Manual touch-offs beat probe cycles every time, fight me

I used to let the probe handle all my tool offsets until it messed up a pricey part. Now I do manual touch-offs before every run, no exceptions. It adds maybe five minutes but cuts my scrap by like 80%. Seriously, if you're blindly trusting probes, you're asking for trouble.

4 comments

4 Comments

adamwebb1mo ago

Blindly trusting probes" is exactly it. That manual check adds a layer of human caution the probe just doesn't have.

margaretramirez6d ago

Wait, but doesn't that manual check depend on the person doing it? I mean, what's your actual process for the hand check on a critical tool, do you just look at it or actually touch off on the part? Because if you're just eyeballing a worn insert after the probe said it's okay, I feel like you might miss the same thing the probe did.

oliverrobinson1mo ago

Actually, probes often catch errors humans miss due to fatigue or bias.

zarat381mo ago

What exactly went wrong with your probe? Mine once missed a slightly worn insert because it was still in spec but cut poorly. That's when I started doing quick manual checks on critical tools. Like @adamwebb said, that human layer catches things machines don't question. Now I run the probe cycle but verify key tools by hand, best of both worlds really.