Again, this step is at the end, but you’ve probably got a routine for when to check your coolant often enough to ensure it’s in good shape. Make sure your coolant is in good condition and operable as part of your preventative maintenance before trying to run a part. This information should be documented in the Setup Sheet.ĭeliverable: Proper coolant operation is verified and you’re now ready to start running the g-code program. Does it have optional stops? Do you need to enable them on the control? Etc. – Know what the part program expects from the operator. For example, if your part program uses a probe, it may rely on a library of probing routines to be available. – Load any subprograms or library routines that your main part program may require. It’s easy to wind up with a lot of different versions floating around, so make sure you’ve got the right one. – Make sure you have the proper version fo the program. Here are some important things to check for during CNC Setup: – Your machine may be connected via RS-232 connection and g-code can be downloaded via that connection or drip fed to the machine a few lines at a time.
– Your machine may be connected to the local area network allowing you to load just by putting the g-code in a particular folder or by FTP’ing the code to the machine. – Newer machines load via USB thumb drive. – Older machines may require you to load g-code from a floppy disk or even paper tape (that’s REALLY old!). Depending on your machine, this can be done in a variety of ways: You’ll need to load the g-code part program onto the machine as part of setting it up to run the part. Loading G-Code from a USB Key on a Centroid control…
– Tool Management for CNC: Part 2 of the two part series discusses tool presetters and offline tool data management.ĭeliverable: Proper g-code part program is loaded onto the machine. – Tool Length Offsets for CNC: Part 1 of our two part series on Tool Data Management.
This is an area where it’s important to follow procedures so that the Tool Table on the machine gets all the right offsets.
– Loading it via a special g-code called G10 – Manually punching it in on the front panel In other cases, tool lengths are measured offline (meaning not on the machine) and entered into the Tool Table by the operator. This is a special purpose probe that the machine uses to automatically measure Tool Lengths. Some machines will be equipped with a Tool Length Touch Setter. In extreme cases, where the tool length offset is completely wrong, this can cause a collision that will damage the tool and likely the machine or workholding too. It’s very important that the Tool Length Offsets be correct for each tool and accurate to ensure the tool will cut correctly. This can be one of the more complex parts of CNC Setup, but it’s not so bad once you’ve done it a few times. It uses this information to adjust the spindle position relative to commanded positions for each different tool. The machine needs to know how long the tip of the tool is from some reference, called the “Gage Point”. Setting tool lengths automatically with a Tool Touch Setter… – Ultimate Guide to Selecting Toolholders for Millingĭeliverable: Tool Table on the CNC Machine has the proper length offsets for all the tools that will be used. ER Collect Chucks have torque requirements that should be observed when tightening the nuts, for example. You load the desired tools onto a cart, roll it over to your CNC Machine, and load the appropriate tools into the machine’s tool changer.Įach type of toolholder will have its own requirements for ensuring maximum performance.
Perhaps the tools are located in your shop’s Tool Crib.
Typically, we will organize the tools for a particular job on a tool cart or a tool tray as part of CNC Setup. If you have a CNC Setup Sheet for the Job, it will list which tools are needed as well as what their Tool numbers are in the g-code program. Our goal here is to get the tools into toolholders (or just available if your machine’s spindle doesn’t use interchangeable toolholders), and to load those toolholders into the machine’s tool changer or make them handy near the machine for running the job and changing tools by hand. Note: If your CNC machine does have a tool changer, you’ll still want to have all the tools in readiness so they can be popped into your spindle quickly as they are needed. Deliverable: Tool changer on the machine has all the tools needed by the gcode program for the part.