Do you know how to preselect your next tool?
To speed up the total machining time, it is important to save time wherever possible. Tool change can be very long, especially when you have a lot of tools. Having your tool preselected will be beneficial since at tool change it will be able to quickly change tool rather than wait for the tool holder to find the correct tool and then apply the change. This is only true for automatic tool change, for manual changes, no tool preselection is necessary.
Two methods are available to preselect your next tool, here’s how:
- Start by opening your post processor in Quest;
Method 1:
- In the navigation panel, go to Machine Description > Tool Change;
- Go to Misc. Codes tab, and check Question 40.00. If required, you can add an M code. For Question 51.00, you may want to select an option other than ‘No’ to have the preselected tool output to the tape.
- As shown below, the post processor will output the current tool and the next tool during the tool change.
Method 2:
- Ensure that Question 40.00 from the previous method is unchecked.
- In the navigation panel, go to Post-processor Customization > Startup/Shutdown Procedures >Tool change shutdown macro;
- Add the following Custom macro to have the tool preselected after the tool has been loaded.
$$ Next tool
%L01=$NT
IF/%L01.GT.0
INSERT/’!(@T)’,%L01
ENDOF/IF
