I have a Longmill MK2 with the original probe. People with more experience than I suggest zeroing to the bed (Spoil board) and not the material surface due to inconsistencies in the material height. Although I tend to plan my material, this makes sense. How do I do that with the original probe. Or do I just set the Z height with the probe on the bed, and let Vcarve know that the Z-zero is from the bed?
@Zummer Welcome to the group, Eric.
You have it correct. You simply put the touchplate on your bed in the same way as you would on the material surface. Be sure to tell VCarve that you will set Z0 on the bed. With that information coupled with the thickness of the material value, it will properly calculate your toolpaths.
FWIW, for pocket toolpaths, you may want to continue to zero off the material surface. That way the depth of the pocket will be correct with reference to that surface, which is what you want in the end.
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Thanks for the tip when pocketing. That makes sense!
Hey Eric,
Welcome to the play ground.
I zero from (whatever I call) my bed only when doing a cutout. This to prevent me from cutting too much into (whatever I call) my waste board.
Since I usualy do a cutout as my last toolpath, I switch vectric to bed zero and deny it to recalculate the other toolpaths. I also save my toolpaths with extensive information within the name including where to xy zero and where to z zero. This to prevent me from running toolpaths from the past with the logic of future me.
For example, a cutout would look like this: sign cutout 6mm35uc c bot.
While the roundover of the same toolpath would look like sign roundover ft6mm4 c top.
Doing this may prevent some nasty dives and other weird surprizes.