OK, so once again I need a bit of guidance, coz I’m foncused.
I’ve watched the videos for both the BitZero (v2) and BitSetter and, up until this point, I’ve only used the BitSetter - and understand how to use it.
The problem (in my mind, at least) is with the BitZero. Again, I’ve watched the video and have an understanding of how it works and have successfully ‘zeroed’ the X, Y and Z axes using the probe (rather than a bit), so here are my questions:
Firstly, the BitZero moves slightly when the probe makes contact with it. Is this normal and/or does it matter?
Secondly - and more complex in it’s description (sorry) - once the BitZero has done it’s thing I replace the probe with a bit, load the g-code file and start the job. Clearly the BitSetter then does it’s thing, but does the machine ‘know’ and take into account the (high likelihood of) change in length of the bit? The reason I ask is normally I’d Initialise/Bitsetter/Load G-Code/BitSetter/manually zero to stock/Run the Job, but with the BitZero it’s Initialise/BitSetter/BitZero… (I haven’t gone past that yet, because I want to be sure before I run the job) or am I doing this wrong?
The BitSetter is responsible for measuring the Z difference between successive probes. It is used to calculate an ‘offset’ value so that subsequent tools hits the same physical Z location.
The BitZero calculates an absolute Z location for the current tool with relation to the top of your stock.
Putting these two together, if you use a probe on your BitZero and change it for a real bit, you must do that in a way that recalculates the difference between the probe length and the new bit, and that needs to involve the BitSetter.
In CM, you do this by clicking the change tool button.
In general, you are always going to be fine if you only ever change a tool when Carbide Motion has a “Change Tool” dialog up. Never do it under any other circumstance. This is identical to the Nomad workflow.
I only have the old BitZero, and when doing X-Y-Z probing, you have to ensure the cut-out on the bottom of the BitZero is over the lip of the corner of your stock. This prevents it from moving when doing the X & Y probing…
When just probing for Z, you do not hang it over the lip of your stock, and just sit the whole thing on top.
After the BitZero has done it’s thing with the stock and I load the g-code, CM will prompt for a tool change (as it always seems to do) and BitSetter will do it’s thing before starting the job.
Just to be 100% sure, there must also have been some point in the whole scheme of things - perhaps at machine initialization - at which the probe bit you are using has also been measured with the BitSetter.
Ah, I’ve already asked about the relevance of that here!
Maybe! After initialisation the BitSetter workflow does it’s think after prompting for a bit, so I would install the probe and let the BitSetter do it’s thing before I use the BitZero. I’d then install the bit, load the g-code file, and the BitSetter will do it’s thing again.
For those occasions where you haven’t put the probe in at machine initialization time, then the BitSetter will have stored the measurement of whatever bit is in the collet. For this situation, hit the change tool button and then pop the probe bit in when prompted, which will then be measured to see how its length differs from the bit that was there at initialization.
So if I want to install the probe to replace a bit, I need to use the change tool button before the first BitSetter run, then BitZero, load the g-code file, change to the bit and then run the job. The ‘new’ bit will then be measured by the BitSetter.
I noticed this too when using the v2 probe I got for my Pro: it moves slightly when the probe pin makes contact with the inner walls of the hole. I’ve gotten in the habit of pushing down on it with a finger during probing to weigh it down, but can still feel it get nudged around a little by the machine.
Dunno how much it matters, as I’m doing stuff with wood that isn’t super precise or anything.
Always - absolutely always - only ever change the bit when there’s a Carbide Motion prompt telling you to do so
This prompt will come up:
When you initialize the machine
When you manual request a bit change with the Carbide Motion button
When the g-code file requests a change of tool
Other times I’ve forgotten about
Given the first two are the only points at which you can interactively force the prompt to come up, you either predict things and put the probe in before you initialize the machine, or you ask for the prompt by manually requesting a tool change.
I’m following your mantra and only change bits were necessary, but until I got the BitSetter I used a different g-code file for each bit - and the BitSetter made this much easier and more efficient.
What’s bugging me is the BitZero. It seems to me that the electrical connection between the probe and the hole it’s in is iffy on the X-left direction, but OK on the X-right, Y-left and Y-right, and Z. Holding it in place may be a solution, but that’s hardly the point. I’ll give a clean, but it’s brand new out of the box (I hope!) so the aluminium shouldn’t have oxidised just yet!
Update: It looks like cleaning the inside of the hole worked, as the connection is made before the BitZero moves. Not sure if doing so was a good idea, though.
