chip clearing for AUTO TLO

[1hander]

first id like to say ...wowww... this is a really great screenset/plugin im not sure what to call it... at first i will admit i was very intimidated by it and the manual....

but i decided to RTFM lol/// i read it and reread it and reread it... and very quickly things started to make sense... after only a couple hours of reading and poking around i had it pretty much figured out ...at least enough not to destroy anything..

very well thought out...the auto tlo stuff is freakin awesome...i cant tell you how easy this makes things for a disabled vet with one working arm... thank you thank you...
i read throught the forum posts and found the tlo update script and added that and it was super easy and works perfectly...although im still waiting for my tool setter i could play with things on the mill with the probe at least..

only prob i had and im not sure what happened...i hit goto tool change positionand instead of going up and to the tool change position (very top of Z) it went down into the work piece and smashed my new stylus ... after that i tried and tried to recreate the crash and every after that it reacted correctly by going to the tool change position and waiting .... never got it to go down (crash) again...very strange.. ill be doing more testing but removing the workpiece just in case... probly something i did wrong though

the manual has a small paragraph about an airblast to clear chips before a tool measure operation... can you point me in the right direction to getting this done...or is it possible to add a button where you could enable or disable the airblast feature during tool measuring.. i dont know about writing scripts so i dont know how difficult this would be.. please excuse my ignorance in the matter... then the end user could add a solenoid to a spare output and run a Y from the mist line to that solenoid.. i have spare solenoids on the spindle control card that are not being used because im using a plugin for the huanyang vfd..so the only solenoid being used is for coolant.... im not even sure if what im thinking will work

rick

[DaveCVI]

Hi Rick,

first id like to say ...wowww... this is a really great screenset/plugin im not sure what to call it... at first i will admit i was very intimidated by it and the manual....

but i decided to RTFM lol/// i read it and reread it and reread it... and very quickly things started to make sense... after only a couple hours of reading and poking around i had it pretty much figured out ...at least enough not to destroy anything..

very well thought out...the auto tlo stuff is freakin awesome...i cant tell you how easy this makes things for a disabled vet with one working arm... thank you thank you...

i read throught the forum posts and found the tlo update script and added that and it was super easy and works perfectly...although im still waiting for my tool setter i could play with things on the mill with the probe at least..

only prob i had and im not sure what happened...i hit goto tool change positionand instead of going up and to the tool change position (very top of Z) it went down into the work piece and smashed my new stylus ... after that i tried and tried to recreate the crash and every after that it reacted correctly by going to the tool change position and waiting .... never got it to go down (crash) again...very strange.. ill be doing more testing but removing the workpiece just in case... probly something i did wrong though

I don't have much to offer here - hopefully it was a one time glitch. One thought that comes to mind: if mach is told the machine is referenced, but the MC Z points are not were they normally are, then this shifts the entire work space physically.. and then things can get into trouble.

the manual has a small paragraph about an airblast to clear chips before a tool measure operation... can you point me in the right direction to getting this done...or is it possible to add a button where you could enable or disable the airblast feature during tool measuring.. i dont know about writing scripts so i dont know how difficult this would be.. please excuse my ignorance in the matter... then the end user could add a solenoid to a spare output and run a Y from the mist line to that solenoid.. i have spare solenoids on the spindle control card that are not being used because im using a plugin for the huanyang vfd..so the only solenoid being used is for coolant.... im not even sure if what im thinking will work

rick

Yea this is possible- in fact it's why I added the hook to call a script just before the ATLO routine is run.
The script is described in section 15.9.1.1.4
That section will point you to how to get the script called before a ATLO action etc.
However, you'll need to handle the physical interfacing of the air blast to a mach output pin by setting up ports & pins etc.

The template for the script can be found in \\TMC\Mach3\MachStdMill\Profile Macro Masters\Mill\Templates\M6PreAutoTLO_Template.m1s
The template script will need to be modified to match your hardware interface, renamed and copied to the correct directory for the Mach profile that you are using.

For example: I have an electric air valve solenoid that is connected to the mach output#3 signal.
The contents of my M6PreATLO.m1s are:

Code: Select all

   ActivateSignal(output3)
	sleep 250
	DeactivateSignal(output3)

	exit sub

that gives me a 1/4 second blast of compressed air thru the nozzle that is pointed at my touch plate.

