After a year I tried using the bitzero. I’m still a little unclear as to the big deal of it.
Anyhow, I hook it up, everything works great, so I go to probe, it probes, everything’s fine, THEN when I check the measurements, it is exactly .5 lower than the board it was sitting on for the measurement. This is too stupid not to be something i’m missing.
bit touching the poart should be zero Z it shows 0.508
Thanks
Steve
Which Z-axis does your machine have?
If you set the zero at the surface of the MDF and jog up 1 inch how much does the machine move?
See:
I used the number’s , went to one inch. And it was .5 above the piece.
The bitzero isn’t calculating the tare of its own thickness.
Steve
Which BitZero version do you have? v1 or v2? Which did you configure for?
Which Z-axis do you have? Which have you configured for?
If you jog down to the surface of the MDF, set zero at it using the UI in CM (no BitZero) and jog up 1 inch, how much does it move?
i did the +6 mm it wasn’t 6mm
Illo play with the adjustment another time. Just put this bitzero back in the box.
One thing was weird, if it does the bitzero, why does it then go into the bitsetter right after? Seems redundant.
Steve
Thanks guys
In order for the system to know the Z-axis height it has to measure the tool to determine the offset length to apply.
But if the bitzero measures supposedly zero, it knows the tool length, right?
Steve
No, it does not. It knows where the tip of the tool is relative to machine Z-axis zero, but without a measurement of the tool, it does not know the offset.
So in basic speak, it knows the z relationship, but not the thickness of the piece on the spoil board. Which the bitsetter provides?
The bitzero determines the Z stock zero based on the tip of the bit, once the stock Zero is determined it has to measure the bit/spindle combo to determine where the Z axis is at compared to the Z zero of you stock to ensure it knows how far to actually lower the Z axis to reach the desired DOC you programed in for the tool path parameters. The bit/spindle combo height is different each time you change the bit relative to the spoil board/stock, therefore it measures it to make sure it drive to the correct setting.
Think of it this way: The first tool measurement is a reference for further tools.
When you change tools thereafter, it compares the Z position of the tooltip touching the bitsetter to the previous Z position (tool offset), then applies the difference as an offset to the Z height of your part to get the new tool in the same position.
If you’re only using one tool, or resetting the Z zero for each tool, then the tool measurement is redundant.
I personally liked the old way. Measure the first tool on initialize for the reference. Set zero. Measure any new tool (On a program toolchange, or a manual toolchange).
Is it the case that this would only matter for subsequent bit changes? For example, if a user used the BitZero for endmill #1, going to the BitSetter right afterwards to measure endmill #1 should not matter. But, if a cut requires an endmill change, then the BitSetter would be important to measure the offset for endmill #2?
If using only one tool, then yes.
That said, my inclination is to always use a probing pin with the BitZero, so a tool change will be needed.