What are the Benefits of Tool Setter?

As our society increasingly relies on technology, precision equipment and automation, the requirements for automation systems, such as tool locators and detection systems, will increasingly become a standard practice.

In this article, ATO industrial automation will introduce the benefits of tool setter.

CNC machine tool height setters are used widely on cnc machining centers, lathe cnc machines, milling machines, grinding machines and many or specialist machining application. They are generally used to reduce the down time the machine has due to adjusting tool length and diameter settings as well as broken tool detection. Uniaxial tool length setters typically are only used for measuring tool length, but some optical tool height setters are able to measure tool length and diameter. Machining centers all over the world take advantage of these systems and they are almost consider a fundamental part of an automated system.

Essentially tool setting is the analysis and determination of geometric distances such as the width of an object, the radius of an object and its height or length. In the case of CNC tool setting it more often than not refers to the measurement of cutting tools such as the measurement of the diameter and the length or height of the cutting tool.

The methods of proving these measurements are typically divided into two categories. Tool setting products or processes are split into contact and non-contact types of, dependant on the design of the tool and its intended functionality. In brief, and as the names suggest, contact tool setters involve the physical touch of objects to find their spacial relations. Non-contact tool setters use optical technologies such as lasers to function as triggers for taking measurements.

Through the clever use of programming and software, other highly beneficial processes can be performed to streamline your operations. It is possible to take compensation readings from your CNC machine to allow or adjust for thermal expansion or variation. With a particular type of tool setter it is possible to measure cutter wear and have your system automatically compensate for this variation in tool diameter to ensure your final part is correct and within specified tolerances. Automated systems can take advantage of other features possible with tool setting products like broken tool detection. In a process where there are long repetitive runs, the operator can use a setting product to evaluate if cutting tool has broken by analysing its presence, or lack of. This can be highly useful in machining operations that have limited supervision and can save a lot of wasted machining time.