Category : Edgecam
Part Xplore Edgecam never let me down with their ability to keep improving and advancing their software. Now they added Part Xplore to the suite of software. I am going to be using this no end in my videos and am so excited I had to make a movie about it.
Category : Haas Turn
Haas Automation launched the TL-Series (Toolroom Lathes) in 2002. The idea was it would be affordable, easy-to-use.
It would bridge the gap between a manual lathe and a full on CNC turning centre.
It has now been in continuous production for 23 years, how time flies.
This is the one they let me lose on.
It’s a bit weird from a health and safety point of view.
You get to use these babies.
Press shift and then X to make X active. Press shift then Z to make Z active.
I didn’t like em at first but once you get used to them you can get around quite quickly.
There is no tool changer so these have to be changed by hand. It can be done quite fast and they repeat really well.
Do yourself a favour and make a numbered rack for these. Mix em up and you are off to hell in a handcart.
The holders are numbered on the Haas TL-2 lathe so that helps.
It takes ages, oh and I mean ages. You could just go make a cup of tea but personally I prepared a 5 course meal in a slow cooker and on my return it still wasn’t there.
Make sure the tailstock is well our of the way and not done up. That way if you hit the beast it will move.
My tip is to write a shutdown program that uses G53 to take it somewhere near to zero return. That way when you switch it on it has a relatively short journey.
G53 uses the MACHINE position so you can send it somewhere near home.
The most common way to set the tools is from the face of the chuck touch your tool on the face of the chuck, move to the correct tool offset and press Z FACE MEASURE
Make the tool active, for example T1.
Type T1 then press TURRET FWD or TURRET REV
Being a manual tool changer, nothing happens but your new tool offset becomes active.
You can now go to your work offset screen. Make sure you are on the G54 line.
Press Z FACE MEASURE
This one always confuses the living shit out of me. Who the fuck concocted this counter intuitive procedure?
Someone must have thought “This’ll teach the bastards”
So you cut your diameter, move the tool away in Z and keep X where it is, that’s normal.
Go to your tool offset you want to set and move to the X. Now press. X DIA MESUR
This will record the current X MACHINE position.
Hang on we ain’t done yet…..
Now input your measured diameter and press ENTER.
At this point it will probably come up with some bogus number in the buffer. Don’t worry this is a cunning trick to fuck you over. Delete it and write your own number in.
Well it remembers the last diameter you wrote in!
Why?? Fuck knows.
Anyway you would have to ask someone at Haas. It’s the same on all Haas Lathes.
Maybe you are meant to touch the diameter with each tool and just press input?
Well, actually you can program it just like a normal CNC Lathe.
But you can use it like a manual machine and then add shit to it. Things like stick on a chamfer or stick on a rad.
Each one of these screen will work completely on it’s own so it calls out the tool, starts the spindle and machines whatever you asked it to.
So you can run each one from it’s screen or add it to a program. The code it makes is exactly as if you wrote it by hand.
Don’t worry if you don’t know what it means. Leave that to people like me, I have to put food on the table.
But trust me it’s the real deal.
Make sure you read the screen because the prompts on this control are good. Like my wife it gives clear concise instructions that must be obeyed.
After you filled it all in you get a choice.
The clever thing is if you press cycle start it will automatically update the code if you make any changes.
You can also press graphics and test it out (no tears).
Step through the tool numbers by pressing the buttons below tool
If you then press NEXT TOOL your tool will become active and you can load it.
Each one of these micro programs can be added together to make a complete part.
When you use the chamfer and the radius screen it doesn’t use compensation so you tell it tool radius and it changes X and Z accordingly.
These are a tad strange but once you get how they work it’s not a problem.
Rapid is used to get somewhere (obviously).
Feed is a straight line but it’s incremental so you have to measure it from where you are.
U0 meaning X stays where it is.
This would move your Z axis 24mm in the negative direction (towards the chuck).
This is nice n simple and seems to work really well. Not loads of options that no one wants or needs.
I always think of Haas as the pragmatic no bullshit machines of the CNC world.
This one delivers plenty of that.
Do i like it, yes.
Do I want one, nah.
Why not just learn to use a proper CNC Lathe, sorry but why do people still need to have handles to wind. Let em go there are better ways to wear out your wrists.
(These are for sale if anyone is interested)
I mean my grandma could make fireside rugs out of bits of old rag, great if you haven’t got a pot to piss in. Personally I’d rather just buy a rug.
I also think this machine misses a few tricks. I worked on an old Ajax lathe with a Fagor control and it could make rads and chamfers with the manual controls. You just give it the angle or radius and it does it (just saying).
Overall if you are one of those people who already knows manual turning and you want to transition (I know that has a different meaning these days).
This machine could get you there. Oh and it does what it says on the tin.
Thanks for reading.
Category : Haas Turn
Haas TL2 Thread Repair, this is a really useful function on a Haas tool room Lathe. The XYZ machine does this too.
Isn’t it rather funny that all the people that tell me how shit electric cars are never seem to have had one.
I got mine at a bargain price when my mate gave up his milk round in 1976
Well I must admit I thought the Haas toolroom lathe was shit. But in honesty I didn’t really give it a close look.
