Hi All
hope you can help me, I should receive my 1F in a couple of weeks but I have a question on the touch probe.
when using the probe with tapered bits does it matter where the bit touches for the x and y
Example Bit or this bit
and last of all can you use the probe with a waste board flattener / planner bit do you have to make sure the blade edge will touch first on the x and y. sorry if this is a stupid question and thanks in advance for the feedback
I think explaining how zeroing works will answer your questions. When you are zeroing out the bit you are telling the controller where the edge of the material is or whatever point you are deciding to measure. Let’s go with a standard lower left corner. When you probe XYZ the machine will measure a known object, the touch plate, and using the known diameter of the current bit in the collet determine what is the lower left corner of the workpiece and also the top of the workpiece. Can you do this with tapered bits? Yes you can if you could figure out what the diameter of the bit is at the point that it will contact the touch plate when it measures the X and Y. That is not recommended though. What is recommended for probing XY and Z the first time is a bit with a known diameter that is consistent or better yet a pin that has a known diameter. I use a .25 inch pin that has no cutting surfaces whatsoever for my first probe. It’s just metal and round and flat on both ends. When you do the probing it ask you the diameter of the bit so you could use any size that is consistent. Many people take a quarter inch in mill and invert it so that the bladed side is actually in the collet and what is touching the touch plate is the unmilled portion of the shaft. Doing that will get you an accurate X Y and Z. Now for using other bits the X and the Y are the same but since you are changing bits the Z changes. Is it this point that you will probe only the Z. You can do this with all bits and the plate. If using the one infinity touch plate you turn it upside down so that the concave surface is exposed and manually get the tip of the bit close to the surface, make sure to attach the magnet to the collet and probe Z. Make sure you attach the magnet or you will punch holes in your plate. To answer your question about homing with the surfacing bit, maybe! When the one infinity probes it moves outside of the surface plate a set distance and then returns to the surface plate after lowering the Z until it makes contact and then pulls away and does it again slower. I am not sure that if you put in that larger diameter of the bit if the probing sequence uses that to compensate and go far enough out from the plate that a larger bit clears for X and Y. You could put one in your settings for the diameter and see how far out it goes without actually putting the bit in the collet. basically it would move around and try to probe the air. just be ready to hit the e-stop or cancel if it does something funny. I use my PIN every time for X Y and Z and then switch to whatever bit I’m going to use and probe Z once more. I hope this makes sense and answers your questions. There are tons of videos out there not only for Onfinity but for others on probing CNC
@TheRealStrylen thanks for the explanation using a standard pin seems the easiest way to go and then just probe Z. I think maybe the first thing I will carve is a sign stating Attach the Magnet before probing!
The pin is a $3 luxury item! Look on Amazon for .25 pin. Any endmill will work but if you use the area with the cutting surfaces there are very small differences in the diameter depending on where the blade rotation is. Do not get caught up in all the details when you get your machine. Start slow, just do some basic stuff and you’ll find out how easy everything actually is. You do not need super accuracy or $500 bits or a spindle to make some great things. Make sure to read up on the Onefinity Facebook group also. Always look here for official answers and updates.
GTW, can you post a link to the pin bit you are referring to?
You want either a precision dowel pin (cheap, but you often need to buy in qty 10-100 … so you would have spares 
) or a gage pin
Here is a link to a gage pin
Can also get them at McMaster Car or Travers Tools
Great, thank you so much.