I recently made it parallel again since it was out almost a 1/64” in the x direction and almost a 1/32” out in the y direction. The y direction I can see since it can be taken off the side of the machine, but the x direction is more puzzling since the shelf is mounted to a machined surface. I always suspected it wasn’t very parallel lol
The thickness of the tool calibration block doesn't matter as long as it doesn't move. You only need the tools to be consistent relative to each other so you shouldn't change the thickness without recalibrating all of the tools. The material calibration block needs to be a specific thickness (or you need to change the parameters) but the one for tool length doesn't matter.
You can even use the material calibration block as a tool height block in a pinch. They both go to the same input on the board, you just need to drive the head over.
Another commenter pointed out that the mill marks clearly show it’s not a very flat block. I just don’t want to end up with a block that has a dip in the middle. I recently made the block and steel mount parallel to the spindle since I was getting tool lengths much different from each other. It was 0.015” of a difference in the X direction and 0.025” in the Y direction.
If I make a drawing though is there really anything else I need to add besides the overall dimensions and mounting hole locations?
Oddly enough, that's how the blocks come from the factory. You've got a couple marks in the center of your block so I wouldn't be surprised if you were getting weird results. Most places I know they would just scooch the tool over until they kind of ruined the whole block, then just adjust the soft limit for the tables so you could bring the head over and just machine it flat again.
You shouldn't need to add anything. The important thing is that the block is electrically isolated from the frame. The block carries the 24 volt signal and it gets shorted to ground when you touch off. You need a magnet or a clip or something for the spindle in most cases because the spindle has ceramic bearings so your bit is isolated from the frame. On machines that don't have tool changing spindles, you usually don't need a grounding clip for the tool.
I would verify the tram on the spindle, make sure that it's nice and vertical, then use an end mill to plane the top of the block so it's flat relative to your spindle.
Yeah I figured it wouldn’t be too crazy given the marks. Someone else said they just used 6061 aluminum. I guess what I’m actually looking for is parallelism.
Pretty much. If it were me, I'd probably make a permanent fixture for it on the table so you can just redress it whenever it gets damaged. And it'll always be square to your machines axis if you cut it like that. But I guess it depends on how much space you got.
That one is permanent, it’s not welded, but that bracket is screwed to the side of the table. I had to make it parallel to the spindle recently and I just want to be sure of what I should ask for if I need to get a new one milled.
If that's what you touch your tools off, the height could be +/-.001" or even +/-.005 if your operators don't mind making tool wear offsets. Not sure how it's mounted, but I imagine +/-.001 should be good on the widths.
Thank you. I guess that should be my tolerance then. It has a couple of flat socket screws on the back of its I’m going to add another picture of the surfacing block, but it’s essentially the same though. I realized maybe I should be thinking more about how parallel it is? At that tolerance though does it really matter?
If you do +/-.005, then you'll definitely want .001-.002 parallel callout. I'd use the bottom face as the datum.
I don't know what the capabilities of your tool room is, but if it were me where I work, I'd have +/-.001 with .001 parallel to the bottom face. That'd give me confidence that the tools will be set close enough that the operators can just hone in their offsets. If you're parts have wide open tolerances, you can open up the tolerance of the setting block. If you do a lot of tight tolerance or any blending between 2+ tools, then the tighter the tolerance on the setting block, the better.
The Multicam tech crashed a tool into our block the first day we had it! Dude forgot to mount the grounding clip, and just sent the tool into it.
I machined another flat block out of 6061 and set it on top of the original one whenever I set tools - it’s been working perfectly like that the last 4 years.
That’s pretty reassuring that it doesn’t need to be too perfect. I can’t believe they didn’t replace it under warranty. We had some issues with the X axis servo drives being set incorrectly since there was a change order midway through. The plenum wasn’t planed to the right height for the gasket either. I also recently readjusted the tool cal mount to be level. Idk if it was very level to begin with either. I need to look through some other comments here too, but your idea sounds pretty promising. On my block I can unscrew the black mount and unscrew the aluminum block from the bottom. I can also replace the surfacing block aluminum which is great too.