Well now I have, I can honestly say it’s actually not bad. I certainly had fun with this one.
As a semi automatic machine it ticks the boxes.
First of all line your tool up with the thread on your Haas tool room Lathe.
Take some time to get this right. You now need to tell the control exactly where the thread is. That is you tell it how many thread you are from the end of the thread.
Go to REFERENCE box and press enter
This will now come up as set.
Haas tool room Lathe
Tell it the length of your thread, note this is a positive value.
Also you need:
You can now run this or send it to MDI
Mmmm how the fuck does it do that. You might be a bit nervous when it comes to running this. Rightly so I know I was. Might be good idea to try it on a dummy part or a test piece on your Haas tool room Lathe.
Honestly it does work. Be absolutely sure the information is correct.
Well it’s just magic
Let me explain.
Here’s the code
First of all it sets offset G154 P99 to zero (hopefully you are not using this work offset. This means that all you positions are absolute machine positions from zero. Just like you used G53
That’s the G10 L20 P99 X0 Z0
It will then rapid away from this by the clearance you gave it. G00 X-218.004
It then rapids to the start of the thread G00 Z-1020.661
Starts the spindle as requested G97 S1000 M03
So it has recorded your current position and moved away from it.
The G76 will use the recorded position to work out where the end of the thread is and use the position you were at in X to set the X root diameter.
Now the Q is the angle that the spindle is at, that is how it knows where to start from a rotary point of view. Without this it’s a shitstorm.
It’s all a bit crude but then so am I, and me and this Haas both work.
Push away hit CYCLE START (just don’t say it was my idea)
Category : Haas
This article is about the Tool Offset Measure button on a Haas machine.
I first worked on Haas Machines around 1996. The most amazing thing about Haas machines back then was the price. They were cheap, very cheap. At that time the cheapest CNC Machines were like the cost of a diamond studded jockstrap. But the Haas, well as I said it was cheap.
Everyone thought they were made in some far flung country by Santa’s Elves being paid the minimum wage and fed on reindeer shit.
Actually they weren’t. The reason I’m told they were so inexpensive was because they kept the specification of each machine the same. This made them simpler and cheaper to produce.
I fell in love with those early machines and they certainly earned their keep. The control was like a Fanuc that had been given steroids and a rocket up it’s arse for good measure.
It was like someone had heard all my criticisms of CNC Machines and granted my wishes
The way that we trained people in those days was to use the tool offset measure button.
What you did was you touched each tool on the top of the component and pressed this button.
(Sorry about the shit picture couldn’t be arsed to find a better one)
It duly recorded the offset value for you.
So what you are doing is recording the distance from the end of the tool at its zero return position to the top of the workpiece.
This gives you a minus figure the size of a compulsive gamblers bank balance.
Ok so this works well but there are two problems. Actually no there a three.
Now I could be being really stupid here, and if you know me you are probably saying “well he is a bit of a dick”. Anyway from that day on I’ve avoided this button like Donald Trump avoids wind machines.
A couple of weeks back, when my restraining order was lifted, I was allowed back on a Haas machine to do some training.
They say you learn something new every day well this day I was about to learn about setting 64.
What this setting does is it allows for whatever work offset you are in when you press the Tool Offset Measure button.
So what you do is you get your setting block and you touch your spindle nose on it (I used a 6 inch block of slips).
One of these is even better.
Then set this in a work offset that you don’t use like G59.
Press the button
And guess what you get the actual tool length. 
If you use a tool presetter just tweak the G59 Z figure until it ties in exactly with your tool presetter.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this post or need CNC Counselling then contact me.
If you want to learn to program CNC Milling Machines
Look no further Contact CNC Training Centre
Category : Haas
Haas machines have the best program restart ever. (Providing you switch it on that is.)
You just move to a position in the program and press CYCLE START.
Piss easy.
But what if you want to stop a program and move the tool away to look at what you did?
Did you ever work on a machine for years then some smart arse like me comes along and tells you something you didn’t realize it could do?
Well that happened to me the other day, except I did know but never got round to trying it. Anyway if I had said “oh I already knew that” he would have thought I was a smart arsed prick.
Needles to say I didn’t say that.
Well you guessed it they even thought of that.
It means you can drill a hole, move the drill away and have a good look inside and then continue with the program just like nothing ever happened.
First of all Press Feed Hold button.
Actually it’s not that one it’s the red one next to it, sorry but I don’t have an animated GIF for that.
Then press X, Y or Z followed by the Handle Jog button.
The control will now store the X, Y, and Z positions.
You will now see the message “Jog Away”on the screen.
Now use your handwheel to move the tool away.
You can use other manual controls to stop spindle and coolant etc if you wish.
Do whatever you want to do.
Now move the tool close to where it originally was making sure nothing is in the way for it to hit.
Now go back into memory mode.
The control will display the message “Jog Return”
X and Y will move back to position at 5% .
Then Z axis.
And bang away you go.
The program continues.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this post or need CNC Counselling then contact me.
If you want to learn to program CNC Milling Machines
Look no further Contact CNC Training Centre
