touch off vs tool touch off ?
Using touch off did not move the tool path as I thought it would nor did tool touch off.
What steps do you use to align the stock / tool path to start a job?
I am using Fusion360 for design and cam and end up with the tool path out of machine limits on all three axis on importing the file, machine zero and Fusion zero do not match.
Any tips would be appreciated.
Dave
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- kornphlake79
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Assuming your origin is set correctly I normally start up my machine, press the home all button then once the machine is homed I jog each of the axis to the part origin and press the touch off button, the radio button for each axis has to be selected individually and each axis has to be touched off, there isn't a "touch off all" button. Conveniently the radio button automatically moves to which ever axis was last jogged so you don't really have to think about changing that button once you develop a routine.
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gnipsel.com/linuxcnc/g-code/gen05.html
linuxcnc.org/docs/2.7/html/gcode/coordinates.html
linuxcnc.org/docs/2.7/html/gcode/tool-compensation.html
JT
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touch off sets the material location relative to the machine origin. Tool touch off sets the tool table.
JT
Thanks for the links, I read all three and book marked them so they can be referenced as needed in the future.
Since my machine uses an R8 collet I will need to do both touch offs for Z on each tool change?
I see no information for X & Y touch off and what I am getting is not making much sense. I was expecting to set the part X0 Y0 but was getting something quite different, well over 1 inch different than expected.
I will have to adjust where my part zeros are in Fusion as LCNC is placing the part 13 inches above the table and hanging over the left front corner by half the part dimension. I am drawing the part left aft corner on 0,0,0 which should match my machine X0Y0 with no off sets in play.
Dave
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- kornphlake79
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Since my machine uses an R8 collet I will need to do both touch offs for Z on each tool change?
I see no information for X & Y touch off and what I am getting is not making much sense. I was expecting to set the part X0 Y0 but was getting something quite different, well over 1 inch different than expected.
I will have to adjust where my part zeros are in Fusion as LCNC is placing the part 13 inches above the table and hanging over the left front corner by half the part dimension. I am drawing the part left aft corner on 0,0,0 which should match my machine X0Y0 with no off sets in play.
Dave
For R8 and similar you just touch off the Z in the G54 coordinate system and ignore the tool touch touch off. I set my X0 to the left side of the part and Y0 the rear of the part. Once you use the edge finder to locate the front edge of the rear jaw on your vise and set that to Y0 your all set on Y. Next chuck up a pin, I use a 1/2" dowel, jog the X axis to just touch the left side of the material and touch off X to -0.250 and now you have the X0 set.
JT
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Since my machine uses an R8 collet I will need to do both touch offs for Z on each tool change?
If you are using an R8 collet then I would suggest post-processing each tool operation separately into different G-code files.
Load the tool, touch-off the tool-length, load the relevant file and run it. The change tools and run the next file.
You will find that this is more flexible (especially if things go wrong). You may find that in batch-production is it better to run the first op on each part, then the second op on each part, and so on. This does depend on accurate work-fixturing.
Check your tool table, it is possible that you have accidentally put X and Y offsets in the tool table.I see no information for X & Y touch off and what I am getting is not making much sense. I was expecting to set the part X0 Y0 but was getting something quite different, well over 1 inch different than expected.
I will have to adjust where my part zeros are in Fusion as LCNC is placing the part 13 inches above the table and hanging over the left front corner by half the part dimension.
This isn't necessarily wrong...
In the CAM part of Fusion you need to set the machining origin in the "setup" section. You can choose the XYZ orientation and pick a part feature or the stock box as origins. By default it picks the part orgin, but that is very unlikely to be the machining origin.
It is very hard to change to part-origin in the part model inside Fusion. Don't bother trying. (It will be the origin point in the first sketch, so you need to redefine the starting sketch)
You then need to jog the CNC machine to the corresponding point on the work / stock and touch of that as the origin.
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If you are using an R8 collet then I would suggest post-processing each tool operation separately into different G-code files.
Load the tool, touch-off the tool-length, load the relevant file and run it. The change tools and run the next file.
You will find that this is more flexible (especially if things go wrong). You may find that in batch-production is it better to run the first op on each part, then the second op on each part, and so on. This does depend on accurate work-fixturing.
Makes perfect sense.
Check your tool table, it is possible that you have accidentally put X and Y offsets in the tool table.I will have to adjust where my part zeros are in Fusion as LCNC is placing the part 13 inches above the table and hanging over the left front corner by half the part dimension.
Tool table was fine but my part origin was in the wrong place.
This isn't necessarily wrong...
In the CAM part of Fusion you need to set the machining origin in the "setup" section. You can choose the XYZ orientation and pick a part feature or the stock box as origins. By default it picks the part orgin, but that is very unlikely to be the machining origin.
It is very hard to change to part-origin in the part model inside Fusion. Don't bother trying. (It will be the origin point in the first sketch, so you need to redefine the starting sketch)
You then need to jog the CNC machine to the corresponding point on the work / stock and touch of that as the origin.
There may be a misunderstanding on my part on the value to assign to part origin ( assuming it is in the proper place on the part)
is this supposed to be the value displayed on the DRO for the axis being touched off or zero?
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There may be a misunderstanding on my part on the value to assign to part origin ( assuming it is in the proper place on the part)
is this supposed to be the value displayed on the DRO for the axis being touched off or zero?
No.
Imagine that the G-code origin in Fusion is set to the left front top corner of the stock.
You can jog your tool down to touch the top of the stock, then touch of the Z to zero.
Then do the same with X and Y to the left and front sides.
Now, when the middle of the end of the tool is at the G-code origin defined in Fusion the DRO will read 0,0,0
In practice you would not normally do it this way. You would use a wiggler or a probe.
If your probe has a 5mm ball on the end you would probe the left side of the stock and touch-off the X-axis to -2.5mm
To set Z height it can be convenient to use a dowel. I use a broken carbide end-mill but I can see a strong argument for using something like brass that can't damage the cutter. Don't jog down to the dowel, jog slowly up until the dowel just slips under the tool.
Then touch-off the coordinate system to the dowel diamter (8mm in my case).
What you are trying to achieve is a DRO reading of 0,0,0 when the tool tip in in the same place as the origin triad in Fusion.
Touch-off is about telling the system where the tool tip _actually_is_ in the CAM coordinate system at the time that you do it.
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I guess part of what is making this difficult to visualize is only my tool path is displayed in AXIS.
Is there a way to display the part as in the Fusion Cam simulation?
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