Anyone probe parts on mill/turn lathe?

[PriddyShiddy]

I've searched and can't find anything on the OLP40 Renishaw lathe probe. I see Haas videos on part probing on the lathe but can't find much for Fanuc.

Wondering if anyone is using part probing for updating offsets on lathe, specifically Fanuc. I see video examples from Renishaw... and basically nothing anywhere else about it.

I can explain it all in great detail as to WHY I want to probe, if anyone wants to read that novel, but suffice to say it is the only way I can run a simple part 16 hours over night. It's a milled part over 10x stick out but supported with a sub on the end. 4 flat sides. Endmill wear makes the end/middle/end change size non-linear. Tolerance is .002". Finish is irrelevant. I've ran 1.3 million of these on the swiss (I sold) just measuring every hour during the day and updating the macro variable a few tenths. Used to run them on a Miyano with no Y axis and a tailstock. Worked fine as well. Using the Y axis on the new Takisawa TS-3000YS means I can use the machine for other parts during the day. $#,000 for the whole probe set up is nothing if it makes it through the night. Bar feeder holds 1,250 parts worth even without extending the hopper. Thinking on the mill/turn parts will be about 1.2 minute cycle so should get 800 or so overnight. Endmills last 4,000+ parts with updating offsets regularly. I'd change the part off tool every day since we average ~1,000 cuts per insert.

Yamazen dealer said they've never sold a probe with a lathe and seem weary about it. I am a mill guy. Probe. Update offset. Keep running till me and my morning cup of coffee show up. Simple to me. All of my Speedios average 16-18 hours per weekday then 48+ hours into the weekend. Lots of sister tooling and tiny parts. Seems like 16 hours overnight should be a no brainer for a bar-fed-mill.

 

[boosted]

Sounds like a good part for a bar-fed Chiron mil.

That said, you can probe on a FANUC lathe no problem. I'm surprised your dealer has never sold a lathe with a probe. We used to put them on MITS based NLX's with some frequency. They are ubiquitous on FANUC based NT's, though typically used in the b axis instead of the lower turret.

You get essentially all of the same functionality. Nothing too exciting to report.

 

[PriddyShiddy]

Sounds like a good part for a bar-fed Chiron mil.

That said, you can probe on a FANUC lathe no problem. I'm surprised your dealer has never sold a lathe with a probe. We used to put them on MITS based NLX's with some frequency. They are ubiquitous on FANUC based NT's, though typically used in the b axis instead of the lower turret.

You get essentially all of the same functionality. Nothing too exciting to report.

Thank you. I figured it's so common no one talks about it? Just weird that there are no search results for OLP40 or any keywords I could come up with for part probing on lathe.

If we needed a million a year I could do a machine just for these. I just need these to run at night, or 24/7 for one week a month so I can play/develop/make new products the rest of the time. That only works if they can run all night. I had a second shift for a year JUST to make these blanks in the before times. Things are a lot slower now. Want to develop new products and it's hard to do that if the machine only runs when I'm here.

 

[Comatose]

If you have a million parts worth of experience, couldn't you characterize the wear well enough to open loop it for 1/5th of a tool's life? So, for example, subtract .0002 from the tool diameter every 100 parts, or whatever it ends up being? It's probably not perfect, but it's gonna be better than just leaving the offset the same all night and hoping you only drift from one side of your tolerance band to the other.

 

[PriddyShiddy]

If you have a million parts worth of experience, couldn't you characterize the wear well enough to open loop it for 1/5th of a tool's life? So, for example, subtract .0002 from the tool diameter every 100 parts, or whatever it ends up being? It's probably not perfect, but it's gonna be better than just leaving the offset the same all night and hoping you only drift from one side of your tolerance band to the other.

I did. It had macro variable for per part incremental offset /1,000,000 and could dial it in pretty well. That's how I got to 300 parts unattended using 4 different tools for parts 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4. Sister parting tools also. Super repeatable process if we can measure every hundred or so parts. I just don't want to here measuring We are roughing in the shape and just keeping a nominal size. I just need to touch the ends and middle and update a few variable. I can fine tune final size with tumbling cycle after. Part is vibrating only held on the ends. Temperature in the shop changes roughly 24 degrees F from the time I leave until the early morning. Tool wear is little extreme compared to a rigid set up. Think machining a guitar wire and the end and middle need to machine the same thickness. Gone down lots of rabbit holes. Probe offsets should just make this 100% automated with our tolerance unless it runs out of spindle oil, loader jams or tool randomly breaks.

 

[TeachMePlease]

Just call PQI in Minnesota, ask for Brad, tell him what you want to do.

 

[mmeredith0015]

Yes, I just did a turn key for a customer on a Nakamura lathe with one. It’s as awesome as you would think. Really made we wonder why you don’t see it on lathes more often. Talk with your machine tool dealer to see if there is a probing option available for your lathe, or look in the manuals to see if there are probe M codes. Outside of that it’s just a matter of wiring it in and writing macros.