Run More Than One Part at a Time; How Production Shops Use M97 - Haas Automation Tip of the Day 

I'm really glad the shop I work for uses dedicated fixture plates on schunk tables for almost everything we do. There's no probing necessary on all those individual parts when you already know exactly where they are! We mostly only use vises for prep cuts and op1's on certain parts.

Easily my favorite commercial videos, thank you haas tip of the day!

Another handy use for M97, is for multi tool holemaking. Just put all the xy coordinates i the sub, and call up the sub program for location for spot, drill, tap, countersink, etc. This method has two advantages, one it reduces the size of the program, and two makes use of one set of coordinates, which means any location tweaks carry over to all operations, so theres no possibility of missing a coordinate on one of the operations.

I agree with the subroutine calls, but I personally like using M98. It allows for making edits to only one subroutine and not messing with the main program. I know...everyone has their preferences. I also prefer to run the part to completion. This shows only running the first op, but many parts are cut on 2, 3, 4, or even all 6 sides. Using the same technique, use work offsets / vises, and group the program by tool to reduce tool changes. The big advantage (comes from "LEAN MANUFACTURING") is that every time the doors are opened, a completely machined part (or set of parts) is removed. This eliminates wasted time in excess handling. Just another way to reduce time and improve productivity. PS-by using M98 (M97) subroutine calls, we have been able to reduce our cycles times by 20-40% (versus single-part running).

My favorite RU-vid channel. I love the the way he explains 😍😍😍 Thank you so much for sharing your valuable experience with us

Dang, this guy is so good to watch, so informative, entertaining and a great teacher, and I don't even have any machines yet and I love watching his vids! Awesome job Mark!

Hey Mark sir, Just keep posting such useful videos . I just love your tip of the day videos.

It's sheer joy watching the insane precision of those machines in 60fps

You always do a great job with your videos, Mark. Keep up the great work and all the great videos....

Terryberry is my favorite host

Thanks for sharing these daily tips. As a student currently learning machining to become an operator with cnc machines this video was a wonderful look into increasing efficiency

I still lose it every time i see Mark feeding the birds. I love it

I like the production quality of this video, it seems fitting for a company like yours.

I had this exact question recently and what great timing

I love these "Tip of the Day" videos!! Keep em' coming! Also, could you do one for a G18/G19 plane shift? I have a 90 degree Lyndex head that I would like to get some more use out of.

G52 is your friend here. One work coordinate and a limitless amount of parts can be made. Another key factor is subplates, tomstones and pallets. If you want to run high numbers, yet still be nimble enough to jump in with small batch runs, you have to get away from the vise. Haas' M97 feature is literally one of the slickest items they ever put into a controller. I've been using them simce 1994, running as many as 260 pieces at a time on a VF2 with a 4th axis tombstone. All with one work coordinate. For the naysayers that say you can't pick up where you left off on a broken tool or scrapped part, that is simply not true. With G52 I can restart the machine and begin at part number 88 on a 120 part run without skipping a beat. It always amazes me how many machinist do not know how to do this. Great vid that will hopefully open some eyes.

You can set in MDI G10 Q2 P1 (G54) G10 Q2 P2 (G55) etc ..... All excellent points for saving time, but you need to factor in setting up a vice, parallels, stops, a work coodinate per part, and make work shift or TLO changes for different heights. For lights out running large quantities definitely worth the set up / program time. Good video

These are excellent videos, I really appreciate the content and the time to make them. This is first time I've seen an a bad practice in one. It is never a good idea to hammer a part down in gripper jaws.

Great video, Mark! Complicated subject...clearly explained.

amazing video thanks for sharing where can i buy those small vises (the gold ones) Thanks

As to be expected from HAAZ, magic demystified!

I am just a wannabee, but Haas looks like a really well-ran company with probably the best value. This guys videos are awesome. I like what he said at the end of the video. It is how fast you can finish the last part that counts.

