Bit positioning and changing during a job?

Machines (Original/PRO) How To
1

So I have the Shapeoko XXL and I’ve been eyeballing the onefinity for quite a few months. My side business is starting to take off requiring me to produce at a higher volume (but not enough for a 4’x8’ machine yet).

My biggest concern is bit changing during and before a job. The Shapeoko has an attachment for measuring bit height automatically and readjusts the Z based on the tool length. All the user has to do is install the bit. Nothing else required and this is honesty one of the most amazing features ever.

image
image890×902 120 KB

How does the onefinity account for tool length and z adjustment? Especially mid job when a bit change is required? Is it a completely manual process?

2

Hi Dylan - you have to manually zero the Z axis - either using a touch plate, or a piece of paper. The touch plate is certainly the fastest option as it is similar to the Shapeoko option, but not nearly as fast.

Hope this helps.

-Tom

3

Thank you for the info! Looks like I’m sticking eith my Shapeoko for now then, at least until onefinity comes out with a faster option for the z axis measuring! Running a small scale manufacturing shop I can’t let manual Z axis control slow me down.

4

I watched a video where someone wrote a script for this to use in Mach 3, but it required the use of a clip type probe. Others have wired Chinese automatic tool sensors (~$80 CA), similar to that used on the Shapeoko, but as @Arcen_Yes has said it would be up to OF to make it part of an automatic process in the controller software. Perhaps we can add this to a feature wish list.

5

Yes, how do we do that? That’s the ONLY thing holding me back (and probably a lot of others) from wanting to pull the trigger on one of these machines. With some simple scripting and a capacitive type device, I wouldn’t imagine it would be a huge endeavor.

6

The following links are for the video explaining script, and one example of the auto tool sensor:

Perhaps @charleyntexas has some insights - maybe he can even make one!

1 Like
7

Check out Shapeoko 2 and Possibly X-Carve Auto Z-Zero on tool change. - YouTube. The the sensor shown at about 2:11. Kind of minimalist, but it seems to work.

8

How about this?

9

That sensor would be great, but $85 is fairly expensive for a switch (even though it’s precision is 0.002mm).

-Tom

10

I built a custom solution that works really well. It was a bit pricey. However, IMHO, worth every penny. I got two probes,Probe 1 and Probe 2. The nice part is that I can use Probe 1 to zero X, Y, and Z on the part and Probe 2 in between each tool change automatically. I modified the post processor to insert the auto tool zero G code with every M6 command.

1 Like
11

Can you provide more details on how you integrated probe 2 into the controller and code?

1 Like
12

I wrote two g code files. The first one probes the work surface (X,Y and Z) and then moves to a fixed point in the upper left corner, where I have probe 2 mounted, to probe the the probe. This gives me the offset between the work z surface and the probe z surface (Note: if you always set your work z on your table this step isn’t necessary since this offset will never change). The second g code file moves to the probe 2 location, probes the tool z and applies the offset. This file gets called from the post processor and inserted into your work file each time M6 is called.

So, my workflow is as follows:

  1. Run work surface probe file to zero G54
  2. When M6 is called in my work file, I change the tool and hit go. (It then probes the tool z and gets back to work.
1 Like