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Southwestern Industries, Inc.
TRAK
EMX Knee Mill, Bed Mill & ProtoTRAK
EMX CNC Retrofit Safety, Programming, Operating & Care Manual
Z Retract
–
this is the location where the machines head will go each time yoo change tools. Once you
set this location, the prompt above will change from NOT SET to SET. You can however change this
location any time you want by jogging the head to the new location and pressing SET. We recommend
you set your Z
retract higher than you longest tool so you won’t have problems adding or removing tools.
Z Offset
–
this is used to calculate the difference in length between each of your tools. The control
automatically applies this offset when you change tools. The first tool in your program is what we call
the base tool, which simply means all other tools are measured relative to this. We recommend that you
touch off a fixed surface (like the top of the vise) when touching your tools off. You then must touch
each of your other tools off of the same surface. The first tool will not show a number when you touch it
off, but the rest of the tools will show how much longer or shorter they are relative to the first tool. The
following figure shows 3 different tools that were touched off.
The 1.1950 offset means this tool is this much longer than your base tool. The -0.2367 offsets means
this tool is shorter by this amount.
It should be noted that if you base tool breaks or is replaced, you must touch off all of your tools again.
Z Modifier
–
this allows the user to tweak the offset of a given tool. For example, let’s say you cut a
pocket and the pocket was shallow by 0.005”. The user could enter a
-
0.005” Z modifier for that tool and
cut the pocket again. Positive modifiers might be used when you are trying to hold a critical depth. You
may want to cut the part shallow and sneak up on this dimension.
In 2 axis mode on the DPMEX2, you can also set Z offsets if you choose. These offsets will be applied
when you press GO after loading a new tool. The Z prompt will update to the new value. Most people
just zero out each tool in RUN mode after you load the tool in the spindle.
