I can’t seem to get Gsender to zero Z to the outside of my material in Rotary mode. I don’t want to zero to the centre of the material. How do I change this, I think I’ve tried everything, obviously not.
@Rik Welcome to the group, Eric.
I won’t be at my rotary for a few hours, but I can’t think of any reason why you cannot set Z0 whereever you want it. Simply jog to the position in Z where you want 0 and click on “set Z0” in the GUI.
If you have done this and it has not worked, report back and I’ll look at this later.
Out of curiousity, where do you want to set Z0?
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I set z-zero on the material surface when I’m etching monograms on glasses. Like @gwili said you just set z-zero very much like you would for the paper method. But — you need to ensure that you have the proper diameter set in you design software and select material surface there as well.
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Thankyou both, I guess I should have been a bit clearer. I have a cylider project created with Carvco Maker. Just a simple cylider with text on it. Carvco shows the zero point as being in the centre of the cylinder, running the simulation is fine, the cut is on the outside of the cylinder. When I put it on the 4030 pro ver2 and set the probe to the surface, using a 20mm puck, it ignores that zero point and wants to drive to the centre of the cylinder. I have set up the job diameter in the rotarysetup of Gsender, but it just ignores my probe zero setting and goes on down to the centre. Obviously after the first time I am now testing without any material, removing it after the probing. What am I missing?
@Rik I have no experience with Carveco Maker, but if it is similar to VCarve Pro, in the initial set up, there are 2 Z0 choices - centre axis or material surface. It sounds like you are set to centre axis in Carveco.
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I’m not sure Carveco gives you that choice, I will investigate. thanks for the reply.
Have made sure that Carveco is set for Zero at top of material. Still no change, what I don’t understand is why Gsender ignores what I tell it is the surface zero using the puck. Who is ever going to start a cut in the middle of the job?
@Rik It’s not a question of starting in the centre of the material. It’s a question of telling the software - both the CAD/CAM and gSender where Z0 is. In a way, it equates to setting Z0 in the centre of the material for flat work.
In VCarve, I tell it the diameter of the material, then choose “centre axis” as the Z0 location. gSender includes a module that will set Z0 to the same place using by probing the chuck. It is a very accurate way of setting Z0.
I think that your issue is happening when you are trying to use the touchplate on the surface of the cylinder. I don’t see why that won’t work, except you may need to do that BEFORE you select rotary mode in gSender. That way, it should use the probe feature as if the material was flat on the spoilboard. I’m thinking that, as soon as you choose rotary mode, using the touchplate option is not available.
Your other option is to do as @jpnharris said and use the paper method on the surface of the cylinder.
I still don’t understand why you would want to probe Z0 as the centre of the work, surely all work is carried out with reference to the surface. If you were machining flat you wouldn’t set Z0 at the middle you would set it at the top of the material or the bed surface. What am I missing here. I will try setting the zero before switching to rotary and see if that works.
@Rik You can set Z0 where you want. In a previous post you said that you set Z0 in the centre of the material in Carveco, but then set it on the surface using a “puck” in gSender. As you have seen, that will not work. Since you make reference to flat work in your most recent post, your rotary process is like telling Carveco that Z0 is on the the machine bed and gSender that it’s on the material surface.
Set Z0 to where it makes sense to you. Ignore where I set it. Just be sure to set it in the same location for both Carveco and gSender.
Carveco sets the zero in the centre of the cylider the toolpath Material settings are radius of cylider and zero at top of material. The simulation sets the zero at the top ( outer surface) and it apears ok. When I try to run that toolpath in Gsender it sends the tool to the centre of the cylinder, as I said before, Iv’e tried to set the zero at the top in Gsender using a probe and puck, but this makes no difference, Gsender still sends the tool to the centre. I can’t find a way in Carveco specify where zero is other than in the material setup in toolpaths.
@Rik I’ll back out and let others try to help you.
Frankly, I don’t understand this latest post. You start out saying that “carveco sets the zero in the centre of the cylinder”. That makes sense to me. VCarve offers that position as one option, and it’s the one that I choose every time.
Then, you say that the “simulation sets the zero at the top ( outer surface)”. To me, those two statements contradict each other.
In your previous post you said, “Carveco shows the zero point as being in the centre of the cylinder, running the simulation is fine, the cut is on the outside of the cylinder. When I put it on the 4030 pro ver2 and set the probe to the surface, using a 20mm puck, it ignores that zero point and wants to drive to the centre of the cylinder.”
This is exactly what I would expect to happen. Carveco is setting Z0 “as the centre of the cylinder”. However, you then set Z0 in gSender to the surface of the material. With two different Z0 positions, the project will never run.
As I’ve already said, and this may be obvious, the only mandatory setting is that Z0 MUST be set in the same location in Carveco and gSender. If gSender is plunging to the centre of the material, the two Z0 settings are not the same.
It’s clear that my way of explaining this is not helping, and I regret that is the case. With luck, another member will be able to make this clear to you. There is no more that I can say on the matter that will help.
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