Some Vortex process thoughts

Vortex thoughts

I will start with the standard warning. This is what I have found is a good process. Your mileage may vary.

I have been doing some projects where I need to remove one piece of material from the Vortex chuck, replace it with a piece of material of equal size, and run the same job again using the same bit.

I find it easier to remove and replace the material if I jog the LM to the rear in Y.

I prefer not to run the Y axis alignment process after each job.

Here are the steps that I have found to work.

  1. I use the Y axis alignment module for the first job. At the completion of that, gSender shows Y0.

  2. I switch to rotary mode, and run the set Z0 module, touching off the top of the chuck.

  3. I set A0. (I still donโ€™t know if this changes anything in the job.)

  4. I jog in X to where I want the job to start and set X0.

  5. I run the job. At the end of the job, A returns to 0.

  6. Without changing any axes settings, I switch to โ€œnormalโ€ mode. At this point, gS shows Y at other than 0.

  7. I set Y0.

  8. Now I jog in Y to the rear of the bed to make it easier to remove and replace the material.

  9. I return to Y0.

  10. I switch back to rotary mode. At this point, gS shows A at other than 0.

  11. I set A0. (Again, I donโ€™t know if this does anything at all.)

  12. I run the job again. Etc, etc.

All of this may seem screamingly obvious to more expereinced rotary axes users. The only part about this that escaped me at the outset was the idea that, even though the LM was working in rotary mode, and even though it had replaced Y movements with A movements, gS was still incrementing Y in the background. So, at the end of a rotary job, when switching back to normal mode, Y had changed. Re-setting it to 0 before doing anything else was the key for me.

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@gwilki Appreciate you taking the time to share some of your experiences with the Vortex. As always, your time is greatly appreciated. Thanks Grant!

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