Just realized I've been setting my tool offsets wrong for years after a job in Tacoma

I was running a big batch of aluminum parts on a Haas VF-2 at a shop up in Tacoma last fall. The foreman saw me touch off my tools and asked why I was doing it that way. He showed me his method of using a 1-2-3 block and an edge finder to set the Z-axis from the top of the part, not the vise. It cut my setup time in half and made my first parts more accurate. How do you guys handle your tool offsets on a new setup?

4 comments

4 Comments

robin_foster11mo ago

@parker_bailey read about using a height gage for that trick, saves even more time.

parker_bailey3mo ago

Read about that method in an old shop manual once. Makes you wonder what other simple tricks we're all missing, right?

robin_foster13mo ago

Exactly! So much knowledge just gets lost.

thea2461mo ago

@parker_bailey totally right, bet theres a whole world of setup shortcuts nobody talks about.