Questions about tool# and H#

snowgoer540 wrote:

I do still struggle to see the application in a mill, more specifically a Tormach one.

 

Me, too.  The only mill-use case I can imagine on short notice is a combination tap-drill.  One of those things that has about an inch of drill flutes followed by 1/2" or so of tap threads.

I had a job a few years ago drilling & tapping 3 radial holes on a cylindrical part (think 2" OD pipe) where one of those would have been useful as heck.  Would have been hand-programming job to make sure it drilled through, retracted a little to give some accel time, and then started the G33 threading.  Even using my 4th axis one of those would have saved 10 seconds or so a part in tool changes.

Maybe using the "H" feature would have saved some tapping lead-in time for the tool. But, as someone pointed out, having a tool that's physically longer than your tool offset requires some care to avoid crashing.

It actually works very well. The guys I help use it ALL the time. It is a main stay to them. I have sat a watched it used AND it does save time for them.

And I know a LOT of people that use it that way.

NOW ME personally ?? I use matching H# T1 H1. My poor old pea brain can't handle the swapping around and sooner or later it will happen CRASH (

All the controllers I have used have allowed the mix/matching of H#