Haas Post Processor mod for tall work on Mini Mill

[andy.concept303]

Hi all

When machining tall workpieces in my mini mill I need to raise the head to maximum Z, then move the table over to the  maximum right / forward to allow a tool change to clear it.  I have a modified post that someone on here did for me some time ago (attached below), but for some reason now when a tool path has finished, before it moves the head to max Z etc, it commands the head to Z=0 the tool change position.  I've also attached a file that shows this.

Could someone advise where in the post processor I need to change this?  Not familiar with editing posts, but think I should be OK to do it in notepad if I knew what to change.

Many thanks.

[engineguy · Accepted solution]

@andy.concept303 

Are you doing manual tool changes ? If not surely you will need the Z0 toolchange position for the machine to do a tool change ??

Anyway, here is what I believe is a simple method and this looks to be the area you need to look at in your PP, you can either remove it altogether in which case you will not get any output in the places in your code where the G53 G0 Z0 line appeared before.

Or, if you want you can change the "Z" in the two places in the PP shown below to "Z110.0" and that will give you the G53 G0 Z110.0 in place of the G53 G0 Z0 line that you had before, or you can put any value you like in there 🙂

Hope that is of some help to you

Stay Safe

Regards

Rob

[andy.concept303]

Hi Rob, thanks for the reply and info.  No, not doing manual tool changes.  My issue is that I need the head to move to Z110.0 and the table to the right etc first, only then can the head move to Z0.0 for the tool change.  But it appears to be commanding the Z0.0 first (at the end of a tool path).  Does that make sense?

Thanks.

[andy.concept303]

See attached, the line circled in yellow is the problem, as it's happening before the lines circled in red - which I want.

[engineguy · Accepted solution]

@andy.concept303 

OK, have a look at the image below, are we getting nearer with this ???

Modified PP attached

Stay Safe

Regards

Rob

[vandyckaj]

I don't know how new your mini mill is, but I know on any Haas with the new gen control you can set a safe point for tool changes in the controller. 

It will automatically send the machine to the safe position, starting with Z axis going up I do believe, every time you enter a tool change subroutine. There is no need to actually program that into your G-code or post processor. 

I forget exactly what menu it is under, but I can look for you if this is of interest. Otherwise your HAAS dealer should easily know. 

[andy.concept303]

Hi Rob

Thanks again for your efforts.

If I use your PP, it still appears to be the same:-

Whereas if I edit my PP, as you suggested, changing the "Z" to "Z110.0", it does seem to do what I want:-

 

Yes its a repeated move, but I think I'd be happier knowing it's safe.

Thanks, Andy.

[andy.concept303]

Thanks, I did look at this previously, but it's an older 2009 machine, so don't have this option unfortunately.