Touch plate inaccuracy on one side

1

I searched and saw someone reference a similar issue as mine but they said it wasn’t resolved so here’s what is happening:

When I zero with the corner finding side of my touch plate, everything works fine. If I do a tool change and flip the touch plate to zero Z, I end up cutting about ~0.5mm deeper than intended.

I did some measurements and found the following issues:

touchplateMeasurements
touchplateMeasurements1920×1254 158 KB

Further measurements indicate that the brass plate sits 0.53mm lower when using the Z only side. Am I missing something or should the measurements in the picture be equal? Since the issue only happens on one side, it doesn’t look like I can calibrate it in Mach 4

I reached out to support but haven’t heard back yet. Is anyone else having this problem?

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2

With the 0.002" repeatability and 0.005" accuracy of the machine it is “good enough.”

A probe might help but it also introduces a whole ton of complexity that isn’t going to get you any better than that 0.002" x 0.005"

Somebody on this forum told me they filed theirs down to be more uniform. I would avoid that myself and try to find the exact center and mark it for reference and just do z in the center.

3

But 0.53mm is 0.02" which is quite large for an accuracy of 0.005". 20 thou vs 5 thou, right?

If I only use the corner side to zero Z then I get a very reasonable repeatability.

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4

Sure is.

And have you measured the sides yet? Mine was even further off. Like I said, it’s “good enough.”

As an old boss said to me a very long time ago, “well, at least you are on the paper…”

5

I get similar measurements. Probably important for inlay and other finicky things. Thanks for letting us know.

6

When my avid touch plate came apart I just bought one of these and soldiered it to the end. It is small enough you can even use it to find the X and Y as well.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087Q942DD

7

Avid support got back to me and indicated that they had a manufacturing issue on older touch plates that resulted in a discrepancy between each side. They’re going to replace it.

IMO, a 0.5mm discrepancy is a big deal and I’m glad they’re replacing it.

8

Cool, glad they helped.

I had a lot of issues with my machine and they always were happy to help.

Today, I use a Drewtronic’s probe as well as ATC and I get exactly the machine specs as advertised.

9

I would agree, thats a lot. Glad they are replacing it.

Also, this design is prone to getting junk in between that plate and the lip if people play with it by pushing the plate in. Its a good idea to check it once in a while and clean it if necessary.

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