Dave

[1hander]

thanks dave

i figured the info was there but i just missed it....

can you tell me what i need to install to be able to read/modify the template, im getting a please install apple appliction support when i try to open the template..

the profile im using is called of course mymachstandardmill.. is this where your saying i need to add

i found i think my profile in................. mach3/macros/mymachstandardmill ......... is that the right one...

again im sorry... im just poking around in the trial version on my laptop and im freaking terrified of screwing it up... im literally groping in the dark... but im willing to try...im ashamed to say ill require a bit more 1handed hand holding ...

doing the preautotlo maintenance thing was much easier because it literally just required i read and do exactly what i read... im x military what can i say LOL
i am excited tho...the tool setter and height gage should be hear any day now... im using the height gage to get an really good .0001 measurement of the probe at the momemt of activation, i know its overkill but i try to introduce as little error as i can with numbers... cuz numbers never lie or screw up...only i do

rick .

[DaveCVI]

hi,

thanks dave

i figured the info was there but i just missed it....

can you tell me what i need to install to be able to read/modify the template, im getting a please install apple appliction support when i try to open the template..

Mach script files are just plain ascii text files with a .m1s extension. They can be edited with notepad (or any other simple text editor. do no edit with word as that will put non-ascii (binary) chars in the file).

Since the system i asking for some apple program, I suspect that windows has the .m1s extension mapped to some apple related program type. Change the windows file mapping for .m1s to notepad, then when you double click a .1ms file it will open in notepad.
Or just use notepad to open the file you want to edit.

the profile im using is called of course mymachstandardmill.. is this where your saying i need to add

i found i think my profile in................. mach3/macros/mymachstandardmill ......... is that the right one...

again im sorry... im just poking around in the trial version on my laptop and im freaking terrified of screwing it up... im literally groping in the dark... but im willing to try...im ashamed to say ill require a bit more 1handed hand holding ...

doing the preautotlo maintenance thing was much easier because it literally just required i read and do exactly what i read... im x military what can i say LOL

to get started, go get the template file (M6PreAutoTLO_Template.m1s) and copy it to c:/mach3/macros/<whatever your profile name is>
then rename the copy of M6PreAutoTLO_Template.m1s to M6PreAutoTLO.m1s
the template has code that simply puts up a dialog box when the script is run. so you can then do an AutoTLO operation and just before the probe movement to measure the tool, you should get a msg box on the screen. When you click OK to the msg box, the process will continue.

Now that you know the script is being called, you can edit it to do what you need to clean off the touch plate.

i am excited tho...the tool setter and height gage should be hear any day now... im using the height gage to get an really good .0001 measurement of the probe at the momemt of activation, i know its overkill but i try to introduce as little error as i can with numbers... cuz numbers never lie or screw up...only i do

rick .

If the tool setter is one of the types that moves, then you should read this thread before getting to far down that path:
http://www.calypsoventures.com/forums/v ... ?f=6&t=177

Dave

[1hander]

WOOHOO ... i had a little difficulty.. i needed to read a little closer... finally i saw that i needed to rename the script to M6preATLO... but in there somewhere it has m1s at the end... as soon as i removed that m1s extension ... i got the dialog box ....awesome ...

1. the next thing im unclear on is where inside that script i am to add the code you described that you were using... i know on some stuff it needs to be between parenthesis and stuff like that... im not sure if putting the code i the wrong place will cause a software crash...
how wrong is this

A. other actually hooking up and hearing the solenoid clicking on the output... is there a way i can visually see the output being triggered (LED maybe)during the measuring....or will i need to set up the solenoid etc..

2. question.... is this going to take place only when i ....... OK nevermind i just answered my own stupid question... will it only work when i hit the measure tool button...
and the answer is ... it works also when mounting a NRH tool ..... im not kissing aZZ here... but youre a freaking genious... i was just thinking to myself .... this guy freaking though of everything.. ... iti must be exhausting...LOL



yes i read that thread...and was thinking the following

i wanted a moving type so it would be easier to interface the two signals on one input...easier for me with little experience with this kinda stuff... i was planning on measuring the tool probe offline with a height gage ...it came in and is good for .0001 ... im hoping thats good enough... ....then entering the PTL manually (using the meaurement when the probe is triggered)...

3.. could i not use the same procedure for the moving touchplate then enter that height for the GAGE/PLATE HEIGHT thickness... im assuming the DRO for that is the GAGE/PLATE HEIGHT ...
a. in order for that height to be effecive do i have to have TLO G-BLK IS TP activated...

4. how bout if ... for the spring type tool setters... we could do like the calibration procedure for the touch probe..... but instead input the actual height of the tool setter then use the nose of the spindle without a tool in it to calibrate the effective height just like the probe ...

[DaveCVI]

hi

how wrong is this

that will work - but can be improved a bit...
You don't need the msgbox line when using real hardware - that is the line that puts the test msg on the screen. In real use you won't want to have to clear the message box each time. you can delete that line or comment it out (put an apostrophe at the start of the line).

