I finally got my machine built and up and running. My first thing to do is make a dust shoe. I do not have a touch plate installed. The program needs two tools a .125 and then a .250. I loaded the program and put it into Masso. I homed the machine and then set my zero, zero zero points on the material. Using the .125 bit I made the first cuts. When finished the machine stopped and told me to change tools and restart. I can raise the Z axis to change the tool BUT what then?? Do I just start the program? Do I rehome and go back to my zero zero zero coordinates?? I tried to rehome and go from there but it would not run. Any help and direction is appreciated.!
changing bits
- Thread starter waynep
- Start date
testyourdesign
testyourdesign
@waynep
Manually changing tools without a touch off plate may cause the tool length to be different than what Masso expected. This could lead to a crash, causing damage to the part, damaging the machine, breaking a tool, and potentially causing injury. On machines that don't have a tool touch-off plate, I recommend creating separate programs for each tool size so that you can manually set the tool length properly after each tool change.
Alternatively, you can use automatic tool changes without a touch-off plate if you can control the tool length accurately between tool changes. On a typical CNC router this can be difficult since you have very little control over the amount of tool stick out. However, the alternative would be to include the tool lengths in the tool-table on (F4) screen then you would have to make sure the tool length is correct after each tool change. Most tool lengths are set from a known fixed reference on the bottom of the spindle or spindle nose. Because of the potential for error in manually setting the tool length on a machine that does not have a tool changer its better to simply separate the program by tool size as mentioned above.
Here is a link to a video explaining tool length settings in Masso. This explains the basics of setting tool length.
I hope that helps.
Cheers, Stephen Brown
Manually changing tools without a touch off plate may cause the tool length to be different than what Masso expected. This could lead to a crash, causing damage to the part, damaging the machine, breaking a tool, and potentially causing injury. On machines that don't have a tool touch-off plate, I recommend creating separate programs for each tool size so that you can manually set the tool length properly after each tool change.
Alternatively, you can use automatic tool changes without a touch-off plate if you can control the tool length accurately between tool changes. On a typical CNC router this can be difficult since you have very little control over the amount of tool stick out. However, the alternative would be to include the tool lengths in the tool-table on (F4) screen then you would have to make sure the tool length is correct after each tool change. Most tool lengths are set from a known fixed reference on the bottom of the spindle or spindle nose. Because of the potential for error in manually setting the tool length on a machine that does not have a tool changer its better to simply separate the program by tool size as mentioned above.
Here is a link to a video explaining tool length settings in Masso. This explains the basics of setting tool length.
I hope that helps.
Cheers, Stephen Brown