I've attached a link to the PDF since it's too large to include with this posting. http://www.autoartisans.com/mill/drawings/MillMockupValues.pdf My question is with respect to the Versa Probe screen and just in general how the commercial systems deal with tools. The G-Code subroutines that come with the V2 screen expect the touch probe to identify the G54.Z == 0 location. Then the tools are touched off on the tool setter and the measurements are worked out relative to that work height value. None of the numbers or the math made a lot of sense for the longest time. Hence I did the drawing to get a better feel. In my case the Knee is the Z axis and Home is all the way down unlike my CNC router where the home switch is when the router is all the way up. However the home switch, although setting Machine Coordinate Zero, doesn't have anything to do with the spindle location. With a touch probe of known length (when tripped) it's easy enough to set a G54.Z to 0. But one can't touch probe the tool setter since it trips when moved down and the probe trips well before it moves the tool setter down. The way I do it now, and I think it's the best way is I first home the system. Then raise the knee until it's very close to a pair of 1-2-3 blocks stacked for 5" as in the drawing. Then the knee is raised with the MPG until the 5" assembly won't slide under the quill but a 0.001" movement downward again allows it to slide under. That Machine Coordinate Z value plus the 5" tells me where the base of the quill is; The QuillMaxHeight Next I move over the tool setter and continue to raise the knee until it trips. Easiest to do with G91 G38.3 Z-2.0 F2.5 Now that point is the height of the tool setter or better known as ToolSetterSize. Finally a tool installed in the quill and then the knee brought up to have the tool setter trip on the tool results in a value that with the simple math: abs(QuillMaxHeight - ToolSetterSize - ToolTripPoint) results into the length of the tool which can be installed in the tool table. The V3 version of the Versa Screen does not do what the version from someone named Alkabal who rearranged the versa probe screen but also tested the tool table to see if it had a valid tool length. If length is zero then it uses the tool setter. If the length is not zero then it goes and determines the tool length. I think a checkbox can determine if the length also gets entered into the tool table. Not always wanted if it's a drill bit in a drill chuck. Have I missed anything? Thanks John
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