Anyone understand Renishaw probes for small mills?

[alanambrose]

Hi,

I'm looking at 2nd hand Renishaw probes. There are 69 varieties - gluten free, vegan etc etc etc. And, a bunch of different interfaces, the old ones cabled, the modern ones wireless. And a bunch of interface boxes.

In the recent thread Muzzer mentioned the cabled MP1S.

Seriously, which ones are suitable for adaptation for use on a smallish mill?

Alan

[Muzzer]

The wired ones are simple to connect to a small mill and will be a lot cheaper than the full wireless systems. You don't need any special interface either, as they are normally closed contacts and can usually wire directly to your controller.

The mounting is also simple. You can make up your own holder from a generic toolholder. They have a hardened ball as a pivot and 3 (4?) machine screws for adjusting runouts, so you don't even need to be very accurate with your machining. Note, you will need a DTI with a very low contact force (ie less than the probe) for adjusting runout.

Keep your eyes on ebay and you should be able to find one for under £200. I nearly got one for £50 a week ago but got pipped while I was in a work meeting. Gah!

Renishaw probes are so much better than homemade / Chinesium ones and are going to be more accurate then our machines will ever be.

[alanambrose]

Thanks for that,

For the current offerings, is that OMP40-2 / RMP40 / LP2?

30848

In old money, is it just the MP1 that cuts it or are there others? Does the MI5 interface help any for greater accuracy or is it really not needed? How about tool setting?

Alan

[Muzzer]

These things don't behave like a perfect switch, so the contact resistance actually transitions as you trigger them and it seems the actual current threshold makes a very slight difference to the accuracy but our controllers will tend to trigger at a fairly consistent threshold. These things are capable of working to 1um or better, whereas our machines would be doing well to get down to 10um. Nothing to get too focused on.

I think there may be others apart from the MP1 but TBH I never got into it much. Having said that, I suspect it's only the old models that will come up at a decent price.

For tool setting, there is the TS27R. These also come up on ebay if you are patient. I got one a couple months ago for £190. Again, you can hard wire them without the interface box.

If you dig about on the Renishaw website in the legacy support area, there are datasheets and app notes for the older models. It's worth having a poke about there so you can understand how to set them up and how they work.

https://www.renishaw.com/en/legacy-touch-probes--32452

[David Child]

I bought a Renishaw TP1 on eBay for £20 last year with a perished diaphragm and a bit dirty. Easy to rebuild and has a 16mm shaft. Simple n/c contacts and a led to show uperation with a 5 pin DIN cable connection on the side. These things are ridiculously accurate in the order of um - I work to the nearest 1/2 thou usually!