[SSN Vet]

I'm looking for economical solutions and am wondering if this kind of electronic edge finder can be wired up to send a signal into Mach 3

http://littlemachineshop.com/product...ory=1261091193

I've seen some commercial solutions for auto edge finding, but they sure look expensive.

I seem to recall seeing some threads about building touch offs and edge finders from parts kits, but now can't seem to resurect anything.

Can anyone please stear me in the right direction?

[SSN Vet]

I've seen this one in MRM RC Models build blog... but don't know anything about it....

http://www.wildhorse-innovations.com...d&productId=80

anybody know what kind of accuracy it has?

any kind of spec. is conspicuously absent...

Looks like it has a little stereo jack wired up to it...

Any idea how this would hook up? Or whether there are any Mach scripts that support it?

[Bubba]

OK, I use Turbocnc, but the principle is the same.
I took a probe similar to the one in the link to LMS and stripped the guts out.
Drilled a hole in the side +/- 1/8" dia. Then took an old ball point pen and cut the length to fit inside the barrel of the edge finder.

Threaded a wire through the hole and into the center of the pen. Stripped just enough of the end to make contact with the business end of the probe and screwed everything back together. Hooked the wire to my probe input and it works great.

[Hans_G]

If you haven't read this, might be worth looking at http://www.brusselsprout.org/CNC/1P-Probe/

It's from the same guy that develops CamBam. Gives you an idea how the wildhorse probe probably works.

[hoss2006]

http://www.hossmachine.info/forum/ya...ool-Probe.aspx
Hoss

[Teyber12]

ive done a lot of thinking about this, and i honestly think the time spent getting it all together, setting it up, getting it to work (nothing ever works for me its always a big ordeal getting something to work ha) would be MUCH more then the time saved. If your really worrying about efficiency, a lot of parts can be made so you don't have to do extremely accurate edge finding, by oversizing the stock just a bit.

Having said that, it would be fun if you were as talented as hoss

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I'm looking for economical solutions and am wondering if this kind of electronic edge finder can be wired up to send a signal into Mach 3

http://littlemachineshop.com/product...ory=1261091193

I've seen some commercial solutions for auto edge finding, but they sure look expensive.

I seem to recall seeing some threads about building touch offs and edge finders from parts kits, but now can't seem to resurect anything.

Can anyone please stear me in the right direction?

Those can be easily modified to use a a touch-probe, but if you're going to be using Mach3, you better look into getting a quantity discount, because Mach3 has a nasty habit of doing unexpected things, and a rigid probe is unforgiving. If Mach3 screws up and runs the probe into the part, it will break off. I used these for about six months, and Mach3 would break about one a month. A real touch-probe, like the Wildhorse one (which I also have) is great for doing surface and outline probing, but rather problematic for edge-finding, as getting it calibrated, and keeping it calibrated take considerable effort. I don't use mine for edge finding.

Regards,
Ray L.

[cjdavis618]

Those can be easily modified to use a a touch-probe, but if you're going to be using Mach3, you better look into getting a quantity discount, because Mach3 has a nasty habit of doing unexpected things, and a rigid probe is unforgiving.

Regards,
Ray L.

What was happening? Wouldn't this work like limit and home switches to an extent? At least the electrical aspect.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

What was happening? Wouldn't this work like limit and home switches to an extent? At least the electrical aspect.

Every once in a while, Mach3 will do something completely unpredictable. In this case, it'll make a probe move at the wrong feedrate, or in the wrong direction, etc., or simply ignore the probe input, and plough on even though the probe input was active. It doesn't happen often, but it only takes once to snap the end off a rigid probe.

Regards,
Ray L.

[hoss2006]

Takes a little bit of work to make a power drawbar too but those who do love how much easier things become.
Probing is slick and fast especially my corner probes.
I'm luckier than most, only 1 failure in 19 months.
Hoss

[SSN Vet]

this looks promising....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ELECTRONIC-EDGE-...item3eff7fe3f8

I wonder how easy these LED edge finders are to disassemble?

If I could get it apart, I could wire power to it easy enough and then perhaps I could just solder onto one of the LED pins for my indicator signal and feed it right back into the G540

I guess it would be easy enough to jog your indicator in (especially with a pendant), but as usual, Hoss has a really slick automation.

Edited to add....

O.K. as usual, I make everything twice as complicated as it needs to be....

wire... check
Aligator clips....check
power source.... check
G540 limit switch connection.... check
Hoss's macro.... check

just ordered the Enco electric edge finder

should be easy and fun.

Thanks Hoss for posting the links

[Bubba]

Looks similar to mine. Just unscrew the cap on the top end and the guts (including the battery slide out!

