Old man newbie here i have look but cannot find how or if you can move x and y zero my is not in the center of board have been looking a couple of days can’t find anything need help
ken
Welcome to the group @halftimer! What software are you trying to set the x and y zero in? Or are you trying to find the center of the spoil board? I’m not quite sure what your asking.
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What i have seen (YouTube)most x y zero are in the center of spoil board but when i use go to x zero it’s at the bottom of the spoil board and y zero is high on the spoil board using g sender and software is vcarve pro thanks for the response Ken
On the Vectric side of things you can set the job origin in the Job Setup section XY Datum is the XY location and Z Zero Position chooses the the top or bottom of the stock.
You mention spoil board a couple of times so I’m also thinking you want [0, 0] to be in the center of your spoil board?
To that end I have a couple of questions. What make/model CNC do you have? Does it have limit switches? Can you home the machine and if so which corner does it home to?
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Again thank you for your time i am using vcarve pro with a long mill mk 2 48 x30 homing lower left corner it may not make any difference where the x y 0 is i have run some free project and haven had any problem just notice it was different from what i had seen
kalftimer
No limit switches, sorry, forgot that part
Having XY zero in the center does not really matter but you can mark up your spoilboard that way if you want. It is done easier/better with limit switches IMHO. The idea is to find the center of your cutting area. You can use the machine to measure it’s own cutting area and then make a mark in the center of the spoil board.
Then you need to “Home” the machine to the bottom left corner, without limit switches you can move all the way left and forward till you crash to home. Then zero the X and Y in the Home position. Then move to the marked spot in the center, a V bit works good for this. Now before you zero out at the center of the board write down the X and Y coordinates that are displayed in gSender. This is the offset from the Home position to the center. You can then zero X and Y to the center of the board.
Now there are a couple of ways to save that position at the center. One is write it down. Another is to change to a Workspace that you don’t use say G59 and set X and Y to the center there. Then don’t work in that workspace so the center position is always saved there. Another way is to write a macro that moves from Home to the Center and set X and Y to zero there. All of the ways to get back to the center after power off rely on first establishing that Home position. I like the sensors so I don’t have to crash the machine to “Home”.
The advantage that I see in getting back to a spot repeatedly whether it’s the center or some other place is it makes it easy to use jigs. For example I have my center marked and saved. I also have four holes that make a rectangle that are a known distance from the center. I use these with a dowel for double sided work. I also have a grid marked on the spoil board with the machine. So I can eyeball place a piece of stock fairly accurately in the center. Then I mill the four holes in the stock that are above the holes and insert the dowels. At this point I can take the work off the table and put it back accurately whether it’s for double sided work or sanding etc.
rhank you i understand better now