Great video as always from HAAS team

Mark I have a question for you? when are you going to teach how to use a dial indicator on a D-hole because on a regular hole is easy to do and how does D-hole gets dial in? Thank you from Nevada

Love your videos mark. Wish I could afford the 10 grand worth of vises you have on your machine. 😀

This video is so good and informative. But I have a question that how to execute G97 on machine and measure one tool at different heights?

Spend the time to make a fixture plate, and that will reap rewards when it comes to clocking up the parts and teaching the tools.

very good advice, greetings from Mexico

Огромное спасибо за качественные субтитры, а именно в Tip of the Day, у других программах этого не наблюдается.

Always Very brilliant usefull and funny. Ty. I would only suggest to reverse the path with 2nd 4th tool and so on

What I have found working in a production shop for 18 years now is running tons parts at the same time isn't always faster then running one or a few parts. Tool changes is only a small part of lost time in large production runs. You have to first mount multiple vices them tram them in, setup multiple work offsets which will always change each time you run that job. Once you have all that set and parts running you have to then load and unload multiple parts after blowing them all down of coolant and swarf. We used to run a part with runs of 300-600 very basic flat mild steel with 2 17mm holes in runs of 50 parts stacked in a few piles on the table and found running 4 at a time was more productive because it took so long to blow all the swarf and coolant off each part so as not to make a mess of the floor and tables. There is also the risk of a tool wearing out mid cycle and tolerances change so you risk rejecting multiple parts instead of 1 or 2. Don't get me wrong there are many ways to be more productive running multiple parts as you said using fixture plates where you load and unload parts outside of the machine while the spindle keeps running and making you money but running multiple vices isn't as efficient as you want them to be. I try to make as many fixture plates as I can for this reason alone to keep the spindle running as long as possible and thats working great for me so far. What I really like is 2 of the mills I run have partitions in the middle of the table so while one side is running I'm loading the other side and the program just repeats over and over until the job is done so the spindle rarely stops during the day.

So you need to set different toll height offsets for every different vise which are not at the same height? And also indicating every vise?

Great video Mark..

Hi, love your videos! Question, how do you set the work offsets for each p value, and when would this style of programming be beneficial over standard g54, g55 ect offsets and using a canned cycle. Thanks!

Could you tell us about the G12 / G13 cycle, please?

Awesome video, nice editing and good vulgarizing. I wish I have the money to get a HAAS CNC, maybe one day!

This is good stuff. Thanks guys!

Does it work in only memory mode? I'm curious if "M97" also works on DNC/Remote mode.

Mark, how do you program the location of each pice? If I finish the first batch then new pieces must be 100% at exact location as the previous ones. Do I have to check new each location? Thank you.

Would you be able to make a video about SSV? A bit more in depth than the other SSV videos?

Pardon my ignorance of CNC programming, but is there a "for" or "foreach" loop available? Can subs be given more descriptive names?

how are you changing your z values. when i do this i usually just copy and past my toolpath for each tool calling a different workoffset. i also turn off h and t code agreement (dont like to) and use different h values on the same tool.

Great vid, leaves me wondering how each individual part is indicated, and how the code is modified accordingly. thx!

While it's implied, the video didn't mention all of the time needed to place the multiple parts across the multiple vices, then running the probing cycles that establishes each part location (center of the blocks, or x,y origins, and z surface heights.) These processes add to the setup time initially to be able to run multiple parts. I suppose it's still less significant in a production environment but worth a mention?

sir, may i ask what about the tool lenght compensation each vise how do you compute?

Very informative Thanks for sharing!!

I really like this stuff, been doing this kind of thing for 20 years, I do wish all controls did internal sub calls. I also wish Haas had something equivalent to a G66 modal macro call. Then you would just do 1 macro call per tool and a list of work offsets, and that list could be put in a sub so you only need to edit 1 list and it gets used by all tools.

