top of Z move point help

[zbailey]

Bit of an odd question here but ill explain it.

I am looking for a way to set a move point to 1in off the top of the Z rail max range.

Purpose is, my company has over 100 CMMs and I am trying to write a program that will clear any obstructions before rotating tips in an attempt to make an operator run program to calibrate tips that requires zero input. I thought all was fine until I found that the Z zero was different between 2 of the CMM in just my facility. Its still clearing with plenty of space, but I would like to have it set to off the top of the Z just to be uniform for this and work on all the CMMs no matter how they are set up. Im not sure if its possible but I am hoping to find something better than the current method to get this to work, but I cant for the life of me figure out any way to do this.

Thanks in advance for the help as usual. It seems like any time I make a post its for some completely off the wall idea lol.

[Cumofo]

The Z axis limits aren't established until after homing, but they do reside on the controller side.

Just go to each machine and set a "good" CLEARPOINT for each one, and let the program do the rest with a "MOVE/CLEARPOINT " command. Right?

[zbailey]

will this work with zero CAD or anything present? I thought clearplane and the such required CAD to function.

[Schrocknroll]

The Z axis limits aren't established until after homing, but they do reside on the controller side.

Just go to each machine and set a "good" CLEARPOINT for each one, and let the program do the rest with a "MOVE/CLEARPOINT " command. Right?

I thinks he wants something like a Clearplane command that will just move up in the Z before rotating. MOVE/CLEARPOINT will move all 3 axes to the clearpoint location.

[zbailey]

my issue is the Z zero location for one is a few inches above the plate on the small ones, and the large ones its far off the plate. with the longer probes if I set it to a say z of -7" itll crash the **** out of the CMM on the small ones, vs the large CMM which typically run larger probes it will run out of stroke lol. sorta why im trying to see if theres a way to simulate a Z home situation in the program to move it out of the way. I recall seeing it done similarly before but I cant for the life of me figure out how it was done.

[Mike Ruff]

Maybe you could reference a file on the C drive of each computer (just make sure that the file is in the same location on every computer) that contains a Z value specific to that CMM? I haven't done this before but there are examples in here of other people doing it to set movespeed/ touch speed/ etc. for the specific machine a program is being ran on

[zbailey]

that may be an option. ill have to look into that if no other options present themselves. being that we have over 100 cmm that is an absolute last option because thatll require a lot of time to do that.

[zbailey]

so I had a thought, is there a way to reference the calibration sphere location in a way such as an assigned variable or input into the dimensions (ex. toolingsph.x for x nom)? If that's possible it would make it easy to make this work universally as all of our units have fixed calibration spheres. The whole point of this is making a zero input operator run calibration program. I am trying to eliminate all user input to appease management.

[louisd]

Shouldn't align/startup be relative to HOME coordinate origin?
If so, can't you just recall/startup, then use MOVE/POINT ,,-1
Keep X and Y blank, and it will only move Z axis to 1" below Z home origin height.

[louisd]

apparently not, if you have a CAD file loaded, it will be relative to CAD, unless you toggle "DefaultAlignmentIsMachineCoordinates" in setting editor to 1.

[zbailey]

i thought so too but -7" on some of our CMM are WAY lower than 7" on one of them. We aren't running any CAD, so im trying to figure a way to essentially go to the home position. With different length tips its giving me issues because the tip location is different between them all and some work fine, and others are out of stroke. im trying to find a way to do this without having to manually adjust the program on 150 cmm lol. If I can find a way to use the tooling sphere locations as variables I could set the Z height above that, which is static for ALL the cmm, and it would work easy. issue is I cant find any way to use those coordinates for this.

I swear I saw someone do a command that brings it to the top of the stroke and returns a few mm to stop an out of stroke situation but I cant for the life of me remember how it was done.

[pcdmisstudent]

Bit of an odd question here but ill explain it.

I am looking for a way to set a move point to 1in off the top of the Z rail max range.

Purpose is, my company has over 100 CMMs and I am trying to write a program that will clear any obstructions before rotating tips in an attempt to make an operator run program to calibrate tips that requires zero input. I thought all was fine until I found that the Z zero was different between 2 of the CMM in just my facility. Its still clearing with plenty of space, but I would like to have it set to off the top of the Z just to be uniform for this and work on all the CMMs no matter how they are set up. Im not sure if its possible but I am hoping to find something better than the current method to get this to work, but I cant for the life of me figure out any way to do this.

Thanks in advance for the help as usual. It seems like any time I make a post its for some completely off the wall idea lol.

You could at the very beginning of the program (before load probe/tip etc) start in cnc, create a readpoint. Set orgin X and Y in it. Then do a move point to 0,0,0.
This will make it only move to Z0 (from my understanding). I have used it in a couple of programs to avoid crashes with big inspection parts.

[zbailey]

its for an operator ran autocalibration program to help save the company money so programmers don't have to come in on 3rds to do this. the only tip angles really used are a0b0, but im still fighting with it to only do those. I have it set to only do whats in the program and it just wants to take off and do them all -_-...this thing is getting on my nerves. I guess ill just crack on with it tomorrow when I got time and see where it gets me, not gonna make any progress when frustrated.

[pcdmisstudent]

Dont worry you'll figure it out.
But i dont understand how and where it crashes? into the ground or sphere? Especially if you are basically only using a0b0.

How i see it:
calibrate dialog > set parameter for single tip > insert autocal with that parameter >. readpoint, align, move > create parameter for other tip/angle > and so on...
Then just some simple instructions about analyzing the results?
Sorry if im missunderstanding you

[zbailey]

primary concern is some programs don't reset tip to a0b0, and leave it down towards the plate. to avoid it crashing im trying to have a pre angle or tip change move to bring it to a safe height. then theres the issue of some of our CMM having different sizes. some a -7 z position is plenty far off the plate, some itll be smashed on the plate or way too close to do a safe tip change without smacking. I think a few are small enough it might crash the ph10 entirely. if we had uniform size CMMs it wouldn't be an issue but we have over 100 and various sizes for different applications. makes it a bit of a headache.