Tool Height Macro

[madmikethespoon]

After searching far and wide for a good macro for setting tool heights in the tool table, i cant seem to find anything that suits my needs. I am basically looking for a macro that does what the tool height setter in mach4 does. here is my workflow:

(1) set z 0 on my mill top (i do this is with a probe in the spindle, but could be accomplished many ways)
(2) put the tool height setter on the mill top where i just measured z0
(3) put tool to be measured in spindle and set the tool number so mach3 knows what tool to change the height for in the tool table
(4) hit button for macro that drives the tool into the height setter, automatically sets the tool height in the tool table (this measurement would be the z height measured minus the height of the tool setter)
(5 )z backs off the setter and and is ready for the next tool to be measured.

variables that would need to be predefined:
(A) z plunge feed rate
(B) Height Setting offset (height of the setting off the table)
(C) Height of the retract after tool height is set

Lets assume i already have (1) worked out as setting z zero is easy. any help would be greatly appreciated. i am not a macro programmer in anyway, i am working on a killer screen set right now and this is the only piece i am missing before i give it way.

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[rcs60]

(2) put the tool height setter on the mill top where i just measured z0

is the tool height setter connect to the control (wired or wireless) ?
if it is mount it to the table measure you tools then use 1 of the tools to measure the top of the part and put that into the work offset
if not the best you can do is to create the macro that will change tools reposition over the tool height setter.
first tool manually move to the height setter then manually come down on the guage when set, you should be able to hit cycle start to record present x,y,z machine positions, work offset and have it put into the offset page for you

[madmikethespoon]

Thanks rcs, the tool height setter is wireless and not mounted to the table. it is connected to the controller and works great from that perspective. my goal is to not enter anything into the tool table by hand. i should have mentioned this mill uses TTS holders, so setting the tool height the first time i mount a tool is all i need, but i want a process that's quick to setup many tools.

your last suggestion is close to what i am looking for. the actual probing cycle shouldn't be too hard to setup as a macro. i already have a macro that probes the z surface with a spindle probe and sets the machines z0, but i havent seen any macros that change the tool table. do you have any examples?

[Emizza]

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