Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

First, I want to say I am a firm believer in quality tools and am not putting that down especially if they are tools that help generate revenue. However, as a retired hobbyist, I struggle rationalizing putting a couple of grand in sensors for an import machine. I'd rather use it fly fishing ;?) On the other hand, I like the features of having a probe, a tool touch off, and the safety features of the detection logic.

I previously had purchased a $50 import touch off sensor. It seemed quite repeatable. Actually, I have bought two because shortly after buying the first one, I knocked it off the table and it didn't bounce well. Anyway, the second one works fine. Some years back, I had purchased a US but hobby grade touch probe for around $250. It has always worked fine. I wanted to have the detection logic in CNC12 work with my sensors and I didn't want to have to remember to activate a special switch or put a shorting wire in a 4 pin connector requiring me to unplug them when not in use because I use them frequently. I also needed a safe place they could live .

So, I designed a rack system that holds the sensors. There are limit switches in the rack so that if the sensor is removed, the detection logic is activated. I 3D printed the parts. It seems to work great and it forces me to put them away when not being used. I have attached pics, but I couldn't figure out how to attach the STL or model file. They don't show up with this site when attaching files. If anyone wants them, let me know and I'll provide.

That's a great idea Terry. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

cool.
you can always put the files on a google drive and post link here.

Thanks Keith,

I created a google drive and uploaded the pics, the STL print files, and IGES model files. I did IGES format thinking that might be most universal since I use Rhino and not likely that popular. If you need a different format, let me know ...

Here is the link....
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

I really like that idea, could use a cheap inductive sensor inside the plastic of the holder so there is no where for debris and easier to keep clean.

Agree... I just had the limit switches so...

Yes, that's a neat idea. I've been thinking about something similar for my touch probe, as it's a bit of a pain to have to stow it in the tool rack. Although I have a rack on the machine table, the side of the cabinet would be better and the switch would avoid having to stow the cable each time.

In my case, I have ISO40 tooling and I unscrew the probe tip before loading and unloading it into the spindle, following an incident where the cable snapped off the probe tip. So I would need to create something similar, with a receptacle for the tip.