[RussMachine]

I was browsing the TORMACH website and spied the 'Projects Library'.
The 3D Skull in wood looked really cool, so why not in Aluminum?
I had to Change the RPM's and feedrates.
RPM was originally 10,000, so I dropped the RPM down to 6500, to gain a little torque.
And the feed was 90 IPM, 3/8 deep in wood. I dropped that to 20 IPM, and it squealed & chattered so bad with the 3/8" deep pass, that I had to slide that down to 25% (5 IPM)
*Gulp*
I got about halfway through the roughing, when it plunged in a new location and snapped off my endmill. Damn...
I'll reset it tomorrow and pick-up where I left-off.
This is my progress so far:

[BIG IGG]

Pretty cool!

[RussMachine]

Success!!
It only took about 5 hours to run. Would've been shorter if I hadn't broken an endmill.

[BIG IGG]

Success!!
It only took about 5 hours to run. Would've been shorter if I hadn't broken an endmill.
[ATTACH=Priceless CONFIG]369020[/ATTACH]

Scary lol

[CadRhino]

Success!!
It only took about 5 hours to run. Would've been shorter if I hadn't broken an endmill.

Cool

[mountaindew]

Nice, was looking at first picture few days ago and wondered what I was looking at "the chin" lol
How do you guys replace cutters and continue the same part? If I dont use the top of the vice jaw or bottom of material on parallels as a the z offset when setting the part up for cam ops. I can never find the z again.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Nice, was looking at first picture few days ago and wondered what I was looking at "the chin" lol
How do you guys replace cutters and continue the same part? If I dont use the top of the vice jaw or bottom of material on parallels as a the z offset when setting the part up for cam ops. I can never find the z again.

Are you NOT using tool length offsets? If you do, changing tools in the middle of a job is no problem at all.

Regards,
Ray L.

[mountaindew]

Are you NOT using tool length offsets? If you do, changing tools in the middle of a job is no problem at all.

Regards,
Ray L.

Duh! forgot pp re-homes accurately enough to stop program and replace tool and re enter new tool offset height. was not thinking. Not enough coffee this morning

[RussMachine]

How do you guys replace cutters and continue the same part? If I dont use the top of the vice jaw or bottom of material on parallels as a the z offset when setting the part up for cam ops. I can never find the z again.

I was using the top of the material as Z home, so I just touched off on top of the 'chin' again and then backed off a little. I eyeballed the difference at about .05 to .075 (The chin was actually .050 below the surface of the material). When the program started running again (Cutting air, slightly above the part) I hit Feed-hold, then manually jogged down in .001 until it kissed the part. I noted the Z difference and edited my tool offset accordingly.
More importantly, was writing down which line I was on when the tool broke.
This program had about 200,000 lines in it, and I would've been completely screwed if I hadn't had enough common sense to note the line number where it crashed.
I deleted everything above that line, and started the program from that point.
Something was weird about the numbering in the program too.
I don't know if it was the Fusion360 numbering the lines, or PathPilot. But it numbered the lines by 10's instead of by 1's.
So, it only numbered up to 99,990 (by tens) and then started numbering again from 10. GGGRRRR!!!
So there were 20 different sections in the program of lines #10 - #99,990 .
That was pretty annoying when doing the edits and trying to search for stuff.
Numbering the program #1 - #200,000 (by 1's) would've been alot more helpful.

[kstrauss]

To replace a tool I don't think that you need to (or even want to!) rehome. I just stop the run, measure the replacement tool, update the tool table and then restart at an appropriate place.

[C*H*U*D]

To replace a tool I don't think that you need to (or even want to!) rehome. I just stop the run, measure the replacement tool, update the tool table and then restart at an appropriate place.

I do the same. Break a tool, reset offset of new tool and restart PathPilot where it left off. Just did it yesterday in fact although I don't break tooling too often.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

To replace a tool I don't think that you need to (or even want to!) rehome. I just stop the run, measure the replacement tool, update the tool table and then restart at an appropriate place.

There are only two times I can think of where re-homing is required:

1) After power-up
2) After a crash

A broken tool should not require a re-home, unless it was the result of a hard crash, or the tool was large enough that the force required to break the tool is enough to cause the machine to lose position.

That said, re-homing should be accurate enough that doing an unnecessary re-home should have no measurable consequences. If it's not, then you really need to get better home switches.

Regards,
Ray L.