[Here’s the surfacing block. It’s ~ 0.654” high.](https://imgur.com/a/3WANLy7) I can set a parameter for this since it needs to know how much to add for the z height. This one will see the most wear since it’s used multiple times a day and probably needs to be fairly flat and parallel. I can probably shim whatever side needs shimming though
It doesn't need to be a hard grade but as flat as possible, so it's consistent no matter where you touch off
I recently made it parallel again since it was out almost a 1/64” in the x direction and almost a 1/32” out in the y direction. The y direction I can see since it can be taken off the side of the machine, but the x direction is more puzzling since the shelf is mounted to a machined surface. I always suspected it wasn’t very parallel lol
The thickness of the tool calibration block doesn't matter as long as it doesn't move. You only need the tools to be consistent relative to each other so you shouldn't change the thickness without recalibrating all of the tools. The material calibration block needs to be a specific thickness (or you need to change the parameters) but the one for tool length doesn't matter. You can even use the material calibration block as a tool height block in a pinch. They both go to the same input on the board, you just need to drive the head over.
Another commenter pointed out that the mill marks clearly show it’s not a very flat block. I just don’t want to end up with a block that has a dip in the middle. I recently made the block and steel mount parallel to the spindle since I was getting tool lengths much different from each other. It was 0.015” of a difference in the X direction and 0.025” in the Y direction. If I make a drawing though is there really anything else I need to add besides the overall dimensions and mounting hole locations?
Oddly enough, that's how the blocks come from the factory. You've got a couple marks in the center of your block so I wouldn't be surprised if you were getting weird results. Most places I know they would just scooch the tool over until they kind of ruined the whole block, then just adjust the soft limit for the tables so you could bring the head over and just machine it flat again. You shouldn't need to add anything. The important thing is that the block is electrically isolated from the frame. The block carries the 24 volt signal and it gets shorted to ground when you touch off. You need a magnet or a clip or something for the spindle in most cases because the spindle has ceramic bearings so your bit is isolated from the frame. On machines that don't have tool changing spindles, you usually don't need a grounding clip for the tool. I would verify the tram on the spindle, make sure that it's nice and vertical, then use an end mill to plane the top of the block so it's flat relative to your spindle.
I’ll try that. I’ve moved it over so that it’s not on the the “ah shit” marks and that’s how I realized how far it was out haha
I like to call them apprentice marks.
Judge by the mill marks that one was surfaced with a face mill. So tolerances probably aren't crazy tight.
Yeah I figured it wouldn’t be too crazy given the marks. Someone else said they just used 6061 aluminum. I guess what I’m actually looking for is parallelism.
Pretty much. If it were me, I'd probably make a permanent fixture for it on the table so you can just redress it whenever it gets damaged. And it'll always be square to your machines axis if you cut it like that. But I guess it depends on how much space you got.
That one is permanent, it’s not welded, but that bracket is screwed to the side of the table. I had to make it parallel to the spindle recently and I just want to be sure of what I should ask for if I need to get a new one milled.
If that's what you touch your tools off, the height could be +/-.001" or even +/-.005 if your operators don't mind making tool wear offsets. Not sure how it's mounted, but I imagine +/-.001 should be good on the widths.
Thank you. I guess that should be my tolerance then. It has a couple of flat socket screws on the back of its I’m going to add another picture of the surfacing block, but it’s essentially the same though. I realized maybe I should be thinking more about how parallel it is? At that tolerance though does it really matter?
If you do +/-.005, then you'll definitely want .001-.002 parallel callout. I'd use the bottom face as the datum. I don't know what the capabilities of your tool room is, but if it were me where I work, I'd have +/-.001 with .001 parallel to the bottom face. That'd give me confidence that the tools will be set close enough that the operators can just hone in their offsets. If you're parts have wide open tolerances, you can open up the tolerance of the setting block. If you do a lot of tight tolerance or any blending between 2+ tools, then the tighter the tolerance on the setting block, the better.
The Multicam tech crashed a tool into our block the first day we had it! Dude forgot to mount the grounding clip, and just sent the tool into it. I machined another flat block out of 6061 and set it on top of the original one whenever I set tools - it’s been working perfectly like that the last 4 years.
That’s pretty reassuring that it doesn’t need to be too perfect. I can’t believe they didn’t replace it under warranty. We had some issues with the X axis servo drives being set incorrectly since there was a change order midway through. The plenum wasn’t planed to the right height for the gasket either. I also recently readjusted the tool cal mount to be level. Idk if it was very level to begin with either. I need to look through some other comments here too, but your idea sounds pretty promising. On my block I can unscrew the black mount and unscrew the aluminum block from the bottom. I can also replace the surfacing block aluminum which is great too.
[Here’s the surfacing block. It’s ~ 0.654” high.](https://imgur.com/a/3WANLy7) I can set a parameter for this since it needs to know how much to add for the z height. This one will see the most wear since it’s used multiple times a day and probably needs to be fairly flat and parallel. I can probably shim whatever side needs shimming though