A. other actually hooking up and hearing the solenoid clicking on the output... is there a way i can visually see the output being triggered (LED maybe)during the measuring....or will i need to set up the solenoid etc..

to see that the pin is actually toggling, you need to look at the physical pin.... and that means some way to see the voltage change on the output pin. The solenoid will indicate that or you can hook a volt meter to the pin.

yes i read that thread...and was thinking the following

i wanted a moving type so it would be easier to interface the two signals on one input...easier for me with little experience with this kinda stuff... i was planning on measuring the tool probe offline with a height gage ...it came in and is good for .0001 ... im hoping thats good enough... ....then entering the PTL manually (using the meaurement when the probe is triggered)...

3.. could i not use the same procedure for the moving touchplate then enter that height for the GAGE/PLATE HEIGHT thickness... im assuming the DRO for that is the GAGE/PLATE HEIGHT ...
a. in order for that height to be effecive do i have to have TLO G-BLK IS TP activated...

correct

4. how bout if ... for the spring type tool setters... we could do like the calibration procedure for the touch probe..... but instead input the actual height of the tool setter then use the nose of the spindle without a tool in it to calibrate the effective height just like the probe ...

the exact steps needed depend on what TLO technique you are using. i suggest that you play around a bit and see how well that works for you.

Dave

[1hander]

hey dave ...

it just hit me that in order to have a calibration procedure for the tool setter thats similar to the probe calibration procedure... it would have to be on a separate input..

i will try adjusting the thickness of the touchplate to see how close the PTL from the online measurements are to actual PTL measured off line

i thought that removing the message box stuff would result in not having to hit the ok button every time a measure is done...i will play with it if i cant get it to work right away..i always have the template incase i screw it up...

[DaveCVI]

I would recommend that you seriously consider not using a moving tool setter for the reasons that are in the thread I referenced earlier.
MSM was written to support a fixed (non-moving) touch plate for measuring tools.
You're welcome to experiment with other approaches... just do so with the knowledge that you will be playing in the realm of "intellectually interesting, but not supported by the software".
Dave

[1hander]

yes sir i hear you.

and in the end i know that i will have spent the money on that damn touchplate for nothing... i just didnt honestly know that it would not work with msm... but i know now that theres no way in HELL in parting with my MSM LOL..

but i have to try..if its giving me problems i will definately go as you have instructed ...since we both know that its going to happen anyway LOL... could you point me toward a schematic where i could start trying to figure it out...

for the fixed touchplate...

1. can i assume i would just make it out of copper ....
2. is there any disadvantage other than having to use another input pin , when doing the two input approach as opposed to the single input.
3. if i do a fixed touchplate, i want to be able to touchoff my facemill, its 50mm in diameter, is there any problem with making the touchplate that big.. the problem is that i didt buy a super expensive facemill, and i know now that the apmt inserts dont all sit in the facemill at exactly the same height so i would need for the facemill to come down cemtered on the touchplate because i dont know which insert will hit the plate first... it may be the quality of the insert thats the problem... idk... tolerance or something

i know i ask alot of questions, im sorry... i get really excited ands get ahead of myself sometimes...
rick

[DaveCVI]

Hi,

for the fixed touchplate...

1. can i assume i would just make it out of copper ....

I used a piece of blank printed circuit board (copper on two side separted by fiberglass). It's generally easy ton find and flat to start with.
Just remember that if you fasten it to the table that the top surface has to be insulated electrically from the machine frame (Machine ground). Nylon screws are what I used.

2. is there any disadvantage other than having to use another input pin , when doing the two input approach as opposed to the single input.

When using the "two signal" method, you can only see one of the two signals (generally the probe signal) on the Probe LEDs on the MSM pages. This is because the other signal (touch plate) is only connected dynamically when it is actualy being used. This can make debugging a bit harder, but other than that the two signal approach works fine.

3. if i do a fixed touchplate, i want to be able to touchoff my facemill, its 50mm in diameter, is there any problem with making the touchplate that big.. the problem is that i didt buy a super expensive facemill, and i know now that the apmt inserts dont all sit in the facemill at exactly the same height so i would need for the facemill to come down cemtered on the touchplate because i dont know which insert will hit the plate first... it may be the quality of the insert thats the problem... idk... tolerance or something

The software does not care how large the touch plate is - it';s just one contact of a big switch where the tool is the other half.
BUT... if you make a large touch plate, make the top level so that you are not probing to a tilte plate (which would introduce error that is dependent on how large the diam of the tool being measured is).

Dave