Sherline Cnc Mid-operation Tool Change

j ferguson

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So far I bought two of Sherline's end mill holders. For a CNC job, it looks like I could put a drill-mill in one and an end-mill in the other, make sure the stick-out length was the same, run the first one, add a tool-change pause, which raises the head, stop the motor, change the holders, restart the motor, and continue. This would also be useful if two different diameter tools were needed for a single process.

It occurs to me that someone might have made a bench fixture to make it easy to get the tool stick-outs close. Pictures?
 
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I don't bother with trying to set the tool stick-out the same for every tool change. I just program a tool change pause, then manually change tools, and manually reset the Z zero height off the workpiece using manual jog. Once set, I just tell the program to continue. Has worked great for me so far.
I can see where pre-setting the tools' length would be time-saving if I had to make many tool changes but I usually don't need more than 6 per program.

I am using an MT1 to ER collet holder in my sherline mill which seems to speed up tool changes too.
 
So far I bought two of Sherline's end mill holders. For a CNC job, it looks like I could put a drill-mill in one and an end-mill in the other, make sure the stick-out length was the same, run the first one, add a tool-change pause, which raises the head, stop the motor, change the holders, restart the motor, and continue. This would also be useful if two different diameter tools were needed for a single process.

It occurs to me that someone might have made a bench fixture to make it easy to get the tool stick-outs close. Pictures?
The problem with most tool holding systems for small mills is that there is not a good way to repeatably install a tool to a given height. An R8 end mill holder is fairly good but its final height is dependent upon how much torque you use on the drawbar. For accurate work you really should re-indicate your tool.

One system that I have used to use was a tool height setter. I had made my own but they are readily available at reasonable cost now. The tool height setter is mounted in an unused corner of the work table and the tool is lowered until it touches the top of the tool height setter and an LED lights up. The z axis position is recorded and compared to a reference to obtain a tool offset value.

If you have a R8 spindle, the Tormach TTS system is excellent. It has a flange which references the spindle face in a repeatable manner. Tormach also has TTS adapters for drill chucks and TTS end mill holders. I would recommend checking out their website.

Bob
 
Hi Bob,
Sherline has a tool-holder which threads on to the end of the spindle but against a flat surface, so if you set up cutters indexed to the flat on the bottom of the holder, you'll get the same depth - pretty close, too.

john
 
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