Steve Blackmore wrote:
> Softlimits? I don't use them. I have limit switches, I don't use them
> either, I think since the eighties I've hit them twice. They are simply
> there to stop the machine ramming the end of the ballscrews ;)
>
> I don't directly use "machine coordinates" either, they are meaningless
> to me as an operator. I, and many others, are only interested in work
> coordinates. What the Controller thinks they are is irrelevant to me, as
> long as I've told it where the work zero's are that should be
> sufficient.
>
> All I want is to simply tell it where X0 Y0 Z0 are in relation to mill
> stock,
Don't confuse limit and home switches. Limit switches prevent damage to
the machine (but should never be hit in real life).
Home switches determine where your machine's zero location is.
Machine coordinates are very useful for me. From my machine's zero I
know exactly where the top-left position of my mill stock is, the center
of my 4th axis and the left bottom position of the bottom left stop for
large foam/wood blocks. And machine coordinates also determine where the
tool changer is located.
I plan to add more mill stocks so I can link multiple programs to make
multiple parts without having to stop in between to insert a new blank
(and do homing).
So machine coordinates are very useful. One company I know does a lot of
production of the same parts and the rely fully on machine coordinates
in order to know where the blanks are located on their palleting system.
They start of with a large block of aluminum in which a number of plugs
for the palleting system are mounted, then they mill one side of the
block, mount the half finished workpiece in a countermold (which is
placed on the palleting system) and mill the other side.
Here the zero point of the workpiece is solely determined by using
machine coordinates and making multiple of the same parts would be
hardly possible without it.
Regards,
Rob
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