Renishaw MI8 + TP1s probe + AXBB-e?

[crjohnson]

Hi all,
I am about to receive a renishaw TP1s probe and am looking into incorporating a Renishaw MI8 interface unit to the system. Honestly, I don't really know how much the MI8 unit will improve the accuracy of the probe or its life span (from reduce arcing?), but for the price I have seen them, I could happily try it!

My question is the wiring oF the MI8 to an AXBB-e unit. The MI8 signal output is shown as "SSR voltage free" (which can be set as NO or NC) and I am not sure if that is compatible with the isolated inputs on the AXBB?

I am not much of an electrician, but does "voltage free" simply mean that the B6 and B7 outputs are basically the same as what is shown for a probe on page 28/29 of the AXBBe manual (v 1.0002)?
Ie. B6 and B7 are not going to be 24v+ and 24v-? I am thinking that if this is the case then wiring in the MI8 will be no different to what is shown in the axbbe manual or the tool height setter I have already been using (with awesome results, link below).

I also happen to have a Renishaw MP9 in transit that I stubbled across and couldn't resist. I am thinking that this unit will be much harder to use with the axbbe and UCCNC?

Any help would be much appreciated and I would be happy to post results or findings or the probe and MI8 interface unit if anyone would like to see them?
Cheers

https://www.renishaw.com/resourcecentre ... unit--7862

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002 ... 1802DUJpAB

[fsli]

does "voltage free" simply mean that the B6 and B7 outputs are basically the same as what is shown for a probe on page 28/29 of the AXBBe manual (v 1.0002)?

I don't know what the marketing team meant to convey with that term, but yes, based on the interface manual the output is two terminals from an SSR (Solid State Relay) and can be wired as shown on page 28 of the AXBB-E manual. There appears to be a selector switch on the MI8 to pick NC or NO output. I would recommend NO, and the corresponding input pin would then be seen as Active High.

I also happen to have a Renishaw MP9 in transit that I stubbled across and couldn't resist. I am thinking that this unit will be much harder to use with the axbbe and UCCNC?

It doesn't seem particularly difficult. From what I'm finding on Renishaw's site, that interface is an NPN output and would be connected as shown on page 23 of the AXBB-E manual.

[dezsoe]

I prefer NC for important inputs. If the cable gets damaged or there's a contact failure then the input goes active. This is good for e-stop, limits and probe. If you use the probe screen then you can see that all movements are in safe probe mode, which means that if the probe becomes active while the machine is moving then it goes reset, so you can't damage the probe.

[crjohnson]

I will definitely set it to NC as that is what my height setter uses and this will be install in series with that.

[Delco]

I will definitely set it to NC as that is what my height setter uses and this will be install in series with that.

There are two probe inputs , I use one as NC and the other as NO to give me flexability with probe toolsetter options.

[crjohnson]

After looking at the example drawing on page 28 of the manual (my machine is set up exactly the same as this but without spindle control), I see that I6+ and I6- are not used. So I could simply use that for this new probe? Is that what you have done Delco?

Also, does anyone here have any experience with the renishaw interface boards and probe life or accuracy?

[Delco]

After looking at the example drawing on page 28 of the manual (my machine is set up exactly the same as this but without spindle control), I see that I6+ and I6- are not used. So I could simply use that for this new probe? Is that what you have done Delco?

Also, does anyone here have any experience with the renishaw interface boards and probe life or accuracy?

You can use any spare input and assign it to probe 2

I use the Hallmark ITTP ( the best on I have found so far ) and a custom toolsetter , on another machine I have a older drewtronic touchprobe -and I have a Vers touch probe on another machine , I cant recommend these other ones

[crjohnson]

Thanks Delco.

Yea I have looked at the ITTP's for a fair while (and would have loved to get one!) but when this TP1s came up, I was lucky enough to get it for nearly 1/3rd the price of a Hallmark standard. Picked it up this morning and it looked like its never been used, can't wait to try it!

Typical though (while talking about probes etc), I was using my machine on the weekend and the height setter was randomly playing up. It would error out very strangely (has never done this before). I checked the wiring and everything looked ok, then it simply kept working.

[crjohnson]

For anyone interested I wired up the TP1s to the I3+ and I3- probe inputs, trued it up to within <0.005mm and so far it looks to be working great. I had to make some custom parts to allow it to be adjusted on center, these look to be workign good so far. I also accounted for pre-travel variation.

I tested it against a 50mm mitutoyo micrometer standard (+-2.0um), and with some fine tuning of the probe diameter I was able to get consistent results within approx. 0.002mm of eachother! I thought this was retty damn good considering it measures from both directions and so backlash would need to be accounted for (already adjusted the machine for this).

So far I average 50.002mm (50mm reference), 25.017mm and 74.983mm. I set it up on the 50mm piece but am a little unsure why the 25 and 75 were off by a little. It was only 11degC at the time so will try again when it is a consistent 20deg.

Next step will be installing a PI7 interface, sorting out some better wiring and seeing how that changes things. Might be a little over kill considering my ballscrews are C5 grade!

[crjohnson]

1 thing I forgot to mention that I found strange was when measuring a circle, I had Axis1 as X and Axis2 as Y.

But when I begun probing it would move the Y axis first, X axis second. Is this normal? I thought I should be the other way around?

When I did an 'outer' probe, I selected axis1 as X and it moved the X axis.. Strange or have I got something wrong?