While I didn’t show that in either of these videos, I did power cycle at least once and had similar results. However, I did all of these tests without actually having the maching perform any operations/cuts. As I get a bit more time on the machine I’ll come back and update my findings.
I’m a member of a Makerspace in Dallas where we’re trying to come up with a solution to have a shared physical tool library of 6-8 tools with each of the offsets defined in a tool library file that users can download into their pathpilot profile from a network drive. All of the tools are insert tools so repeatability should be quite good. As for users moving the tools in the holders, we have what we think is a unique solution to this. Each of the tools either stick out of the back of the holder or are recessed from the back of the cutter by some amount. That distance is rather easy to measure accurately. Our rule for the tools will be to leave the tools in their original position (the position they were in when I first setup the tool offsets) but if they must move a tool for a specific clearance need, they should put the tool back to the measured offset from the butt of the tool holder. We will have these measurements posted next to the machine which will make it very easy to check when you arrive at the machine if you want to be sure no tool has been moved.
I even have an idea for a tray the tools can sit in with each slot having it’s own index to match the offset that tool needs. This could even eliminate the need for users to need to measure if it works how i’m thinking…
From here we will need to teach how to zero the z when putting new stock in but i’m hopeful this will be something repeatable and will help all of the members who have gone through the training, get more value out of the machine.
Any comments/suggestions would be welcome.