I volunteer at a makerspace where we have a PCNC 440 mill. I was wondering what probe options are available for this mill. It would really improve the experience for people if we could use some of the automated probing and tool length setting options in path pilot but we don’t have a very large budget to buy these items. I see that there is a wired probe for sale in the tormach store as an accessory, but there is no tool setter listed as compatible, and the probe is quite expensive.
I found on ebay there’s an aftermarket PCB that claims to allow you to connect “any” probe and toolsetter simultaneously to the 440. https://ebay.io/m/Flz3uU . We could either buy this or figure out something similar ourselves, however then the question becomes what probe and tool setter to buy?
Does anyone have any recommendations? There’s a few options for toolsetters that are around $100, but almost no probe options unless I’m just looking in the wrong places. We don’t need any extreme precision, just looking to use some of the cool automated features that are in PP rather than manual edge finding.
@Keven_Wyld I’m on mobile at IMTS so I can’t link them here but there are a few threads on the forums about probe and tool setter alternatives.
Also, the ETS from the 24R works on the 440 and is a lot cheaper than the other one we sell. It’s not water proof so don’t leave it installed if you are using coolant.
I think as long as both devices are NC (normal closed circuits) you should be fine wiring them in series on one plug. This way any touch on either device would be a trigger for the machine and even if both were triggered by someone measuring the probe on the tool setter it would operate exactly as intended.
I have a 440. Search my post history and there may be a few other random posts regarding both that are older that I haven’t commented in. I ran the Tormach probe until I crashed it because I had just gotten my ETS online and had the wrong one plugged in when I initiated a probe cycle. For a makerspace, you either hard wire BOTH or pick ONE. Do NOT leave it up to the user to remember to have to swap plugs. Someone will make the same mistake and it will be a slow-mo stream of tears when the probe goes “crunch”.
The probe doesn’t measure tool length but you can use an ETS to set tools and Z offset but not edge find/etc.
You don’t need the fancy box. A couple bucks of DIN connectors and/or just splicing into existing wiring with proper wire termination will get the job done. They must both be NC devices, you wire them in series and then you can leave them both plugged in and whatever cycle you select (probe or ETS) will “just work”. I documented how to setup the over-travel wire on the commodity sub-$100 ETS.
The Tormach is going to be more durable with a proper wire gland as opposed to the USB-C I see on many of the imports slightly above the price range you are looking at on eBay/Amazon that are easily purchased, especially if you have mist or flood, that cable and connector is going to come into contact with them and its not going to last (you probably could swap it out for a proper cable gland on a metal probe but not the super small one that’s less than $100 that I have/tried and was able to get concentric). More like $300 gets you the GP-800 wireless probe but you will need batteries and a USB I/O and I’m still debugging random probe faults (doesn’t seem to like rapid successions of probes for a circular boss or center bore).
The other problem with a makerspace and the probe is any fumbling or manhandling of a probe means it gets recalibrated immediately. Who is going to know when to check concentricity and how to readjust if you expect it to be accurate. That burden IMHO goes to the space’s machine “owner”. I don’t know how you delegate adjustment to the operator. It’s a fiddly process that still takes me at least 5 minutes and probably took me over a half hour the first time I did it.
You can certainly have the end user go into the Tormach test by probing a feature and rotating 120 degrees to check if it’s in tolerance but getting someone who barely knows CNC to adjust with a dial indicator is probably a bit much.
Thanks! Yeah I was thinking the box was not necessary. We have lots of electronics parts and equipment and could make a nice enclosure on our own. I just wasn’t sure what the machine wants for two probes, but it sounds like it’s just a shared input so that’s easy.
We have a haimer right now and I calibrate it once and a while. It’s been fine so far with only one mishap that I’m aware of which was recoverable. Agreed on the wiring, if there’s a way to forget to connect it someone will absolutely do that .
I’ll check out your posts (probably should have spent more time searching). Thanks again!
If you’ve got a Haimer that people haven’t managed to break, then you should be ok with a probe.
If you don’t want to merge the signals there’s a bunch of standalone touch-plate type tool setters out there with LED’s and dials and whatnot. You lose the auto-measure feature, but they’re cheap to replace if crashed and work well.
For what I do a probe is far more useful than a toolsetter as once I set the length on a tool it tends to stay in the holder for a long time and they all have dedicated tool numbers, but for years I just used a Haimer and standalone setter and they did fine.
I purchased a Centroid KP-3 probe for previous CNC mill a while back and found that with a 1.5m Angled MIDI to 3.5mm Straight TRS cable from Amazon, it works on the PCNC 440. I have it mounted using the TTS tool holder. It’s not cheap, but it does work very well without any modifications.
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