TTS Tooling system

[Davek0974]

Hi

these are not R8, they are a 3/4" parallel shank, 1.38" long, at the end of the shank there is a 1.5" ring that locates the tool axially on the spindle nose - this is the secret to their repeatability for tool height.

I am using R8 now and they are not bad but do vary as not all made by same maker/machine etc - on the R8 the only location is the taper for both axial and radial location. The parallel shank system has the ring for axial and the R8 collet for radial location, as the collet is tightened it draws the shank into the spindle a little and snugs the ring against the spindle nose.

I have been looking at my tools and youtube videos etc and it seems ER20 is the best all round size, especially as i mostly play sub 1/2" tooling. The body of ER32 chucks is bulky and blocks the access for coolant when using smaller tooling.

I have been emailing the guy in China and am in the process of getting a price for 18 ER20's, 2 ER32's and a drill chuck :)

[Neale]

Thanks - I don't use R8 collets in my machine and I assumed that the collet finished proud of the spindle end. If it disappears slightly into the spindle, I can see how these toolholders work - I had a quick look at the Tormach data sheet on the TTS and they appear to sell a custom collet for the purpose. Makes sense now!

[m_c]

With regards to locating, one key thing to understand, is R8 is a collet system, not a spindle tool holding system.

The only reason R8 ended up being used for spindle tooling, is cheapness. It was far cheaper to equip a Bridgeport with a set of R8 collets, than a set of repeatable tool holders.

[Davek0974]

Fully agree m_c, I keep looking for a 30taper spindle but never seen one listed.

I did a test yesterday, last week i made the motor mount plate for my knee conversion, some fool made the bolt slots too small ;) yesterday i threw it back in the vise, set my axes zeroes with the Haimer probe and found the Z axis DRO in Mach3 was only off by 0.013mm or about 0.0005" - at least that proves the probe R8 taper is repeatable.

Maybe my issues are that my tool height setter uses a mock R8 socket that i turned up on the lathe - if the holders do not contact exactly the same area on this socket as they do in the spindle then I would see a height variation - this may be my issue.

I think a relocation of 0.013mm is amazing for an old Bridgeport and totally acceptable. I need to run the same test on all tool holders when i get a chance before i order anything i think.

[battwell]

thought of fitting a tool length probe? the probes i use repeat at 0.005mm max error on my cnc

[Davek0974]

thought of fitting a tool length probe? the probes i use repeat at 0.005mm max error on my cnc

There is a bug with CSMIO setups that prevent tool probing while in the M6 tool change loop, seems CS Labs have no intention of fixing it.

I like the Haimer probe :)

[Davek0974]

Did some assessment on repeatability, found two results...

Took a few random tools, zeroed the Z axis with my Haimer probe and then swapped tools, going to G1 Z0 F100...
T1 0mm
T3 +0.06mm
T8 +0.09mm
T10 +0.08mm

Now, before i dig any further, do those figures seem reasonable for a Bridgeport conversion??
No point looking for issues that are OK or can't be fixed.

Second result - with the Haimer probe fitted, if i repeatedly approach Z0 at F100 I get perfect result of zero every time. If I increase speed to F200 I get an error of +0.03mm, going to F300 or above I get an error of +0.04mm every time.

My thoughts are a following error in the servo setup maybe, overshooting and not correcting possibly?

[Neale]

There is a bug with CSMIO setups that prevent tool probing while in the M6 tool change loop, seems CS Labs have no intention of fixing it.

Dave - I had that problem with an IP/M but was able to fix it by using a slightly earlier version of Mach3. Not sure which CSMIO box you are using but have you tried that? Sorry if you've already been down that path! It's solid for me me, though, both for initial setting and using the fixed touchplate for second-operation resetting.