Hi guys,
I've been trying to work though some tutorials on setting up my tool table and ran across a problem with my TTS/Power Drawbar setup. Being a total newbie, I though I'd try to get some thoughts on what I might be doing wrong.
I starting off setting the tool height of my Heimer 3D probe using the mill table as a reference. To verify the length I tried to measure the distance from the table to the spindle face using my Edge Technologies tool setter and realized that something was off( about 0.015" ). It took a while (as I am new to this) to realize that my TTS tools were not sitting flush again the spindle face. Looking at the manual, I figured things were installed incorrectly so I went about checking things.
I opened my spindle cabinet and went to loosen the drawbar bolt but realized that the screw was already very loose (issue #1). So, following the setup instructions again (a video online by NYCCNC), I went about tightening the whole thing down again. (about 2 full turns with a TTS tool in the collet). When I did this and reinstalled the power drawbar unit, I realized that it wasn't able to eject the tool (issue #2). So it took a while but I realized that the factory installed air lines on my cylinders seemed to differ from all the photos I've seen.
Looking at the physics of it, the airliens were installed all wrong so I fixed this issue and low and behold it could now properly eject my tool even with the bolt tightened all the way down. (Note: The first time I installed this, I remember backing the nut out 1/4 turn at a time till the point I could relase the tool. This is what caused this bolt to be loose in the first place. This was because the cylinder wasn't running properly and didn't have the right power to eject the tool. Hence needing very little pressure on the nut to release the tool. The only thing holding the tool in was lateral pressure.
So with the machine setup again, I looked at the collet and saw that without a tool the collet retracted nicely into the spindle head.
Still, when I inserted a tool, there was a visible gap.
I tried adjusting the tension on the collet nut and such but no luck. I then inserted a TTS tool part way in and retracted the head to see how far it would retract and bam, there it was, the collet sticking too low again.
At this point I am not sure what the root cause is, but somehow, the collet isn't retracting in all the way when there is a tool in it, even though it retracts nicely when there is no tool. One theory is that I have a bad TTS collet that has bad geometry. This is a shot of the TTS collet from the bottom without a tool. Doesn't look very round, but then again I am not sure what its supposed to look like.
If this is a setup issue, what am I doing wrong?
Sorry for the long post, thanks all!
Aaron