Mark, you taught me this years ago when you were still in tech support. It has helped me endlessly, thanks again.

This is exactly what I was asking the people who sold us the HAAS, how to do program with subprograms for multiple parts. They could not answer. This video is great, I only wish it came out 7 years ago. I do multiple parts all the time and now will utilize this program. Would be nice if you would go into more details. On how to do Fixture offset, how to set up tool. More details on programming, step by step so to speak. Please.

Excellent video.

That's kinda cool. I wonder what programming the tool paths looks like.

Golden words! Bravo! Золотые слова! Браво!

Great video as always! Is that stainless steel? What tool and rpm are you running. Metric if possible Thanks.

Please I wanna know how to control the tools change arm speed to make it fast or slow?

How many work offsets do you get with a haas?

Hey Would that work on my 2002 VF2? or is my controller not capable of doing this?

Thank you sir for this video,im asking if this M97 can use in Fanuc?

As someone who's worked as a setup guy in factories for a while, it amazes me that this isn't common sense to some people. I've walked into factories and had cut run times down to a faction of what they previously were, buy setting up 4,5,6 separate operations on the table at once. You have multiple sets of work offsets.... use them

Can I use an M98 subprogram call out in my M97 subroutine? Or will the M99 for one cancel the both?

We will follow this method after mechine will be accident or product dimensions are change then what will do?

awesome... can we use G52

3:09 is my life.

this is only valid in an ideal world. without errors. and without tools breaking. especially restarting a program somewhere in the middle after fixing an error. (machine error i mean)

Good job!

First time watching your videos Mark, they are awesome! In addition to machining multiple parts with G97 or G98 subs, more time can be saved by choosing the order in which the parts get machined, to shorten up travel on any of the axis. For instance, on your video, start all spotting, drill, tapping, etc from left to right, since the left vise is taller you can move the initial Z plane closer to the top of each part and use G99 on all of the parts. Furthermore, if this setup is for production parts and will run for a decent period of time, it is worthwhile to review each sub and change the order on which the features are machined. Once again, with the purpose of minimizing the travel of the machine from one part to the next. Even a split second saved adds up at the end of the week. Great video, Thanx !!!

what is the brand of that little gold vise thats on the table at the start of the video ??

What is that little vise at the beginning?

You could also use g52 instead of all those offsets

Been running multiple Parts on multiple offsets since the 80s

Our company used fanuc robot arm with robodrills for parts over 200, never seen haas using these.

Working for a small-medium sized company most of the parts I get range from 1-2 or maybe a dozen of any particular part. most of which are one time runs or something I might make twice a year if a recurring contract. It gets annoying as management gets restless because of the slow pace, I get annoyed because every day is like starting from scratch having to program an entirely new part and having to make yet another one time fixture widget. Parts that are not complicated but sometimes require 3-5 different operations on a vertical mill. Cycle times are short but the setup/tear own/reset for the next part eats so much time.

Wouldn't you have to re-probe each part in each of the vises after the first run if you did it this way? I'm probably missing something. I'm an amateur. Thanks!

I have this problem, will fix this, thanks.

M97 may be my favorite code

id use a fixture to save time on setting the home for each part every time you load a new one

QUESTION: how do you offset each tool to be a different height? does the same tool have different H values in the tool offset page? for example the first sub program tool(vice style 1) will touched off the top of the stock, with th H1 call out, for the next sub program will i have to touch off the top of the stock(vice style 2) and use H2 instead?

What about all the extra set up time to load vices and set 30 different work offsets?

what about thoes yellow vices brand???

great teacher... :)

Hello, what Mill are you using at time 7:57? Thanks

Thank you Mark from Nicaragua. We love you brother.

how does the machine know the distance between the vices?

Where can I get the vices shown in this great video?

sometimes the tie rods are so long weve got an E1 and E2 (g54 and 55) for each end

Sooooo setting 51 needs to be put back?

I'm confused on locating.

