I have now cataloged I think all of my router bits. I have a whole spreadsheet ready to sort. But I haven’t figured out what system to use to assign numbers to the bits…
I’m starting to think about reserving 1-9 as aliases to use for bits currently in frequent use, but to systematize in the hundreds, and leave double digits for future organization. Or maybe go to four digits; I don’t know how well various tools deal with four-digit tool numbers. I know “dewey decimal system” was a joke, but really I had already thought of it as an analogy for what I want to do; I’m looking for a system after all.
Ultimately I need an accession number. But even four digits isn’t obviously enough. If, for example, I were to have 1000’s means imperial, then 1XXY could be XX 32nds of an inch shank and Y be an accession number, but that wouldn’t work for ⅛" for me since I already have more than 10 kinds of bits with ⅛" shank; I would run out of 104Y numbers.
I’d like one set of tool numbers across all software I use, and directly address my crib. I don’t have and for the foreseeable future won’t have an ATC. I’d like my T tool strings to directly reference my crib, so I can get a prompt and go straight to the crib for the next bit to avoid confusion.
This is confused a bit because some systems use a convention where a T tool string has a configurable portion that provides or addresses a tool offset. This is commonly used on lathes, I think. But I have no plans for a CNC lathe at this point, and I can burn that bridge when I come to it.
How many bits do you have? I know this is going to sound like overkill, but if you really do have a lot, then maybe a database tracker would be good.
For example: have a 3-digit bin code if you don’t expect to have more than 1000 separate bins. Then, every time you put a bit in a bin, note that bit in the row matching that bin code. If you really want to get crazy, you could laser engrave a 4-digit code on each bit (bits break) and then note that 4-digit bit code in the row for the bin code.
I used to work on Microsoft Access, so I guess it would be fair to retort that my suggestion is a clear example of how when the only tool you have is a hammer all problems look like a nail.
This isn’t a software problem. In a database analogy, I’m looking for a schema that has worked well for others in practice. Here, the schema isn’t field types and indexes, it is meaning of place values in a number. I’m particularly looking for a schema in which as many as reasonable of the bit attributes are encoded in the bit identifier. I’m expecting the sequence to be very sparse. My point is that I want a system now that will grow as I acquire bits. I have only dozens of different types of bits so far for the router. I expect to fill that out. The bits I have right now are overwhelmingly ⅛" shank. I expect that always to be true for the router since it’s kind of a “sweet spot” for my application (1.5HP spindle, ER11, aluminum gantry and belt-driven with openbuilds wheels so not super stiff), but to fill out other sizes as well over time.
I want to use the same tool numbers across different software. I have been enjoying trying out different software. I’d like T2536 to mean the same thing whether I did the toolpathing in FreeCAD or Kiri:moto or SolidWorks or FlatCAM or Fusion360 or PathCAM or…