cncman172]

Well I finally tried something that worked.

When I would tell it to auto probe to the moveable plate it was setting Z to -1.586 which is the thickness of the moveable plate. This seems to imply it was subtracting the moveable plate thickness, so I told it not to subtract it and that did not work either. What I did was populate parameter 17 with -1.586 instead of +1.586. Now when I do this it sets the Z0 correctly. I have no clue why this is backwards.

All of this is just using the moveable plate I have not used the TT in the next step that calculates the length of the tool after it gets changed.

Russ

[CNCMaryland]

Glad I was able to give you some help.

I am trying to get a Touch Probe, Tool Height Setter and Moveable Z Plate working together.

[cnckeith]

yeah.. we will fix P71 in next release.. for now..yes you have to put in a negative value.. for cnc12 to subtract it from the part zero position being probed.