Touch Plate production?

Clips such as are shown are also common in the sport of fencing if you know anyone who competes with electric — got mine from a damaged body cord from my wife’s gear.

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The circuit test is part of my procedure, too, but there are times that, for whatever reason, I goof & miss it. I use a lot of really small bits and goofing with one of those is a costly error.

In terms of flipping the box, potentially, though I’d still to be a little more careful to zero to the ridge. Honestly, I think for the most part the small parts I’m working are still going to be best off manually zeroing using “the post it trick.”

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Sorry to ask, but I’ve been away from the forums for months… Is Carbide Motion 4 still “Shapeoko Touch Probe Only”? (meaning there are no custom touch probe dimensional offset settings) in the zero’ing flow?

Correct. We only support the dimensions of our Probe so as to make the software as simple and reliable as we can.

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I get the desire for lowest common denominator as I write software for a living as well, but for that single reason you hamstring users that want this feature using “other” touch probe options. It’s not a heavy lift to provide these dimensional offsets in CM4 and bury them with a modal “Danger Will Robinson” dialog or hosts of over safeguards to prevent casual plug-and-play users from shooting themselves in the foot.

I also get that I can offset my zero’s after using the CM4 “zero flow” with the dimensional diffs between the Carbide probe and mine, but that’s a clunk IMHO since a simple back-end setup would take care of the entire process. I’m fond of leveraging technology to do what it’s intended to do as a designer, and in this instance it’s to “automate” a zero and not invoke/require yet another manual human step/intervention.

I just checked the Carbide store while writing my reply as this thread touches on the frustration of touch probe unobtainum… Not only are they not in stock, they are (hack) $120… I continue my disappointment over the lack of this otherwise simple refactor to CM4.

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I just ordered some Mueller Electric BU-45 “Pee-Wee Clips” (also available in copper as the BU-45C). The jaws open to 7.9mm (0.31") and the front is 6.35mm (1/4"), so I believe they should be able to properly handle 1/4" cylinders with secure holding and minimal flop. I’ll know when they get here and I have a chance to try them out.

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Keep in mind if the router is accidentally turned on, this type of clip won’t let go and might create a whip.

A neodymium magnet ground will provide a nice secure hold but detach easily

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Excellent point — I will note that there has been once instance of a person who did so — fortunately while wearing a shop apron.

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I don’t have a probe yet but I agree with Vince that a rare earth magnet is probably the best way to make the connection to the endmill but since you should not weld/solder the wire to the magnet because it will damage it, you should use a magnet cup and solder the wire to the cup.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=32066&cat=1,42363,42348

Another option is to use a magnet intended to be screwed in place, a suitable machine screw, and other hardware to make up the connection and if need be, weld to.

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Avoiding a flailing ground wire sounds like another good reason to just use the test clip to get a grip on the tool, not actually wire it in. It’s just something to give the alligator clip a handle on the tool.

Of course, come to think of it, that’s probably a good idea for magnetic attachment, too. Grab a threaded stud cup magnet, and you’ll have a nice post to clip the alligator clip to.

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I’ve never turned on the router during a probe, but I have had bad connections with a magnet. I’m running a DeWalt with the stock collet. I probably need to file down the collet surface.

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I did exactly that with a few swipes of fine sandpaper on one of the wrench flats. Clean collet doesn’t hurt either I imagine. Long story short I always complete the circuit when probing.

Dan

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It’s early April :wink:

Sincerely,

Patiently waiting

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I hear you. I haven’t heard of them or seen them in stock in over a month.

Yep, I was hoping for early April, in fact I had plan for it so I can bring it back from the US into Canada but it looks like I will be missing the window. I’m very disappointed I guess I’ll do without.

Any update on when they will be available?

bump… any update? C3D please take my money!

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The current expected availability is mid–late May.

I have one word to address this: Kanban

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