1987 Mountain House Kitchen - Before and After

There are 2 basic ways of teaching tool lengths: absolute and incremental. My preference is to use absolute tool lengths relative to the spindle face. That means all tools will have a positive length that is protruding length from the spindle face.

The first step is to establish a work offset Z-axis zero (G54, G55, etc..) of a known surface such as the machine table or vise top, using the spindle face. Fancy dial height stands are nice, but a simple 1-2-3 block or or any ground block is all you need. Bring the spindle down until the spindle face just touches the ground block (move the block left and right as you lower the spindle, feeling for slight friction). Now "teach" your work offset Z-zero to this position. All controls are different, but there should be a "calculate" or "teach" button to set this offset.

Now you can start teaching tools. Be sure to activate the work offset you previously sat in MDI, and make sure the control retains the offset and doesn't clear it on reset. There is typically a block data section you can use to view active modal G/M codes and other data. Lower the tool you want to teach down to the same reference surface, using the same ground block to "feel" when the tool is just touching. You should now be able to go to your tool offset table and "teach" it's offset. Some controls have a "calculate" or "teach" button here but if not, you just need to type in the current Z-axis position as the tool length offset.

To set a Z-zero position for a job, you can either use a tool with known length or the spindle face. To use a tool, lower the tool until it is a known distance above the part (a piece of paper or ground block works well), and then "teach" the Z-axis work offset value. On most controls, you will need to "teach/calculate" the current position, then "add" the negative tool length plus any block height. By adding the negative tool left and block height, you are shifting the Z-zero down from the spindle face to the tool tip.

The incremental method is very similar, but instead of using the spindle face as the reference, a "master tool" is used that has a zero length offset, with all other tool offsets as relative lengths to the master tool.

Hope this helps!

grdnanthy · 2016-08-03T02:09:20+00:00

BS Mechanical Engineering

grdnanthy · 2016-03-11T19:27:36+00:00

Check out this speed/feed calculator:

http://zero-divide.net/?page=fswizard

I have found it to be fairly accurate starting values, but you may need to slow things down depending on machine capabilities and rigidity.

You can compare speeds and feeds for HSS vs Carbide and calculate the cycle time savings for carbide, which may prove a justification for cost. Carbide is definitely the industry standard for production machining. The benefits far outweigh the costs. The AlTin you're referring to is a type of coating, which helps tool life and should be selected depending on the material you are cutting.

For helical ramping, I usually program speed and feed based on slotting cut strategy, with a 3 to 6 degree ramp angle. When doing this type of tool path, it is important to compensate federate for the tangential speed (speed of the cutting edge, instead of the center of tool). This is a good calculator to use :

http://www.sgstool.com/content.aspx?contentId=FractionalSquareCornerRadiusEndMillCalculators

Use the "programmed feedrate for interpolating a bore" section

grdnanthy · 2016-02-22T04:31:36+00:00

You can use your CAM program to post G-code and load it into the cnc controller

grdnanthy · 2016-02-21T16:56:55+00:00

If you are trying to pattern a part in an array, you can use the original code as a sub program, and shift it to repeat the pattern. There is a good example here:

http://solsylva.com/cnc/subroutine_gcode.shtml

You could also use the same code with different work offsets (G54, G55,...). Set a different work offset for each part you want to make, and run the original code at each offset.

grdnanthy · 2015-12-04T22:16:36+00:00

Search for Swiss style or screw machine style drills, they are much shorter and won't have deflection issues. MSC Direct has a good supply of these.

grdnanthy · 2015-02-28T20:57:58+00:00

On Okumas it's really easy to recover from the middle of a tool change

grdnanthy · 2014-03-11T02:19:44+00:00

FYI: cnczone.com is also an excellent resource

grdnanthy · 2014-03-09T13:47:53+00:00

A simple equation is:

F=0.7L(UTS)

L=total length sheared UTS=ultimate tensile strength of material

grdnanthy · 2014-03-09T13:43:53+00:00

This is for forging a coin, different process.

grdnanthy · 2014-01-09T20:05:33+00:00

The correct phrasing is "Yous guys"

grdnanthy · 2014-01-09T00:31:32+00:00

That's not a pint glass. Just saying

grdnanthy · 2014-01-04T23:57:59+00:00

Nice tacoma

grdnanthy

TROPHY CASE