mid-course tool change on sherline cnc

j ferguson

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I suppose I'll quickly find out how stupid this question is, but I thought I'd ask anyway. Has any of you rigged a Sherline Mill for a tool change in the middle of a CNC run? It would be nice to be able to do the heavy (relatively) hogging first, change to a smaller diameter tool for cleaning up corners etc. I would think that one could assume that tools could be changed without disturbing the setup but that the depth would have to be re-established, perhaps by touching a sensor before continuing with the work.

If this is crazy, it's ok to tell me.
 
I'm not the best one to answer this as I'm still struggling to learn mine, but M06 is for a tool change, is that what you mean? You should post the control software and some one could better advise you (i.e Mack3 or whatever) on the full procedure.
 
I didn't think I'd have any trouble with the code. it was more with the physical process of changing the tool while the machine is sitting there "on" but with spindle off, and then letting the code know how far out of the spindle the cutter is. I had assumed, I'd put in a pause for a tool change, run the spindle up to have enough room to do it, then restart program, send cutter to sensor, then inform program of cutter extension and then on with it.
 
When I need to do a roughing cut and a finishing cut I create 2 programs or profiles in the CAM software, one for roughing and one for finishing. At the end of the cut, I send the table to a convenient parking position to facilitate a tool change. If I need to re-zero the tool, then I jog over to the work, zero the tool, then jog back near the parking position. Load the finishing program and press GO. This way the machine is off and in a safe condition for working near the cutter.
 
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