Re: quick change tooling

Dan Falck wrote:

> From: Dan Falck <dfalck@...>
>
> Is anyone out there using quick change tooling on your milling machines?

Well, quick change systems are pretty expensive, and they may extend
your tool further out from the spindle nose. Instead, I just picked up a
bunch of R-8 end mill holders, in various sizes. if you buy the economy
brand, you might do well to check them for runout. I got a bad one,
about .020" TIR, glad I checked them. But, I paid $15 - 24 for each.
I have center drill/countersinks, end mills, and a variety of other tools
assigned nearly permanently to various holders. They are indexable
in that they come to the same Z offset every time they are inserted, so
I can keep the Z offsets in the CNC's tool offset table. I made up a
gadget that looks a bit like a cylindrical square, but has an R-8 taper
socket cut into it. I can put a holder in it, and touch the top of the
tool with a height gauge. I can then subtract the reading from the reading
I recorded from my 'reference tool', which is a center drill, and put that
into my tool offset table. I get parts machined to better than .001"
height, with no other fiddling around. Changing these holders with the
drawbar only takes a couple seconds.

You can see this contraption at :
http://ascc.artsci.wustl.edu/~jmelson/preset.html

Jon