Had a problem with Tool Check and Clint's Router M6 Macros

[fusion]

Hello, I was machining a part with 4 tools in the program, and I was on the second tool. This tool was a woodruff keyseat cutter and I was cutting a long groove in aluminum. I noticed the tool was loading with aluminum and at the end of the first pass, I pressed Tool Check. The mill went to the Z tool check position just fine. I inspected the tool and it was OK, so I pressed cycle start. It started up the spindle and the Z axis plunged the tool down and buried it into my part and destroyed the cutter.

My machine is an old Haas mini mill that I converted to Acorn, and it uses stepper motors. It seems to work just fine. To set tool heights, I use Clint's M6 macros found here viewtopic.php?f=63&t=1493 I use a movable plate and a fixed tool setter. It works just fine when I change tools.

It seems to me that when I did the Tool Check, Acorn forgot what the tool length offset was when it measured it during the previous tool change.

So, does tool check only work when you have a tool library with offsets set in the library? I pressed it while the program was running. Do I need to hit escape first to stop the program and then hit tool check?

[cnckeith]

probably the best approach when using the custom tool measurement macro that does not keep a tool library of offsets, is to
1.) press tool check
2.) press ESC
3.) use the Search feature and restart at the tool change position so the tool in the spindle will get remeasured by the custom marco before proceeding on with the job.

(if you do decided to keep a tool library with height offsets you can use tool check and simply hit cycle start to restart at the beginning of the line or arc when you pressed tool check and the tool height in the tool library will be used.)

[fusion]

Thanks Keith!