This is basic machining productivity information that should be commonplace. We've been making dedicated pallets and using "M97" type programming since we got our first high end VMC in 2008. Hurco and Siemens controls both make this type of programming extremely easy. You don't need to use an M97 command, nor do you write any sub program calls. Just probe (or program if you designed/made the pallet in house) your coordinates of each setup and tell the control which program to run. In fact, we save even more time by reducing tool changes to the bare minimum by taking this concept one step further. This can be done by posting each tool as it's own program, then add them in your pattern setup on the control. Add tool probe check to protect against broken tools and sister tooling for a lights out operation. By the way, mounting all these vises directly to the table is insanely inefficient as well. Invest in a Pierson Workholding Pallet system and mount all of your vises to pallets for 30 second changes that require no indicating. And create your own dedicated fixtures when the production run is more than 50 parts. My 2 cents from years of making it happen...

Hi mark, thank you so much for your VIdeos, I still have a problem i couldnt find though. See, i have a casting part , i probe it up and yet I found that if i shift the X by 1mm, and the Z by 0.5 mm the part comes out with holes etc correct aligned . ( Casting is out of shape ) I wanted to automate this process, therefore i added on the CAM a pass through, for example #5221=[#5221+#1001] . The Idea was for me to controll the G54 shifting by a macro Variable, in this case 1001 in the current commands folder. But it is not working. It doesnt take the changes, or if it does, it messes the machine up and confuses it. Is this because the Machine is not compatible of doing G54 changes while running in cycle ? it is the UMC 750 5 axis. Kind regards, Alex

What is the issue with calling tools in the sub-program? I have a nextgen UMC running an M97 sub with four tools, seems fine so far, is there some risk?. In my case the sub program is used on two ends of the same part, with only one part in the machine at a time. Is the issue with the example given here for minimizing tool changes?

I am from india, Haas Tip of the day

Anyone have a mastercam post for this so i can skip the copy paste? Haas generic 3 and 4 axis

I'm liking the 60hz video. It looks good.

How do you tell the machine where the part is, probing? If so could you show that being demonstrated?

Thiis is amazing, tip of the day rules, thats why we bought Haas vf4SS

2:57 did i just see a hammer slug on the stock part i grip vise:) Just notised it Good education

Really cool! :-)

I like too finish the parts complete before moving too the next. small shop no second shift half way through, stop the machine pull out the finished ones load it back up and go home.

ever tryed heidenhain coding?

This is ok for 10 parts but I am running 6 pallets with 24 parts on each pallet. This would take 144 different offsets. Here is a way to do it with macros and g52's. I have a row of parts 2.7 inches apart in Y. I can set my G54 right in the program then use a coordinate shift (G52) for each part. #5221= -13.814 (G54 X) (this sets your G54 offset in X) #5222= -3.6 (G54 Y) (this sets your G54 offset in Y) #5223= -16.35 (G54 Z) (this sets your G54 offset in Z) #5201= 0 (G52 X) (this cancels any G52 coordinate shift in X) #5202= 0 (G52 Y) (this cancels any G52 coordinate shift in Y) #5203= 0 (G52 Z) (this cancels any G52 coordinate shift in Z) G00 G54 G52 Y0 M97 P1004 (goes to line 1004 and runs 1st part at g54) G00 G54 G52 Y-2.7 M97 P1004 (goes to line 1004 and runs 2nd part shifted by -2.7 inches in Y) G00 G54 G52 Y-5.4 M97 P1004 (goes to line 1004 and runs 3rd part shifted by -5.4 inches in Y etc.) G00 G54 G52 Y-8.1 M97 P1004 G00 G54 G52 Y-10.8 M97 P1004 G00 G54 G52 Y-13.5 M97 P1004 M01 And repeat for each tool. This way all the part positions stay with the program.

Leaving the machine to run by itself? What if a tool breaks or starts to wear and make things out of tolerance?