Finally got my tool change time under 30 seconds

I used to just let the machine run its full cycle, which took almost a minute for a tool change on our old Haas. About six months ago, I started tweaking the M-codes and pre-positioning the next tool during the cut. The change was small, but over a 500-part run last week, it saved us over four hours. Anyone else mess with their machine's macros to shave off a few seconds?

2 comments

2 Comments

holly_craig1mo agoMost Upvoted

Man, I'm over here still trying to remember to hit the green button after I load a tool. Saving four hours is wild. I messed with a macro once and the machine just sat there beeping at me, so I went back to the old way. That kind of time saving is seriously impressive, even if my own attempts are a bit of a joke.

hernandez.jordan1mo ago

That "machine just sat there beeping at me" feeling is the worst. I've found the trick is to start with a macro that does one tiny thing, like resetting a work offset. If that runs without beeping, you can slowly add more steps. It's a lot of trial and error before anything actually saves time.