Citizen tool pre-setter

[yoopertool]

I run a citizen E-32-4 swiss lathe. I use an optical presetter to set my tool height and position it on the holder. I have been very unhappy with how inconsistant this devise is. After carefully setting a tool I may be as much as .010" off on my diameter which is no good! Are there any other methods that others use to set their tools which would be better/faster? Thanks!

[cogsman1]

That pre-setter, if still "tight" is very good. The machine could have been bumped at some point and the grid setting could be off causing your trouble. I have worked with both good and bad ones but the only problem with the setter was if the handles had loosened up and drifted when setting.
You could go in to MDI and call the tool then send it to stock dia and slide the tool out as you do with a gang style machine.

T2100
G0 X#814 (X1.25...)

[yoopertool]

I really havent noticed anything being sloppy or loose on the pre-setter, but It might be a good Idea to get it checked out. I use a ground gauge block for setting the pre-setter every time, so I dont think that is it. I have thought about setting my tools by going into MDI and just touching the tool to the stock, but then I wont know if my tool height is correct since I use adjustable blocks. Thanks for the info!

[jorgehrr]

We do not pre set.
After we set up a new tool we touch off. Easy and cheaper.

Cheers.

[yoopertool]

jorgehrr, if you only touch off the tip of the tool how do you set your tool height? I would love to do everything on my machine, but I guess the tool height is the only thing stopping me. Thanks

[jorgehrr]

How about this

http://www.kentechinc.com/tip10.html

Good tips in this site, find home in this web site, you'll be surprise.

Jorge

[PoiToi]

I run 2 small citizen swiss lathes (a B-12 and an A-16), and they have no toolsetter.
I'm not sure what your operators panel looks like, but if you go into the preparation mode that's where i set the diameter and height for my tools, i'll try to explain:
In preparation mode, highlight the tool you want to set and then hit the "core" or "center" soft key. make sure your tol is out of the way (when i do this it's not even in yet) adn hold cycle start. The machine will move your tool to the "bottom" of the stock (make sure your stock is set right in the machining data page) then you can use your click wheel to adjust the height up and down, you want it to just "kiss" the nottom of the stock, but still be able to slide by. if you adjust the height make sure you hit "input" or it wont save the changes. dont tighten the tool down, and then set the diameter:

same way with diameter, just the the "dia" softkey. unless you have a weird tool usually you dont even have to adjust this, jsut slide your tool so its touching your stock and tighten it down.

hope that helps, if you have some questions lemme know and i will try to clear anything up.
=)

[yoopertool]

Thanks for the reply PoiToi. I run a Citizen E32-4 model, and only one of the turrets has the ability to move in the y- axis. I will see if I can set the turret with y-axis capabilities the way you explained, but I think I am stuck using the pre-setter on the other turret.

[PoiToi]

hm..
I was also thinking.. how does the optical pre-setter work? does it use a light source or something like a comparator? if so, maybe try spraying your inserts with some dykem first, maybe glare would throw it off??

[yoopertool]

I never thought of putting layout fluid on my inserts to reduce glare. I will give that a shot on monday and let you know how it goes. Thanks!

[PoiToi]

Yah, I found it works great on an optical comparator. I dont use it for parts with less than .001 tolerance, i've ben meaning to do a little experiment and see if it adds any thickness.

[yoopertool]

I dont think that Layout fluid would add much thickness . I checked my machine and I dont have the option to set the tool on the machine. I have still yet to try the layout fluid to see of that helps. I would still like to find a way to not have to use the presetter I am currently using though. Is there anyone who has come up with some sort of jig to quickly set a tool? Thanks everyone!