Tool-wear compensation
Automatic tool-wear compensation, part after part
As a tool wears, the size it cuts drifts. Undrd's edge agent closes that loop on the machine: the part is measured, and the wear offset is recalculated and written to the controller before the next part is cut. The dashboard shows each correction as it happens and keeps the history per tool.
Corrections are written the way each controller accepts them, for example as a G10 block or into a Modbus holding register. On a machine where that write path has not yet been verified, the agent refuses to write until it has.
Measure, correct, log
A probe in the machine, or a measuring machine beside it, reports the finished size. The agent computes the correction and checks it before every write.
- A deadband, so a reading inside the comfortable part of the tolerance writes nothing
- A per-cycle clamp on how far one correction may move the offset
- A hard wear limit per tool, set in the dashboard, that no correction may pass
- Every correction logged per tool, so wear becomes a trend you can follow
Probe every Nth part
Probing every part costs cycle time. Set how often the probe runs for each program, and the dashboard gates the probe cycle inside the program before it is sent, so only every Nth part is measured.
- Link each probe operation to the operation it measures, so a result lands on the right tool
- The cadence is saved with the program and used on every later send
- The machine builder's own programs, such as the probe macros, are never sent or overwritten
At the wear limit, and before it
When a tool reaches its wear limit, the agent swaps in its twin by rewriting the running program, loads it on the control and starts the wear count again. Before that point, the dashboard estimates how many parts each tool has left from its own probe readings and its earlier lives.
- An estimate of the parts left before the wear limit, shown as a range
- Advisory warnings when the tool may reach its limit before the next probe, or when the probe interval looks too long for the tolerance
- Each tool's closed lives kept, with the parts made and the final wear
- The insert maker, product code and holder can be recorded per tool when it is changed
Questions
What people ask about this
Which measuring devices does it read?
An in-process probe on the machine (on the GSK 988TA, a Renishaw OMP40-2 read from the controller's macro variables) or an external measuring machine over RS-232.
What stops a wrong correction from reaching the machine?
Every write passes the deadband, the per-cycle clamp and the tool's wear limit. On a GSK 988TA with an in-process probe, the agent also corrects only when the program on the control is byte-for-byte the one it delivered.
Does it keep correcting without the internet?
Yes. Measuring and correcting happen on the machine itself, so they carry on while the link is down, and the corrections reach the dashboard as soon as it returns.
Close the loop on your own line
Tell us what you turn, what you scrap and which controllers you run, and we will tell you what the loop needs on your machines.