How do those lathes deal with the order of motion? A Z clearance move first followed my X makes sense for boring tools, with the opposite for turning tools.
Probably time to start your own tool-changer thread rather than blowing up @SMC's project.
Having said that, I'll violate unwritten courtesy and ramble on...
I don't think there's a
hard-coded tool change position on those machines... just the expectation that it will be programmed to go to 'home' position. For Fanuc 21T "C" mode, G28 G0 U0 W0 would move the carriage/slide/turret to the reference position. If the programmer (or post) calls it on two lines you'd get a sequential X-move then Z-move. Or W0 then U0 would do Z first, then X.
If you ensure that the tool path before a tool change includes a clearance move of some sort (Z for centerline tools, X for OD and internal boring), then your turret should use a Z-first, X-second sequence. Your lathe is entirely capable of being used like a gang-tool lathe, with tools on the front and back of the part, turning in both M3 and M4. You
really don't want a boring bar working the rear OD to rapid home in X without a Z-clearance move first.
One reason the tool change position isn't hard-coded (in Fanuc) is that it's much faster to program a specific tool change location than wait for the slide to go all the way back to home. I've done this on production runs of short parts... back the turret up so the longest tool barely clears the stock/part, and substitute that location for the standard "G28 G0 U0..." move. Saves a
ton of cycle time on long part runs.
So I'd leave out a specific TOOL_CHANGE_POSITION in your INI file and get used to programming a version of G53 G0 Z0 as your 'default' safe position. You probably aren't going to be using the tailstock
and automatic turret commands at the same time. And you'll get used to drilling with the turret pretty quickly; it's so much nicer than using a tailstock by hand.
Tailstock work: manual tool indexing
Non-tailstock work: auto tool changes at G53 Z0 X0 (or somewhere)
