thunderskunk
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2018
- Location
- Middle-of-nowhere
Hey guys,
So I stole this idea, but the fellas that use it say it’s a common industry practice.
Does anyone use a CMM to get the offsets for a given part to use in a mill? This would replace in-machine probing with a macro to change work coordinate offsets using CMM data.
This wouldn’t work without a lot of assumptions. First, you’d have to have a pallet system that goes from the CMM to the mill. Said pallet would need to repeat within very tight tolerances. The pallet-receivers would likewise need to be indicated perfectly straight in the mill and CMM, and every fixture would need a universal location for a tooling ball. Last, you’d have to track measurement for a given part or fixture, especially if you were using multiple mills.
I can hear the opposition now. Hear me out. I know it doesn’t have the same functionality as a machine probe, but if your pallet system is universal for all your jobs and never moves, fixture probing would only speed up certifying that the base plate hasn’t moved. There are several advantages to the concept, but it’s less of an alternative to probing as much as it is a specialized process for specific parts, say with multiple datums.
So I stole this idea, but the fellas that use it say it’s a common industry practice.
Does anyone use a CMM to get the offsets for a given part to use in a mill? This would replace in-machine probing with a macro to change work coordinate offsets using CMM data.
This wouldn’t work without a lot of assumptions. First, you’d have to have a pallet system that goes from the CMM to the mill. Said pallet would need to repeat within very tight tolerances. The pallet-receivers would likewise need to be indicated perfectly straight in the mill and CMM, and every fixture would need a universal location for a tooling ball. Last, you’d have to track measurement for a given part or fixture, especially if you were using multiple mills.
I can hear the opposition now. Hear me out. I know it doesn’t have the same functionality as a machine probe, but if your pallet system is universal for all your jobs and never moves, fixture probing would only speed up certifying that the base plate hasn’t moved. There are several advantages to the concept, but it’s less of an alternative to probing as much as it is a specialized process for specific parts, say with multiple datums.