Tool condition monitoring can be plagued by false positives due to transient changes in normal cutting conditions which cause the monitoring system to exceed a pre-set sensor limit and erroneously report a problem condition. A smart tool monitor is described that correctly handles variable process conditions. The tool monitor combines information from a virtual CNC machine that is predicting the sensor output for a sharp tool with actual sensor data to provide a robust and reliable tool wear monitoring system. The system is based on spindle power, but can be extended to other sensor types as well as monitoring a variety of tool error conditions beyond tool wear.
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