Z Reference and TT Questions

[Dangerfox.com]

Hello,

So recently we have decided to retro fit our Laguna Smart Shop 2 with the acorn system and completely redo the entire machine. Just a disclaimer I do have experience in electronics and wiring but its been a crash course the last few of weeks on learning CNC machines. Most of everything has made sense and we really haven't had much problems getting things to work properly. Insted of spending hours on end trying to figure out how this works I figured I would just post and see if I can get some help. This is pretty much the last thing I need to figure out before we can start cutting again. Before I get into my questions here's the setup we're running.

Laguna Smart Shop 2
Centroid Acorn with CC86ACCP
Teknic SDSK Servo Motors with PowerHub 4
Delta VFD-B Model: VFD075B23A with QUICK FT410-20 EMI Filter
TPD 5.5KW ATC Spindle Motor Model: 120TD18Z5
8 Tool Rack Mounted ATC
HNC RZ-66 NC Tool Touchoff from RicoCNC

I've attached a report.zip

Google Photos Album
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ti9Zbn9eDL58koU69

So we've got everything installed and it is moving and communicating perfectly. I just got our new tool touchoff device yesterday and got it all wired up and working. I just had a couple of questions about the Z reference and Tool Offset measuring when it goes to touchoff tools. We do have a vacuum table and have a MDF spool board on top so I guess I'm just confused on how I need to setup the Z reference. Is the Z reference refering to the top of the spool board or the top of the Machine Bed? I'm just not sure how it calculates everything with the Tool offset and how to add in the offset for the spool board.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Sean-
DangerFox - Waco, TX

[Gary Campbell]

I have setup a number of ATC routers with Acorn Control. Set your Tool reference to Machine Zero (top of travel) Measure all tools.

Then using a measured tool (with T## H## shown on screen) bring the bit down to top of spoilboard and set zero (part zero) there. All tools will now be set to the spoilboard.

[Dangerfox.com]

Hey Gary,

Thanks for the information on the Z reference and tool touchoff. I've got all the tools measured and it seems to be working great. I did have one other question. In the ATC zip file that I downloaded from centroids website with the M6func files and instructions on how to set it up, It mentions that you can set your max number of tools to 1 more than you have on your rack to basicly setup a no tool in spindle. I assume this is for the park function at the end of the day so the machine can drop its tool off and be shut down with no tool in the spindle. It says the M6 file can be modified a little bit to make this function work but doesn't explain how or what to modify. I would love to have this feature on our machine but don't know how its coded to make this feature work properly.

If you have any information or can point me to some documentation that would explain how to set this up that would be awesome.

I've attached my m6func file so you can see how I have it setup right now.

Thanks for all your help.

Sean-

[Gary Campbell]

You don't have to add a tool beyond the physical ones in the forks. I use tool zero which should unload the current tool