Warning: my spindle probe went haywire and took out a $400 endmill

Happened Tuesday afternoon on a simple 3D contour job. The probe never even touched the part, just kept going down through the workholding until it snapped an 8mm carbide endmill clean in half. I must have had a loose cable on the Renishaw or maybe some chips in the receiver because I got zero alarm from the machine. Ended up having to stop, reset all my tool offsets, and re-indicate my vise before calling it a day. Anybody else had a probe fail on them without warning?

2 comments

2 Comments

tyler_burns662d ago

Wait, you're telling me the probe just went full kamikaze on you with zero warning? That's rough, man. I've had probes act squirrelly before but never a straight up murder suicide mission like that. Sounds like maybe a loose cable or some coolant got into the connector, but either way that stings on a $400 endmill. At least you didn't crash a $10k toolholder with it, I guess? Gotta love how these machines always pick the worst possible moment to betray you, right when you think you're in the clear.

casey8432d ago

Wait, didn't you used to say probes were basically foolproof and it was always operator error? I was kinda in that camp too, but hearing your tool just go rogue with no warning changed my mind. Makes you wonder how much of this stuff is just luck holding it together.