SL40 Lathe, How can I display the tool postion in manual mode/MDI

I recently started work at a new shop with a Haas SL40 lathe. For the last 15 years I've ran Fanuc controlled lathes. With Fanuc I can call up a tools in MDI and it will display the tool offset position. This is a critical feature I use during my setups, especially jaw setup..

I'm completely mind boggled why this is not a standard feature on these machines! Someone please tell me there's a parameter for this!

We had a Fanuc lathe that was like this at another shop I worked at and I was able to change some parameters for the display. One of the guru's on here helped with that one:)

I appreciate the help!

Haas lathes only operate an offset while a program is currently running (either a Memory program, or an MDI program). When you break out of running and start jogging around the machine defaults back to machine coordinates rather than any actual tool geometry. For instance this is why you can't just tell the machine "G0 X5.0 Z5.0" at any time...those aren't acceptable machine coordinates so you get an error. Instead you have to execute a toolchange to activate the appropriate offset, then you tell it where to go on another line.

I don't know why its done that way but my guess is to avoid mixing up active tools or coordinates while jogging or running MDI. I wish there was a type of expert mode where you could leave an offset active while jogging...it's just a guess tho.

Anyway, one solution you may be able to use is the "Operator" pane of the Position display. Not sure if you're familiar with that mode but you can manipulate those Operator coordinates like a digital readout, which could be useful so long as you only have to keep track of one coordinate set at a time. I use this a lot, mostly for toolroom type stuff.

After the offsets for the tool you would like to use have been set with the tool probe or other method try this:

In MDI:

T0101
G00 G54 X10. Z10.
>Cycle start

The machine will move to that position, then go to the operator display and key in X10. then press origin and then Z10. and press origin.

Now you can jog around all you want and the operator screen will display the actual position of that tool. You have to do this again if you change to a different tool.

It has a lot of extra steps but this works good for setting up soft jaws etc.

Thanks Guys!

This method seems to work fine. MDI to origin operator display, couple extra steps no big deal!