I have had to jack vises up on strips of 1" x 4" stock before, ideal no, but it was temporary and got the jobs done. The main reason I have had to jack vises up is to get clearance when next to a rotary table. Solid 4 inch plates for each vise work great, block keyed to the table and the vises keyed to the block. For the job you mentioned, that setup above is plenty rigid enough

+/- .0002 is what Ive seen from renishaw ts27rs. Ive had more problems with thermal growth between tools, 1st tool running for 2 hrs and warming the machine up completely, then next tool cutting slightly deeper due to being fully warm. This is even with running warmups for a hour plus. Also keeping tool to tool rpm close helps. New Matsuuras and Robodrills, more of an issue on Robos

Three phase available? Also is zoning going to be an issue?

Will try it out Monday, sounds like thats the ticket. Thanks for the reply!!!!

Currently as the machine sits, in the older Fanuc side of the control, if you are in edit and type in characters, those characters are automatically entered in the program. Where normally you can cursor down and search, alter, insert, etc. Its now setup so that you have to hit search first, enter characters and then search. Only one Robodrill was like this when we received them a year ago and was changed to the typical format by the installer. I however did not write down the parameter or it did not make it to my notes txt document. Any help would be awesome so I can stop thinking about it and apparently no one changed a thing....

I could see doing this if each tool ran for hours. If not set tools that have to be critical off a block in .0001 step. If your tool setter is not accurate. The Renishaw tool setters I use will repeat with in .0003 or better. I check the plunger every week to make sure its still parallel to the table. I have had them move, operator hitting them etc. Set all tools at the same time when possible to avoid thermal issues. Back up tools that finish the corners of pockets .0005 and sneak up on it to avoid mismatch. The first time the Renishaw tech installed a setter at my work, we checked 10 of my tools that I set off a block in .0001 step, every tool was within .0002 of the probed value. One problem with tool setters is coming down centered with a larger diameter endmill than the plunger. The rake of the tool is giving a false reading because you are not hitting the longest from the spindle cutting edge. Jobs that require minimum mismatch (trying to keep it within +/- .0002), I always warm up the machine by running above the part and re running tools that were ran first due to not being fully warm when they were ran.

I was using Kapton between the table and sub plate, but the last few went on without it. Didn't have a large enough sheet readily available.

The majority of the work on the robos is low tolerance production, not done by me. However, they were bought with the intention of doing a job that is now in the prototype phase. Not allowing for much thermal comp tweaking when i have to two parts to make two parts. Got the z axis figured out pretty good by running .02 higher and checking depths, never messed with the x axis as a result of pushing the tolerance already and not wanting to scrap it. Ours are equipped with 24k spindles, have heard problems from other shops needing spindles due to maxing out the rpm constantly. We set the max for 21k, no problems 1 year in.

My only complaint is that the machines grow as they warm up more than my liking and no one can suggest parameters for thermal compensation. X axis grew a little more than a thousandth over 24 inches with no compensation. The only suggestion from our dealer is just "play with it". But the ball screws are just so darn cute looking. For parts they were designed to make you cant beat them.

I believe that is the youtube video you are referring too

Got the toolbar to work. Under the customize tab, X+ was not present under the Toolbar list. However, under the category tab its there, then I just created a new toolbar and dragged the icons to the newly made toolbar.

Having the same problem as Fretless, downloaded X+ for X6, tried moving the install to different folders and modifying the .ft file. Tool bar does not show up and is not under Toolbar States. Can run it as a CHook but no toolbar . Had X+ working with x3, x4, and x5, Big fan of X+!!!!

We use a custom macro at work to write tool offsets and index to the next tool, for machines that don't have decent tool setting functions. Set the tool via the handwheel call up "G14" and it writes the offset, brings the head up, and changes to the next tool. Other machines I run with tool setters and probes all use macros to calibrate the devices and make measurements.