[MichaelHenry]

There are only two times I can think of where re-homing is required:

1) After power-up
2) After a crash

A broken tool should not require a re-home, unless it was the result of a hard crash, or the tool was large enough that the force required to break the tool is enough to cause the machine to lose position.

That said, re-homing should be accurate enough that doing an unnecessary re-home should have no measurable consequences. If it's not, then you really need to get better home switches.

Regards,
Ray L.

Ray - can you suggest a good brand and type of home switches? Are there any specs and values to look for?

[Lucons]

What kind of CNC router you are using? An Aluminum engraving machine requires rigid and heavy duty machine body to reduce virbration and ensure machine moving smoothly.

[BIG IGG]

I work off of the top of the table

[mountaindew]

There are only two times I can think of where re-homing is required:

1) After power-up
2) After a crash

A broken tool should not require a re-home, unless it was the result of a hard crash, or the tool was large enough that the force required to break the tool is enough to cause the machine to lose position.

That said, re-homing should be accurate enough that doing an unnecessary re-home should have no measurable consequences. If it's not, then you really need to get better home switches.

Regards,
Ray L.

Please explain how you do this step by step what am I missing here ?

I dont understand the difference between a crash and a broke tool. Does a crash evolve lost steps? And a broke tool is just one the snapped off. And there is some sort skill I dont have to get that tool in the TTS holder at even close to same height as the broken tool + - .0012 about where my z axis re-homes to ?

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Please explain how you do this step by step what am I missing here ?

Not at all clear what you're asking.... But replacing a tool on-the-fly requires nothing more than making proper use of the tool table.

1) Stop the machine
2) Backup to a convenient point in the code BEFORE the tool broke
3) Put the new tool in the spindle
4) Update the length field in the tool table
5) Do a G49, then G43 Hn to apply the updated tool length offset
6) Start the program from whatever point you've chosen

You have to be careful about WHERE you re-start, to ensure you can easily put the machine in a state consistent with what the code expects (spindle on/off, coolant on/off, machine position, etc.). I typically find it easiest to backup to the end of the last completed toolpath in the current operation (usually a rapid to clearance height), and manually turn the spindle and coolant back on before re-starting. The first move will then usually be an X/Y positioning move, followed by a plunge to begin the next toolpath.

Regards,
Ray L.

[mountaindew]

Not at all clear what you're asking.... But replacing a tool on-the-fly requires nothing more than making proper use of the tool table.

1) Stop the machine
2) Backup to a convenient point in the code BEFORE the tool broke
3) Put the new tool in the spindle
4) Update the length field in the tool table
5) Do a G49, then G43 Hn to apply the updated tool length offset
6) Start the program from whatever point you've chosen

You have to be careful about WHERE you re-start, to ensure you can easily put the machine in a state consistent with what the code expects (spindle on/off, coolant on/off, machine position, etc.). I typically find it easiest to backup to the end of the last completed toolpath in the current operation (usually a rapid to clearance height), and manually turn the spindle and coolant back on before re-starting. The first move will then usually be an X/Y positioning move, followed by a plunge to begin the next toolpath.

Regards,
Ray L.

How can I stop machine and perform all those tasks unless I hit the big red button? Simple to turn it back on reset and jog around and perform all those tasks you detailed. PP requires me to home the machine before running a program. Or is there another way to restart again without re homing am i missing something here ?

[AUSTINMACHINING]

Please explain how you do this step by step what am I missing here ?

I dont understand the difference between a crash and a broke tool. Does a crash evolve lost steps? And a broke tool is just one the snapped off. And there is some sort skill I dont have to get that tool in the TTS holder at even close to same height as the broken tool + - .0012 about where my z axis re-homes to ?

My "safe way" of doing this in Mach...

Replace broken tool and enter new offset in tool table.

Do not put tool in spindle yet.

Move to just before the last tool change in the G-code

Press "run from here".

The system will skip through the code and halt at the line you specified.

Press cycle start

The machine will move to the tool change position and apply the new offset.

Load tool and press cycle start.

I don't know how this works with Pathpilot

[joshetect]

There is a stop button in Pathpilot. I'll hit that, G30, change tool, change offset, then restart the program where it makes sense.

EDIT:

You are thinking about the Estop, I dont hit that unless I cant get to anything else. If a tool breaks or there is a crash, I'll hit space on the keyboard to pause the program/feed. Then depending on whats going on (spindle is still spinning) ill hit the stop button in Pathpilot which stops the spindle/coolant and stops the program or the ESC key which just stops the spindle