[CNC-Dude]

Hi Group,

Feel free to point me into any other thread already discussing this topic.

I already know how to find the center of a round cavity. But for the life of me, I can't find any profile to find the center of a rod. Say you put some round stock on your vise and you want to mill a contour which must be referenced to the rod's center. I could try to find the edges manually, but why not let the probe do it?

I am positive I saw a video of a different CNC machine doing this with a dowel pin. Can the Tormach passive probe and MACH3 do the same??? Or is this a feature we are lacking?

Thanks for your input!

[pickled]

You need to grab the screen that Maurice had written. Andy G. references it here. Works great on my PCNC's!
Software Updates: PCNC 770 and SprutCAM7 Postprocessors

[pickled]

I think that the screen he wrote is called Circular boss Center.set

[pickled]

Here is a good thread to start with here

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/tormac...chs-probe.html

[Machinehead57]

There is a add on for Mach3 called ProbIT by Crafty CNC that does just that and any other kind of probing. You can download a demo and test it before buying.

Steve

[pickled]

Do you run this wizard with a Tormach Machine and Probe (Active or Passive) Machinehead57? Looks like some pretty cool probe strategies for reverse engineering...I'm liking the XZ trace option.

[Machinehead57]

Actually after crashing and trashing several probes I now use a wiggler mounted in a rubber sleeve as passive. The wiggler is cheap you true it each time to know its straight it has a spring loaded folding mount so if there is a crash it just folds up and doesn't hurt anything. I spin it in my drill chuck to true it with an alligator clip I put my wire to the computer on it and it grounds through the part on contact. This is a single wire used in Mach3 as probe input active low. So far it has worked great and caused no head aches.
If you don't know what a wiggler is or how it works search it on you tube, its a simple but effective device.

[twocik]

Quick fix... Using a piece of shim stock cut almost to the same size OD, wrap that around the rod starting at 11 oclock and click probe X & Y after probing Z first. I prefer to hold it very tight, but I guess tape could work too.

[Machinehead57]

I don't follow you on this, whats the reason for the shim stock?

Steve

[twocik]

You'd be wrapping the shim stock around the rods OD with just a tiny bit sticking up past the rods height, creating an ID around the part to be X&Y probed.

[agurkmedia]

You could buy the 2010 screenset. IT has a probing wizard included that does nearly everything you want with youre probe