This is odd. I tried 3 thumb drives in the usb port in my vf2. Neither of them worked. The thumb drive with all my system info from haas didnt work either. The machine said no usb drive present. The tech who installed the machine had a usb drive which worked so he let me use it. I went out and bought 2 new thumb drives exactly the same as the one the tech let me use. Neither of them worked. They were all formatted fat 32 like they are supposed to be. So I have tried about 6 thumb drives and could only get one to work (the techs). This seems very odd. I at least am up and running but it seems to me that any drive should work as long as it is fat 32. What do you guys think?


I started using the probe today. That thing is amazing.

Mark

Hey, Mark, I'm glad to hear that you're happy with the probing.

On the USB drives, I'm stumped. I honestly didn't even know that there was a 'formatting' option with thumb drives. I've used two different ones in my TL-1 and they worked just fine. Me thinks you have a problem there (and a couple of thumb drives you didn't need).

Thanks greg, I have found one that works ( a sony) I have tried about 10 of them and I have 2 that work. Weird. Hey Greg can you tell me the procedure for probing an external corner. For the life of me cannot figure it out. I have tried a few templates and am completely stumped. (I read the post you made to helicopter john but am still having a hard time

Thanks

Mark

Hey, Mark, I'm glad to hear that you're happy with the probing.

On the USB drives, I'm stumped. I honestly didn't even know that there was a 'formatting' option with thumb drives. I've used two different ones in my TL-1 and they worked just fine. Me thinks you have a problem there (and a couple of thumb drives you didn't need).

You've figured out how to get to the probing VQC templates, right? Or is that the problem?
Press Edit to get into editing mode (won't work from Mem)
Press Prgrm/Convrs three times (until you get to the black VQC screens)
Press F2 to get the template selection screen
Down Arrow until you get to O09996 Renishaw VQC Probing
Write/EnterI do a vise corner in three steps. The probing template comes up with a bunch of choices. I use the Probing 1-9 templates. For most vise jobs, I put a work-stop in/on the left side of the work. I clamp a 1-2-3 block on there so I have a known square corner. That's almost always left as my G54. I program everything in Mastercam using that corner so I don't have to change setups.

Then I probe (using MDI for each cycle):
The left edge (work-stop) using X Plus Surface
The back surface (fixed jaw) using Y Minus Surface
The top of the block (the parallels plus the block) using Z surfaceAfter this, I go into the work offsets and subtract an inch from the Z work offset (to remove the 1-2-3 block height). This puts a fixed origin at the upper left corner, down on the parallels. I use this setup for almost everything I do that starts with a rectangular shape.

I see that there is a combination cycle in the second probing menu for doing a corner. I guess that would take care of two steps but it looks like you still have to probe the Z surface. In that case, it looks like you specify which corner you're using by inputting a number from the template display.

If I felt that I was 'wasting time' doing the three steps, I'd go to the trouble of combining them into one program. It goes so fast though, that I just haven't bothered. It's also good for me because I go through the motions of swapping screens, using the keypad, etc. It's reinforced my learning of the control which is more important to me right now, than outright efficiency.

Thanks Greg, I was trying to do it the one step but I will do it like you say. I could not figure out the single step method.

Thanks

Mark