Probe Compatibility

[zeke]

I hate to admit it, but I was once a Compucarve / Carvewright owner and I just ordered my Bot. Please don't hold that against me
. I bought a Carvewright probe and still have it. Can I use this probe with the Bot with a 4HP spindle? Would it work as well as the ShopBot probe?

http://www.carvewright.com/cms/probe

http://store.carvewright.com//product.php?productid=16134

Regards,
Rick

[Brady Watson]

Most likely, yes. You will have to determine 2 things.

1) Is it a normally open or a normally closed switch?
2) Does it require external power to operate?

Use a test meter on the continuity setting to determine NO or NC. If you cannot get continuity, it may require power to work - which means either taking it apart or contacting the manufacturer to find out what voltage is required.

-B

[zeke]

Brady, if I understand your answer, if the probe is Normally Closed, then it will work with the Bot? Is that correct?

Regards,
Rick

[Brady Watson]

Yes, that is correct.

-B

[zeke]

Here is the answer I received. That said, would this work with the ShopBot? If not, could I customize it to work?

The probe is a simple mechanical SPST normally closed switch. When nothing is touching the tip, the switch has continuity and it breaks when the tip is pushed up or sideways. It does not use any power, it only makes or breaks the circuit.

Regards,
Rick

[Brady Watson]

You'll take one wire and hook it to the input 1 terminal, and take the other wire and hook it to ground. You should see input 1 light up when nothing is touching the probe & go off when you trigger it. If this does not work, reverse the wires. The input 1 wire is shared with the Zzero plate wire by means of a Wago connector on the machine. Follow the instructions for wiring in your manual, except for when it describes hooking up to voltage. There's not much more to it than that, except the following safety advice:

1) NEVER turn on the spindle/router when the probe is in the collet. Sounds obvious...others have acutally done this.

2) NEVER use the Zzero plate to zero out the probe. The Zzero plate shares the same circuit as the probe & doing so will smash/crush the probe.

3) Tape the shaft of the spindle/router to it's body to prevent incidental spinning while probing.

-B

[Gary Campbell]

Brady...
How will the probing software interpret the normally closed versus normally open configuration? Will the "1's" have to be changed to zeros?
Gary

[bill.young]

If you use the Copy Machine Virtual Tool to set up your probing, you can choose between normally open or normally closed and it will write the correct input switch settings.

Bill

[zeke]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll take a look at this when I get my machine in a few weeks or so.

Regards,
Rick

[Brady Watson]

Gary,
The SB Probe is normally closed, so the default SB config (as if you bought a SB probe) would work...but as Bill points out, you can also use a NO probe and still take advantage of the probing routines.

-B

[Gary Campbell]

Brady...
You can see how long its been since the probe was out of the box. Thanks Bill & Brady for the save.
Gary

[Brady Watson]

No problem, Gary...I haven't used the probe for anything 3D in several years since I brought my laser scanner online. But...I found myself using the probe for the 1st time in a long time last week, probing the perimeter of an odd-shaped 2D part for a customer. For whatever reason, the latest generation probe bent the stylus (brutally) and I couldn't get it to work right...But my old-school 1st generation SB probe worked flawlessly. I still have to investigate what went wrong with the digital probe. I have a lot of respect for my old trusty 1st gen SB probe. I used to probe large 3D parts for sometimes a solid week at a time & it's still up to the task if I had to rely on it.

-B