setting tool probe problems

[Robert Ouellette]

we just got a new Haas TM-2 with the Marpos tool probe. when the tech came to install it he did not use a calibrated tool master to set it up. now it is out on the z lengths. how could i measure a tool length to make a standard? measure from the spindle nose to tool tip with a height gage? or is it measured from an imaginary spot i will not be able to find? we do not have a tool presetter. how else could i do it? could i by a bt40 master tool with a pullstud? i have only found master tools that do not have provisions for a pull stud. they just drop in to presetters. please help. i really want to use the new touch probe. it is cool lol.

 

bob

[YoDoug®]

We have a dedicated master tool that is used for calibrating our probes and tool setters. We took a good quality EM holder and and mouted a piece of round tool steel in it. Then we mounted a tunring tool to the machine table and turned the tool steel while in the spindle. This gave us almost 0 runout in the machine it was turned in and very little in other machines. Likewise we used a dial indicator to measure from the tip of the tool steel to the spindle face (gage line) of each machine. This measurement is what is used for calibrating the tool setters and the probes.

[Dave Ball]

The first thing i would do is get on the phone and make them set it up properly. You paid for it so you could use it and if it's not calibrated useless. Make them fix it.

[Robert Ouellette]

Doug thanks for the reply. that is what i was thinking. just was not sure if that was the right place to measure from. (spindle face) i will do that tuesday morning.

Sheffer it was our responsibility to provide a master to set it up. we do not have one. we are a small shop that only in the last year, since i am there, have we even done any work with a tolerance of less than +-0.030". they were just in the repair for cement plants and such. not very good. just very fast. that is what they have done for years. now that i am there we are getting more precise jobs. we did not even have carbide endmills. just hss. yuk. but i am turning them around. it is getting much better to live with.

 

thanks for all your help. will fix things tomorrow and let u know how it worked

 

bob

[ATG]

If you want to get things running right away you could jog the spindle nose down to a 5.0 gauge block and then under position zero out your z location. Then jog the head back up and put in ball nose tool or a rod. Jog the head back down to the same 5.0 blocks. This will give you the length of that tool in the spindle. At this point you can use that tool with the known length to re calibrate the probe.

[Robert Ouellette]

newchsmcam that sounds like it would be easier to do than measure with height gage. ty

bob

[robk]

Keep in mind that your spindle face is NOT your gage point.

[Charlie Pierson]

Our gage pointis at the gage line of the spindle taper.

 

We use a 40 Taper master bar (available from technara, command and others) to calibrate our tool presetter blocks (homemade 40 taper blocks) and all of our 40 taper machines. We then use a height gage w/ the block to measure the length of our tools offline.

ditto the 30 taper machines.

 

cp

[YoDoug®]

Robk and Charlie are correct, gage point is a measurement driven by the taper according to an ISO standard. Even in identical machines the gage point will vary because of variance in spindle taper grinding.

 

My reference to calling gage line at the spindle face was for a easy way to calibrate probes and presetters from one master tool.

[ATG]

This is a quick fix. It works your just measuring the distance between two points. I also have the marposs spindle probe with the laser tool pre setter. Hey bob231068 let me know how it works I’m interested in your result with the marposs and the haas.

[Zbuilder]

We recently got a Marposs also. If I understand it correctly, the master finds the laser beam in (our) Y axis & Z axis and sets a macro variable. We had some difficulty with accuracy during the setup phase and remember seeing the tech adjust that macro manually until the correct values were achieved with a know tool length. So This would be too time consuming if you hade to calibrate every month or every week but is do-able in an emergency.