Back in November, it was said that the Elite Tool Setter “should be available before the Elite series ship.” I’ve had a Foreman and (hopefully the correct) QCW frame sitting in my garage for a month and a half, waiting to be unboxed and setup, and the tool setter has not been released yet. I don’t think a tool setter will be terribly useful for most of the stuff I do, but I can see it being a must have for the rotary axis I ordered yesterday…
Are these going to become available sometime soon, or should I just look for a 3rd party option? Can anyone recommend a good non-Chinese tool setter?
I designed this this week. I made one like it for my shapeoko. Still testing and finalizing the design. It mounts to the QCW using one if the bolts and sits below the wasteboard but could be modified to go anywhere.
True. Definitely better to have more working area. I built my own table for the Journeyman and have plenty of spoilboard that the router can’t cover, so I’ll have to see whether or not I like the QCW when I get back home to set it up.
Also true. Still, I don’t really like the idea of mounting electronic components to wood or aluminum.
I don’t think this must be a problem. Usually you have the electronics on a small circuit board that then can be screwed into the case (the circuit board has insulating portions) or slid into grooves in the case.
If the tool setter like shown consists just of a plate (and not a switch or hall sensor or inductive proximity sensor), of course it would not be okay to seat it into wood without insulation as wood is a conductor.
Electric guitars are a good example of electronics in wood
Thanks. The tool setters I have seen are tall and this one being in this location its never an obstacle. My ender 5 3d printer has gotten more use than I thought it would. I have made many parts for the CNC and others parts for woodworking and power tools.
I used a momentary push button for the tool setter. Two wires go back to the pin location and some settings have to be changed to enable the setter and location.
Have you found that you get an acceptable level of accuracy/repeatability when using a pushbutton? They’re not typically high-precision components.
I was thinking about trying to make one with an IR emitter/receiver pair and a spring loaded gate to break the beam, which I decided was too much work to put into something that can be bought fairly cheaply. I came across a company in Taiwan that makes what I’m looking for, so I’ll grab a couple of those and see which size I like better.
I’ll think I’ll end up using one of the tall ones, since their low-profile model only has a 10mm contact which couldn’t be used with larger bits. I’ll just drill a hole through the spoilboard and mount the tool setter below it on a bracket. I know I’ll eventually mess up a toolpath badly enough that my spindle would take out one that’s mounted up top!
I think a tool setter based on a hall sensor would be a good solution in matters of accuracy and repeatability. Or one based on inductive proximity sensor.
The technical challenge is to build a touch surface that always remains parallel to machine bed and does not tilt, regardless of where the tool touches down.
Is it secret or would you share which company it is?
Not a secret. Figured I’d wait until I had to stuff in hand, since they don’t appear to have online distributors and purchasing may or may not be a hassle. Currently waiting for them to open up on Monday for business…
Looking at the T20Z and possibly T10Z from T-Sense Technology. Both have among the highest listed accuracy I’ve seen (assuming it’s true) and they appear to be reasonably priced. The T10Z is US$150. I didn’t ask about the T20Z in my original email to the company, though I’m now thinking of getting the larger one instead.
Hey Dan and Aiph5u, I have ran the same button on my Shapeoko without an accuracy issue for more than a year but have not ran tests on the Onefinity yet.
I designed another button that can mount to the T track or waste board if the QCW isn’t an option with 2" hole spacing. Overall size 1x2.53x1.
what I meant with my initial comment is that the usual 3D printer will not print metal (nor wood), but since everyone in this forum should own a CNC router, I would remind people of it and encourage using it instead of 3D-printing… I see it as a way to avoid producing even more plastic, but mill more wood And often the products are much more beautiful
thanks for the hint. I have no experience with printing these materials yet, but as far as I know, that is creating green bodies, that require furnace drying and/or sintering.
Yes, but the services industry has picked up on this and its super easy. It brings powerful prototyping, or even production capabilities to the masses. Don’t need $100k machines anymore.
And more than that, have you ever tried to tell a 3D printer to print wood or aluminium? 
Printers start near $100k.