[SCzEngrgGroup]

this looks promising....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ELECTRONIC-EDGE-...item3eff7fe3f8

I wonder how easy these LED edge finders are to disassemble?

If I could get it apart, I could wire power to it easy enough and then perhaps I could just solder onto one of the LED pins for my indicator signal and feed it right back into the G540

I guess it would be easy enough to jog your indicator in (especially with a pendant), but as usual, Hoss has a really slick automation.

Edited to add....

O.K. as usual, I make everything twice as complicated as it needs to be....

wire... check
Aligator clips....check
power source.... check
G540 limit switch connection.... check
Hoss's macro.... check

just ordered the Enco electric edge finder

should be easy and fun.

Thanks Hoss for posting the links

You can buy the same edgel finder for under $30 from Enco, made by Fowler. It just doesn't include the funky touch-off block, which you could easily make yourself from a piece of scrap.

Regards,
Ray L.

[cornbinder23]

You can buy the same edgel finder for under $30 from Enco, made by Fowler. It just doesn't include the funky touch-off block, which you could easily make yourself from a piece of scrap.

Regards,
Ray L.

Does Fowler actually manufacture their products? I know it is an AMERICAN based company but, I believe their products are imported from other tool manufacturers.
I personally WILL spend the extra 30 bucks for an item that was produced here
in the U.S. (no offense to all our worldly friends here at the Zone)

[dertsap]

Does Fowler actually manufacture their products? I know it is an AMERICAN based company but, I believe their products are imported from other tool manufacturers.

mostly chinese

[Isplat]

Every once in a while, Mach3 will do something completely unpredictable. In this case, it'll make a probe move at the wrong feedrate, or in the wrong direction, etc., or simply ignore the probe input, and plough on even though the probe input was active. It doesn't happen often, but it only takes once to snap the end off a rigid probe.

Regards,
Ray L.

I only have Mach go to lunch when I'm doing something they told me not to....
[remember to disable NICs and extraneous software]

I don't find Mach so unreliable I wouldn't use an edge finder like this.

Matter of fact I think I'm going to take Hoss's design or ENCO suggestion and run with it.

[SSN Vet]

You can buy the same edgel finder for under $30 from Enco, made by Fowler.

That's what I did.... the buyer at work puts in Enco orders weekly for our maintenance dept. and she lets me piggy back my personal stuff on there (which gets me free shipping ). The best part is that she also lets me run a tab... $24 for the Fowler (Syn-Kool, transfer punch set, deburring tool, etc...) and none of it shows up on the credit card bill for my wife to scrutinize

As for combining the indicator with the touch probe, I posted the link, becasue I thought is was an idea was "elegant" in it's simplicity. And the SPI lighted touch off has jumped in price from $50 to $75.

I agree that it should be simple to make.

I don't have any Derlin, but I do have the following in my scrap bin...

UHMW (to soft?)
1/8" HDPE sheet (to soft?)
1/8" and 1/4" ABS sheet (harder, but it's textured one side??)
1/8" Poly Prop sheet (?)
1/4" composite sheet (flat and hard as nails)

Any comments on which material would work best?

[SCzEngrgGroup]

That's what I did.... the buyer at work puts in Enco orders weekly for our maintenance dept. and she lets me piggy back my personal stuff on there (which gets me free shipping ). The best part is that she also lets me run a tab... $24 for the Fowler (Syn-Kool, transfer punch set, deburring tool, etc...) and none of it shows up on the credit card bill for my wife to scrutinize

As for combining the indicator with the touch probe, I posted the link, becasue I thought is was an idea was "elegant" in it's simplicity. And the SPI lighted touch off has jumped in price from $50 to $75.

I agree that it should be simple to make.

I don't have any Derlin, but I do have the following in my scrap bin...

UHMW (to soft?)
1/8" HDPE sheet (to soft?)
1/8" and 1/4" ABS sheet (harder, but it's textured one side??)
1/8" Poly Prop sheet (?)
1/4" composite sheet (flat and hard as nails)

Any comments on which material would work best?

The block itself has to be metal - it must be conductive. You just have to put something under it that is an insulator. I'd use a block of aluminum with any kind of thin plastic (perhaps a piece of PCB material?) bonded to the bottom. Any of the materials you mention would work. Bond them together, face off the top so it's flat and parallel, then drill a 0.200" hole in the side to hold the indicator, and you're done.

Regards,
Ray L.

[Fastest1]

That probe from Wild Horse Innovations was made by Zarzul here on the zone. It is a nice piece and works as it should. It comes with a different pad that replaces the probe to use as a tool setter. Not too complicated in operation. I dont know about its accuracy but I do know it will get me closer repeatably than anything else I have used. If I knew what I was doing, the accuracy and point cloud information could be unbelievable. I am not ready for those questions and problems just yet.