How do I do a manual tool change?

andypugh wrote:

Note that the "Jog while paused" page was written in 2010. There have been changes since then including: linuxcnc.org/docs/stable/html/man/man9/moveoff.9.html
But this does not seem to be relevant to the question of manual toolchanges.
(I don't think that LinuxCNC tries to maintain the queue through a toolchange. If it does, then this seems an unecessary complication)

I generally arrange my machining as a separate G-code program for each tool anyway, as it makes re-starting jobs easier. And sometimes it is easier and quicker to swap parts than tools.

Without a tool length probe I would suggest carrying on as you are, one G-code file per tool.
 

Yea, I saw it was an old post... read most of it. I wouldn't have replied if it weren't for the reply in March of this year.

I've moved getting a -tool length probe- way up the to do list. Is it any easier to add a probe with probebasic than gmocappy? I've only recently seen screen shots of probebasic and it look interesting.

When I first started with CNC a few years ago I used a separate G-Code file for each tool. A side benefit of this while learning was that it one operation didn't go as expect I could run it again if I hadn't already ruined the part. Then I got a 3D probe, a tool setter, and a bunch of tool holders. Now I have a mix of fixed length tools and variable length like drills, taps, and rarely used tools. I did a remap of the M6 code (based on the work of others) that allows me to touch off on the work piece at the start of the job and then I ah prompted to put in the next tool at every tool change. If the tool is a fixed length tool (length > 0 in tool table) it goes right to cutting. If the tool is variable length it goes over to the tool-setter and gets measured and then goes on to cutting.  For more info see this post .

John