Renishaw tool setting parameters?

Hello everyone!

I'm going to soon be testing some code on our automated cell at work and I was wondering what you folks use for checking tool length, radius and corner radius?

I'm wondering if a no contact renishaw tool setter comes with a pre-built macro to check a tool length, corner radius and diameter?

For instance we want to use a .750" diameter end mill with a .125 corner radius and it needs to have a 6.0" gage length. We want it to alarm if any of those specs are out of tolerance ( + or - .005 or something like that) at each tool change for lights out machining.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks

I'm not able to answer your question directly, but just to get the ball rolling: Renishaw contact tool setters (TS27R is what I have) will do everything you are talking about, including alarming out if outside a tolerance or updating the tool offsets if inside a tolerance. The only thing it won't do is check corner radii.

A non contact tool setter may just be able to do that. I'd give Renishaw a call. Their customer service is quite good, and no one knows better than they do.

What's wrong with using an offline tool presetter? They will measure any tool geometry you can think of. And you can set tolerances for the tool so if the tool is out of tolerance, the machine will not output any data (either a printed label or posting to your DNC or machine control) however you have it set up.

I suspect that integrating an off line tool setter into every tool change for lights out manufacturing, could raise some difficulties.

We want to have a process in place where the operator just loads a new cutter into the tool hive and when ever it goes to run that tool it just picks up the most up to date offset.

Our worry is that someone will load a tool with the wrong radius or length configuration compared to our master tool list and we want to have a fail safe in place. I'll definitely try to contact Renishaw directly tomorrow.

With an offline presetter you would have a couple of identical tools in the tool chain. Once tool #1 ran so many parts and was reaching the end of it's life, the program would call up tool #2 in place of tool #1. Tool #2 and tool #1 would be indentical tools. Another option with an offline presetter would be to use a chip read/write system linked between the machine and the tool presetter. The machine would read the chip which contains all the tool data, before loading it into the spindle.

3t3d said:

I suspect that integrating an off line tool setter into every tool change for lights out manufacturing, could raise some difficulties.

Click to expand...

No Shit! However, not if it's done right. You set all the tools plus backup tools and load them in the machine before you go home for the night.

Renishaw sells a CD that has a utility on it for a variety of tool setting functions that are controller specific. I have only used the utility for a Siemens controller and it generally does what you need it to do.

I have also written custom code for probing non symmetrical cutting tools (razor blades) - very controller specific.

For what you want to do, you are likely going to have to write a lot of the code you will need on your own. You will need to know how the controller you have handles hardware latching of encoder positions and then how to process the captured data into a meaningful offset value and then load it into the appropriate tool length register.

This has as much to do with what kind of controller your machine has as it does the Renishaw hardware.

Sounds like fun - but far from "out of the box" functionality.