Our company just got in a 5'x12' cnc router with an 8 tool ATC. It came with a Weihong nk260 controller and NC studio.
What I cant seem to figure out is how to set the z axis, as in setting it to the surface of my material.
There is an auto tool setting instrument at the back of the router but it is fixed to the table.
1. When I try and do mobile calibration of the z axis it simply descends as though it were looking for a touch plate but since mine is fixed to the back of the table and its not going tell the machine where the surface of the material is how does that work?
Now I can see where the auto tool sensing instrument would tell the machine where the tip of each tool is, but how do I tell the machine where the material surface is in relation to the tool tip without a mobile touch plate?
I'm assuming I either need to calibrate each tool to the fixed auto tool setting instrument and then set each tool to the surface of my working material perhaps manually or i need a mobile touch plate to set the working material surface.
The only other thing I could think of is that the settings for the auto tool setting instrument might be able to be adjusted somehow to accommodate adding a spoil board to the vacuum table and then further adjust that setting each time I need to cut a new material.
Am I just missing something simple here? fixed auto tool setting instrument
2. How do I get the machine to change/swap tools so I can set the next tool up or is this something I manually have to do? ie: insert first tool, do auto tool sensing then place in ATC holder then put second tool in tell nc studio its tool #2 and then do auto tool sensing on second tool etc..
3. Is there anyone here that is familiar with nc studio on a weihong nk260 that might be able to provide a little more insight as to the operation of this controller and software?
I'm used to working with a multi-cam router and controller for the past 8+ years.
I just got a similar machine, with the nk260 control. The movement is quite jerky, I am assuming that the look ahead setting is set to the default of 0, and want to change it to see if it helps. Is there any chance you have the password for the manufactures settings on the controller? Also, I would imagine that you have the controller all figured out by now, I may have a few more questions for you when it comes to setting tool heights and tool changes. This is my first atc machine.
Hey Austin.mn
the jerky movement is due to a setting in the servo motors inside the unit's cabinet, I'll have to go back and see if I can find the setting parameters so you can get yours set up as well.
The engineers in china I spoke with were not much help in getting these machines set up correctly so I ended up having to learn the machine on my own but we pretty much have it down pat now. There is a password for theses machines but you have to be meticulous about recording what settings you change (what the original settings were and what you change them to). The machine password for ours was FYRQ. I'll get back with you on the servo settings when I can dig the manual up.
thanks for the help. The look ahead was set at 50. So you are probably correct about the servo tuning. I will head back to the shop and see if I can get that to make a difference
Try this. Very good results. APM Tool presetter. Use 123blocks to calibrate 3" or 76.2mm. Then place the toolsetter on the workpiece, bring down the bit to the plate and zero mark your offset. Don't forget to subtract the extra 3" or 76.2mm from the offset. In NCStudio, you can add a -76.2 in the Z of the Public Offset. I was never able to get this from the poorly translated manual, but good ol' trial and error led me to some great results. Building guitars with solidworks, doing the toolpaths with hsmworks, and running them on our cncfactory viper with 10 tool atc. Extremely impressive results.
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Try this. Very good results. APM Tool presetter. Use 123blocks to calibrate 3" or 76.2mm. Then place the toolsetter on the workpiece, bring down the bit to the plate and zero mark your offset. Don't forget to subtract the extra 3" or 76.2mm from the offset. In NCStudio, you can add a -76.2 in the Z of the Public Offset. I was never able to get this from the poorly translated manual, but good ol' trial and error led me to some great results. Building guitars with solidworks, doing the toolpaths with hsmworks, and running them on our cncfactory viper with 10 tool atc. Extremely impressive results.
Nc studio z axis auto tool setting and more
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