Menu
Cart

Low Profile Tool Setter (LPTS)

$75.00

LOW PROFILE TOOL SETTER

  • Less than 1.375 height
  • Ultra low down force required (less than 1 gram)
  • 10 IPM or higher touch off speeds
  • Solid State Piezo Touch for high repeatability, long life and fast response.
  • Pulse extender for solid touch off
  • NO contacts , both lines . 
  • Dual color LED for SENSE and ESTOP (over-travel)
  • ESTOP works without power.
  • Total Stroke less than .085″   SENSE stroke .045
  • Accuracy .002 or better
  • Sealed , water and dust resistant case
  • Mounting ears
  • Easy 5 min hookup and setup to Table I/O 12.6 and rev 17 based units
  • Compatible with most CandCNC Controllers and electronics
  • Discounted when bundled with other products .
SKU: 55-02-000-1 Categories: ,

Description

Can you find and buy a “tool setter” for your router ? SURE. The flat plate and clip-on-the-tool version are all over and they are really cheap! As you would expect they trade some things to be cheap
PRO’s

    1. Really cheap so when they break you can afford a spare .
    2. Really low profile and can be used to find the top of materials

    CON’s

    1. They are battery operated and use “ohmic” sensing.  
    2. They have no over-travel sensor/detection
    3. You have to slide the touch plate under the spindle and clip an alligator lead on the tool (router motors and spindle shave no way to connect tot he tool / chuck side from the body)
    4. You need to carefully jog down and make the touch in case it misses to not damage the sensor plate or (worse) break your tool.bit)
    5.  It’s not possible to use this in any type of automated or semi-automated tool change .

    What about the “real Tool Setters you see advertised on EBAY for 40 to 80 bucks?   They work. Most have over-travel sensors (although its not listed in the description) .  They are pretty well made and are water resistant and even come with a little air blower thing to blow the dust off the top (if you have shop air and a regulator) .   The primary problems are they are made in China , have poor instruction manuals and they are 75mm tall!   Right at 3 inches!.   That can create problems with a longer bit and routers with limited Z travel.  

    Enter the LPTS form CandCNC.

    It’s designed to be used with routers and rotary tools .  It’s just a little over 1 3/8″ tall . Plastic case is water resistant and has a rather large touch area for its size. It uses highly sensitive piezo touch technology for the primary sensor that trips with a few grams of down force . One shot pulse prevents bounce rejiggers and missed triggers .   Solid mechanical Over-travel hooks to ESTOP input and prevents breaking the sensor , the tool, and your wallet.

    Ships with 20 ft cable setup with color coded crimp ferrules .   Hookup instructions and and a human that speaks fluent English (although with the Texas accent) will answer a call.

    Want a better Deal?   Order it with our ISS-05 No-Stall Spindle Speed or any of the Router Controller bundles and save BIG!

    NO PHONE SUPPORT FOR NON-CANDCNC applications. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CNC MILLS .   REQUIRES SOURCE OF 12V

Additional information

Weight .33 lbs
Dimensions 7 × 7 × 2 in

How it Works: Setup

The LPTS lets you setup and do a SEMI-AUTOMATED TOOL CHANGE in SheetCAM or in Vectric Products (VCarve Pro, Aspire, Cut 3d, etc)

Here is how you do that:

  1.   Mount the LPTS to the spoil board of you router table .  Typically some location like lower right side of the table is good
  2.  Open a ROUTER Config in CommandCNC that has a Spindle .  It’s a LOT faster if you have a spindle with a collet system like the ER series. (note:  If you COPY any CONFIG and rename it, it copies all the settings from it’s Parent CONFIG
  3. Put a small bit or a blank rod in the spindle chuck  Tighten it
  4. Raise the Z above the spoil board surface about 2″ or more.
  5. HOME your XY and ZERO the XY DRO’s Zero the Z on the spoil board or some place above it
  6. Jog over to the center of the LPTS touch button .   Write down the X and Y positions .
  7. Move X and Y back to Homes and make sure they read zero .  If not repeat steps 5 and 6.
  8. With the Z still at least 2″ above the spoil board, open the MDI button and type in “G0 X {your x position for LPTS} space Y {your Y potion for LPTS},  hit enter key to run the code . It should center back over the LPTS and above it. 
  9.  Once you have confirmed the XY Absolute position of the LPTS in relation to Xhome and YHome , Machine zero. Then use those numbers in the TOOL SETTER POSITION IN CommandCNC™  For Z use a spot that is at least 1.5 inches higher than the Spoil Board .
  10. Now determine a good spot to move the router and chuck to be able to easily change the tool/bit  Put those numbers including the Z potion in the TOOL CHANGE POSITION digital readouts.
  11. Touch off the tool to the top of the test material and ZERO Z .   You can set the WORK Zeros for X and Y if you want
  12. Run the INITIAL TOOL SET and make sure the tool goes over and touches off as it should

There are custom POSTS available for using SATC in SheetCAM and for Vectric.  Each application needs to have them loaded to make them available during processing.   Refer to the specific instructions from the manufacturer or in the CAM section of the LPTS Manual.
These settings stay with the specific CONFIG you have for using your Router/Spindle.   If you have more than one, you will need to add the positions to each Router CONFIG you have.

Using LPTS in Semi Auto Tool Setter Setup (Video)