Long time lurker and newbie posting for first time.
I am taking CNC classes at the local city college for fun (its GREAT!) and our like new TL-1 has a manual tool post. I saw gang tooling on a HPCL at Westec and was wondering if anyone has done gang tooling on a TL-1??
The prof said that he would consider doing it if I ran down all the particulars.
Many Thanks.
TEntpeg.

....was wondering if anyone has done gang tooling on a TL-1??
The prof said that he would consider doing it if I ran down all the particulars.
Many Thanks.
TEntpeg.

I have a TL with a tool changer but have also used gang tooling to get up to three different tools at a single tool changer position; the particulars are quite simple.

When I have three tools at position #1 in the program one tool is T101 and the offsets for this tool are on line 1 in the tool offset table. The second tool is T111 and the offsets are on line 11 while the third tool is T121 and the offsets are on line 21.

The only reason I use lines 11 and 21 is just to make it easier to remember what tool goes with what offsets; normally I number them in order of use. On occasion I have had multiple tools at different positions and just use the same system; T202, T212, T222 which uses line 2, 12 and 22, etc.

You will be able to use a similar system. Do some experimenting and see what works best for you.

Dorian sells a very nice system that drops right on to a CXA series toolpost. It's part of their new Victory, 'thru coolant' block system but I don't think you have to use the coolant feature.

With the removable block, you can 'gang tool' a job but pull it off to use the toolpost in a conventional manner without losing your 'production' setup. I looked at this setup at the last Haas Demo Day event. I really like the ability to remove and reinstall this onto the toolpost but it's spendy.

http://www.inventorydepot.com/DorianGangTool.htm

There's also another setup that is considerably less expensive but might also be less versatile. It mounts to a subplate and essentially dedicates the machine to the production job until you break down the setup.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7606021052

What vintage are your TL-1s? On the earliest TLs, I understand that there were only two loading options for tools: changer or manual.

Without a changer, the control only knew to stop and beep at you for the next tool to be loaded. Some people worked around this by loading the tool offset table, turning off H&T agreement in the settings, then just change tool offset to change tool numbers (I think Geof shared that gem with me :) ).

On later versions of the software, they added a 'gang' setting. This allows you to touch off all of your tools and load them into the offset table. Once loaded, you can call the next tool in your program and it will simply swap offsets and resume cutting.

If this is for a school, you guys could also consider the Haas built, 4 position turret, the Dorian manual turret or the Dorian automatic turret.

Which school is this for? I noticed that you're in California.

I use a gang tool system on my TL-1 from time to time. On the TL-1 the gang tool system works best with a collet nose. The TL-1 does not have enough X axis travel to use a gang tool system with a chuck in most cases, but it works good with the collet nose.

I also use the automatic tool turret with multiple tools on each position.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c10/mahockett/tp3.jpg

Mark Hockett
Island Tech Enterprises
Clinton, WA
http://www.islandtechent.com/

More chip less lip

Outstanding ideas guys. Now its just a matter of implementing some of them.
Now, I have to wait for school to open up to do it.

This is for Riverside Community College, Norco campus. It is a small program
but that makes for a great instructor/student ratio. I feel very fortunate to
have access to both the school and this forum.

Thank you.

Jim

Outstanding ideas guys. Now its just a matter of implementing some of them.
Now, I have to wait for school to open up to do it.

This is for Riverside Community College, Norco campus. It is a small program
but that makes for a great instructor/student ratio. I feel very fortunate to
have access to both the school and this forum.

Thank you.

Jim

Outstanding ideas guys. Now its just a matter of implementing some of them.
Now, I have to wait for school to open up to do it.

This is for Riverside Community College, Norco campus. It is a small program
but that makes for a great instructor/student ratio. I feel very fortunate to
have access to both the school and this forum.

Thank you.

Jim

Sheesh, sorry about the triple posting.

.........back to the eggnog.

Jim

Hey Mark, I think you win for the most innovative combination use of gang tooling and a changer. Very nice.

I was cautioned on the lack of versatility with that changer. Clearance issues with multiple tools was the issue cited. I never considered a hybrid arrangement like yours.

Hey Mark, I think you win for the most innovative combination use of gang tooling and a changer. Very nice.......

Have a look at post #2 in this thread:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39471

We have a TL-2 that I built a gang tool holder for. We used this in combination with a pneumatic collet chuck and a bar puller. Hooked all of this into the spare M function blocks on that machine controler and we had a small part production machine. We still use the 10" Chuck/Toolpost combination for short runs and large parts but for small production jobs you cant beat this combo. We have done up to 5200 pieces in a single run with this setup. Not too bad for a machine that was originally designed for prototypes and short runs.

BTW, this idea was inspired by gearman and Geof in the above thread that is referred to.

Thanks Guys.

AMCTony,

Would you have any photos of your mods?
One of the Spring '08 classes will be Robotics and the Prof
thinks that this could be a good practical exercise.


Thanks!

Jim

Jim have your instructor come down to his local HFO thats where I am Bob in applications we have the dorian gang tooling set-up in our showroom on a TL-1 he can look at it and I might be able to get him a demo deal Later Bob

I took the setup down and switched back to the manual mode after the last production run was finished. I could take a picture of the tooling block, Air selonoid bank and the wiring into the machine if that would help.

AMCTony, pics would be great!
This is turning into a project for next semester.

wcbob, thanks for the offer, I'll pass it on.

regards,

Jim