Override Tool Life timer

[Tommy Wieler]

Is there a line of code that I can insert to temporarily override the tool life timer? I would like to disable the timer on my morning warmup routine. I wrote a little program that picks up a tool and runs it for 8 minutes with the spindle speed increasing over the duration of the program, and I don't need that time counted against the life of the tool. Any ideas?

[Clint Buechlein]

Tommy,

There is not, however instead of calling a tool number you use, set up a tool number that has same pickup and drop off location as the tool you typically use. The machine will still pick up the same tool to run the program and count away life for that tool.

-Clint-

[Tommy Wieler]

Great workaround, thanks Clint!

[Clint Buechlein]

Tommy,

You're welcome. Technically after the tool is called you could use AFL to read the life, record it as a variable, run your program, then at the end of the program, use the variable to write the life back to what it was. But calling a different tool number you don't care about is easier.

-Clint-

[Brad McIntosh]

Another possibility is adding an AFL "WEARFACTOR" call to the program. Not sure exactly when it was implemented in the THM control software, but the statement is available in THM9 onward.

By adding a line [WEARFACTOR 0.0001] you reduce the rate at which the LIFE-LEFT is REDUCED by a factor of 1000. So, during your spindle warm-up the lost of LIFE-LEFT should be imperceptible.

NOTE: Information about WEARFACTOR is in AFL section of the controllers electronic Help/Manual.