Organizing CNC tools

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Realizing that Automatic Tool Changers are becoming more popular I thought I would share a video from Portland CNC.

So, I am starting to collect tool & tool holder combinations … this system, tool tags, seems a WHOLE LOT better than what I am doing.

Will I buy their stuff, still unclear but the idea seems way cool to me. Ok I looked at their prices … 25 ISO-30 for $26 … at a buck a piece not worth my time 3D printing

What do other folks use?

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I plan to have all my ISO20 tools and holders stored in my linear tool rack.

I can see how that system could be useful if you had many more tools than your ATC will accommodate.

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For my ISO-30’s I have two sizes:

  • What I call a “shorty”, they are more expensive but live in the tool rack.

  • Regular ISO-30 ER32 that are manually fed because there would not be enough clearance in the rack

Now if Masso would just include the option to tag a tool as manual tool change or automatic, my world would be a lot better. (This feature has been in “Beta” for over a year. … I turned purple from holding my breath and have just given up)

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I decided to start testing the Beta a while back after completing the major modifications to my machine. I and others have found a few bugs but overall I am happy with it, and manually loading tools is helpful now that I am without a tool rack while building my new (last?) one.

Fully agree the Beta to stable release timeframes are becoming too long. It’s unfortunate, as from my experience with them over several years, they always provide great new functionality - and often user requested features are included.

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Maybe the time it takes to release a bug free version, seems the BB control has many bugs with each new version.
IMHO
Pat

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I imagine that is it, and I am happy for it. I imagine things that seem like simple software changes/bugs to fix have complex cascading consequences in the code, and then all those hopeful ‘fixes’ would need to be tested in some way as well. Certainly not something I understand, or have put time into trying to understand.

In the meantime I feel I am doing my small part testing it out :smiley:

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I don’t know the status of the BB controller, but the Masso has had a Beta for over a year now