[v8kid]

I have purchased three different Renishaw TP1S probes (5 axis) on eBay and they do not require any modification to work with the Tormach mills. I also bought some used Renishaw probe interface boxes (PI-7) since that will maximize the sensitivity and the longevity. Without the Renishaw probe interface box you directly rely on the internal contacts to make and break, resulting in a small amount or arcing and that reduces the lifetime, and it inherently reduces the sensitivity even without any arcing.

The Renishaw interface box detects *very* small changes in contact resistance and cuts off the current when the set threshold is reached. This reduces the arcing to zero and since the small resistance change is measured while the contacts are still touching the sensitivity is outstanding.




The Renishaw probes generally have a repeatability of well under 0.1 mil. My quite dated TP1S probes are rated at better than 0.1 mil for both repeatability and accuracy coming from any direction. This style of contact probe always has a bloated triangular sensitivity polar plot due to the three internal arms. The variation between the triangle maxima and minima adds to the inaccuracy but with the probe interface box this gets complete buried within the better than 0.1 mil accuracy spec. You can easily measure the polar angular sensitivity by taping a paper scale with marks every 15 degrees around the probe body and then measuring the touch point in the X axis with each orientation. Rotate the probe between measurements so that you only use the X axis for movement and always come from the same mill table direction. If the resulting polar plot shows up as a circle your probe is simply tilted.

Hi Zetopan,
Read this forum with interest and purchased a new old stock TP1S for £20.
Inclined to tinker how did you get the front cover off to replace the diaphragm?
Cheers

[Zetopan]

Hi Zetopan,
Read this forum with interest and purchased a new old stock TP1S for £20.
Inclined to tinker how did you get the front cover off to replace the diaphragm?
Cheers

I only just now saw your posting question, and for some reason CNCZONE required that I jump through several hoops answering multiple personal questions. I assume that this means that CNCZONE has been sold to a company that wants to gather as much personal data as possible (likely for selling the data).
Now back to your question. My 2 personal TP1s are both fully intact and do not require any servicing. My 3rd probe had a torn bellow and I gave it to another Tormach owner and I think that he actually molded a silicon boot for it, but I have no idea how he installed it. I do not think that that he disassembled anything other than to remove all traces of the original boot. Beyond that I have no other details.