This is probably fundamental knowledge and I’m lacking it right now. If my machine is homed (front bottom left) and I’m working on a smaller piece, say 6x8. If I want to attach the piece to the middle of my waste board how will the machine know to move to that location from 0/0 then begin working. I suspect it will be told in the Gcode but don’t quite know. If there’s a category for this question I didn’t see it so I apologize.
You will need to zero the material (different than home). Homing tells the machine where 0,0 starts and how long the rails are. Zeroing tells the machine where the material is in relation to absolute 0.
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Ok that’s a good start for me. Can you tell me or guide me to how I zero in another location
I find YouTube a wealth of information on most subjects. I would suggest a search for terms: OneFinity, CNC, Introduction to, etc.
Find someone using the OneFinity there doing a simple step by step project and watch it through. You might find it easier to follow if you ensure they use the OneFinity.
Good luck.
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If you have the touch probe, you hook it to the front/left corner of your work piece, jog the bit till it’s hovering just above the circle on the probe, then hit “Probe XYZ”. It will prompt you for your bit diameter, then ‘do its thing’.
If you want to zero in another location (like the center of the work piece), jog the machine till the tip of the bit is centered over your work piece, then zero the XY axis. Watch this video - I do this method around the 0:20 mark - you’ll be able to see which buttons I press to zero the new location.
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Very nicely edited video and clear! Pretty impressive work as well. You’ve answered that question but you’ve lead me to another. It looks like you changed bits 2-3 times. How did you do that? 3 files and 3 bits or did you just start from a new place on the piece with a new bit?
Thank you! I started with the 30 degree engraving bit and used it solely to align the machine with the pencil center mark on the piece of wood. That zero’d the XY coordinates.
I inserted my bowl bit and used the probe to zero the Z coordinate with the top surface of the wood, then I ran my first file to carve out the interior.
Once the interior was carved out, I switched to my 1/4" spiral end mill. The top surface of the bowl was still intact, so I rested the probe on the top edge of the bowl and zero’d for the 1/4" bit. Then I ran my second file to carve the recess into the bottom of the bowl interior.
When the interior was done, I flipped the piece over and re-zero’d the XY coordinates with the 30 degree bit, then probed Z with my bowl bit, then ran my 3rd job.
I have a longer version of that same video if you’re interested in watching it. It might put you to sleep, but you might find it interesting.
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Man I’ll tell you what, it doesn’t look like you’re new to CNC. Now I feel NEW NEW. Thanks for your help and actually the longer video was perfect, I’ll watch it a few more times as I begin to get my feet wet. Again, thanks!
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This should help you
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