Touch Probe Madness

CNC Machines Shapeoko
21

I know there’s a few threads on this, has anyone from c3d weighed in yet on whether the X/Y positioning being outside the edge and not centered on it is intentional or a bug? If it’s intentional it’d be nice to at least document where the software is intending to place the bit.

Hardware issues suck, hopefully that’s a fluke but it seems Griff had it out of the box and Evan quickly developed one :confused:

22

It worries me that no one from C3D has commented here yet. Kina curious if you ask me. I know they are reading this stuff.

1 Like
23

Check your alligator clips boys. Mind just failed after a morning worth of use, was getting intermittent red light. Glad I got into the habit of checking before I start a probe cycle

Wire pulled right out of the clip, it was only held in by the heat shrink tubing. Tiny blob of solder was all there was. Off to the solder station to fix that…

UPDATE: PLEASE TAKE NOTE CARBIDE 3D!!!
The wire is not crimped into the alligator clip, this offers zero mechanical protection from repeated use. A little glob of solder WILL FAIL rather quickly, this is not an “if”.

I crimped mine down and soldered it.

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24

I can’t imagine that is intentional… if you are using a corner probe to align multiple bits with different diameters this would cause them to be misaligned.

For example. Suppose that (0,0) is the corner of your material, using this routine a 10mm bit would be centered at (-5, -5) and a 4mm bit would be centered at (-2,-2).

3 Likes
25

Not saying I agree with the current method of having the bit tangent to the stock as opposed to over the corner, but…
When you change cutters you don’t re-zero X and Y, just Z. So going through the probe operation at the beginning will set the X and Y for the entire job. Each time you change bits you only reset the Z. The center line of the router will always stay the same regardless of bit size.

Not sure I can envision where you would reset X and Y after a tool change, but I probably have not run across that scenario yet.

26

I know, I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt is all.

27

A multi step procedure where the piece is removed between jobs. Batch processing multiple pieces of stock with ‘job 1’, then changing bits for job 2.

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28

That would be it :slight_smile:

Not done that yet…

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29

It appears that the latest release of CM (410) has corrected the zero locations of the X & Y.
:+1:

4 Likes
30

This is why there is a parameter on the dialog to set the end mill style - it tells the software what that diameter offset should be. It’s easy to miss setting this, and if you don’t there won’t be any visible errors, the point found will just be wrong. Currently, it only supports a few english measurement mills that carbide sells, no custom options.

Would be nice to see some other uses for the same probe:

  1. Automatically compensate for belt stretch at install time - with the known size of the probe, and known end mill, can easily tell what the adjusted steps/mm should be and just set it appropriately. This would work for x/y, but Z might not be accurate enough with the small offset at the underside “ledge.”
  2. Automatically measure tool diameter - once calibrated as #1, measuring the block could tell the software exactly the diameter of the tool, and make entering the tool in the “probe” dialog unnecessary.

I’m sure the guys are reading and watching.

2 Likes
31

great ideas/features

32

Might not hurt to drop that into the Feature Request section. I dropped one in for CM to us the probe to calculate angle of deviation (like Estlcam does).

1 Like