Entering Tool Offsets in Mill

[crabbass]

I can see you guys are making this work. There is always more than one way to kill a cat. Tool offset numbers should be entered as the tools length from spindle gage line, and the g5* Z value should be the distance from machine z zero to your workpiece z zero. Yes Geof this would allow a fat finger to put the tool length in wrong, but this is a simple thing to check when proving a program/setup, and a easy thing to watch out for when setting/re-setting broken and dull tooling. This isthe prefered method in the industry, providing benifits such as allowing multiple machines to use the same tools with same length offsets (commonly set by a benchtop tool presetter).
The probe systems set the offsets this way,( not because renishaw or marposs came up with this idea) because this is how toolsetting and work offsets were intended to be used.

[wheelieking71]

Originally Posted by dapoling I just found this forum and thought I would add my two cents into this as I find this to be a problem in many shops. I have used tool setters in and out of the machine to include a lazer tool setter as well. I have found that using this methods works as well or better then many high dollar items especially the tool setter out of the machine. Using a 123 block or even a 246 block to locate on a clean surface of the table, bring down your tools below the height you wish to use and raise in .001 and later to .0001 to find the Height Offset as we know using a Haas makes this very easy, then use a Test indicator not a travel indicator touch off the block and Zero your Z, then move to your Work Z Zero location and insert this number into your Z Work Coordinate. Depending on your care you will eliminate the majority of your blending problems and dimension requirements. There are those that will say well that is close enough on their setups and they usually will find they are fighting to keep their part into tolerance after the 3 or 4 operation, tolerances are used for production not in programming or setup. Build that strong foundation and eliminate all those problems ahead of time. note: when touching off face mills or larger endmills there will always be one tooth lower then the rest.

i use this exact method! you would be surprised how accurate you can be with a 1-2-3 block and a dial indicator. i slide my 1-2-3 block on the fixed jaw. (when working with a vise) the benefits are once a tool, or 20 tools are in the machine, it or they are set. no matter how many different set-ups you run! and all you have to do to run a different part, is reset your work offset "Z". (and X,Y if you need to) i have timed myself with this method and a "taster", and have touched off 20 tools, and G54 X,Y,Z "0" in 14 minutes. thats almost probe fast. i could live without a probe, but i sure miss it when "0" is the center of a diameter!