Have you any intention of introducing into the controller program the facility of keeping the zero position on close down so that when you restart the machine it has the zeros you last used in place. I had a Shapeoko before buying the 1F and this has this facility, and boy does it save a lot of problems, especially if you have a power out or have to shut the machine down,

Dave, That is the limitations of stall homing. I am sure you have seen that when the axis hit the stops when homing they jump back after they hit. The home is set to 0 after that jump back occurs. That jump back is one thing that is not consistent. Another thing is junk buildup between the axis blocks and the stop blocks. This is what I have observed, I am sure other will clarify if I am wrong on some points. Here is one thread that discusses using limit switches to overcome these limitations. Can you add limit switches I have not done this because 1. it adds complexity to the machine thus more things to fail 2. there are cheaper ways to get accuracy, however they take more time. I won’t have time till the weekend to take pictures of my setup. But if you’re using fixtures already then you are well on the way. If you are taking your piece off for pours or whatever maybe you can rebump the fixture to get origin before you put the piece back on.

Hey Dave, [image] SanderCreations: I assume the same as everyone else. I secure the piece, put in an end mill bit and bring it to the edge. Hit home for x and y then use the paper method for z. I assume you mean you press the zero button for these axes, not home. Okay, then you have the numbers. Do you have some example numbers after zeroing workpiece? [image] SanderCreations: I have a spindle and didn’t understand how to alter my equipment to use the touchprobe so I sold it. That would not have been necessary. With a (now earthed) spindle (in contrast to double-insulated hand router) you don’t need the magnet probe anymore. You only need one wire on the touch probe, because the spindle is already earthed. If the touch probe still did not work after switching to a spindle, all you would have had to do was swap the wires because some touch probes are wired the other way around (see here for details). The touch probe works perfectly with a spindle this way. As Chris @ChrisM already mentioned above, using the 3-Axis Touch probe gives you more positioning repeatability than stall homing, either on a fixed block or jig, or at the workpiece itself.

Yes, I mean to zero. Either way all of the techniques people have mentioned so far just haven’t been consistent enough to get me close enough to my zero coordinates to be reliable in a multi-day carve. Especially when it is a customer’s logo or design, being off even 2mm is way to much. Maybe it’s just a limitation of the hardware. Maybe Masso will be better.

Hey Dave, the biggest mistake you made is to sell your Three-axis Touch Probe. On a Standard Series Onefinity CNC machine, there are two ways to get acceptable positioning repeatability: Either Retrofitting inductive proximity sensors as limit switches or using the Three-axis Touch Probe instead of inaccurate stall homing, either on a fixed block or jig, or on the workpiece itself, and subsequently only relying on the workpiece coordinates. [image]Ultimate OF X-50 Table Build (From Jay Bates) The insufficient accuracy of stall homing is irrelevant if you use a touch probe everytime and subsequently only rely on the workpiece coordinates. And reducing the use of the touch probe to only once per bootup period because you have a fixed jig saves time […]. Retrofitting inductive proximity sensors as limit switches brings accuracy if you want to rely on the absolute machine coordinates, without probing. [image] 349iq2345: As Chris @ChrisM already mentioned above, using the 3-Axis Touch probe gives you more positioning repeatability than stall homing, either on a fixed block or jig, or at the workpiece itself. [image] 349iq2345: The touch probe works perfectly with a spindle this way. If I were in your place, I would order a Three-axis Touch Probe to be able to achieve much better positioning repeatability this way.

We will have to agree to disagree on the probe for the moment. Even when I had the Makita, the probe wasn’t accurate or repeatable. X and Y were OK most, but not all of the time. Also, with the Spoilboard and clamp system I got from Morgan’s etsy shop, you can’t easily use the probe with the u-clamps in place. They get in the way. so you have to try to probe x/y before securely clamping it then hope you don’t move it. At least 25% of the time it would try to jam the bit through the probe when doing Z. Broke 2 bits that way. I sent a question to 1F about it but didn’t get a response. To be fair, it was buried in an email with a few other issues trying to get it set up. Anyway, I’ve moved on at this point.

Hey Dave, what @ChrisM suggested above, is to clamp a block somewhere on your workarea, that can be left permanently there, away from your work, and to use the touch probe on this block in order to substitute homing with a more reliable method. Unlike when using stall homing, this block never moves and repeatability should be excellent. Regarding problems when using the touch probe, you should be able to eliminate them by taking care to clean the bit and the inside of the collet before probing so the electrical connection is of good quality, or if errors come from the flutes, even better use the shank of a bit that you inserted the other way around into the collet as the probe to probe X and Y (and use the real bit only to probe Z). If you had such problems there could also have been a problem with the probe wire. I would not give up that fast, since when everything is in order, the Touch probe brings excellent results.

Just so there is no confusion with the difference between home and setting zero for the different axis. Homing the machine defines the work areas total size by finding the limits to the axis on one side and then the machines total cut area is set by the soft max limit in the axis settings 32in for the x for example. Where these limits are found is by the voltage resistance that it gets to when it hits the ends after pressing home. This is set to 2v and 1amp by default. This is what homing is for to define the total cutting area for the machine. The next function is the zero for the different axis which is set by probing or manually with the set zero position buttons. Different than the home buttons because rehoming will redefine the total cutting area. This second function of setting the zero for the axis tells the machine where your material is in relation to the total cutting area. As long as you do not turn off the machine this zero position will be the same no matter what file you run. Its important to have a grid as a reference for your material and the stops you are using are parallel with the machine as from this corner everything gets measured from. If the carving is out could be because the material is not parallel with the machine from the starting corner. I cut my fences with the machine to ensure they are parallel. Also when you do turn off the machine its a good idea to roll it back to the farthest stop position before selecting home to ensure the two sides of the gantry home parallel to each other. [Screenshot (200)] [Screenshot (199)] [Screenshot (198)]

Hey Dave, [image] 349iq2345: what @ChrisM suggested above, is to clamp a block somewhere on your workarea, that can be left permanently there, away from your work, and to use the touch probe on this block in order to substitute homing with a more reliable method. Unlike when using stall homing, this block never moves and repeatability should be excellent. PS: @JDog in fact suggested this too here: [image] JDog: Since the machine will never be in the same place when it homes. The only solution to a repeatable x and y is a fixed location on the spoil board that can be probed and set each time the machine is turned on. For example for the epoxy guy who wants to make multiple pours. With this method he could actually remove the piece and let it dry and then return it to the machine when he was ready because the start position will be the same for all pieces that start in the set corner fixture.

Hey JDog, lol, this thread seems to evolve to a collection of explanations of difference between homing and zeroing :slight_smile:. My last one is here, and by the way, onefinitycnc also has one here. There are probably many more in the depths of the forum, because who has not ever tried to explain it to someone (proud when you first understood yourself :slight_smile:). But yours also refers to adjusting the stall homing parameters (see also manufacturer’s video on stall homing fine tuning)

Very interesting. Let me see if I understand: Your touch probe block is clamped exactly a certain distance away from the corner in the fence - looks like X1.0 Y1.0? Then in your cam software you always put your offset the same distance away from the stock corner? That would make things a lot simpler when working with square cornered stock pieces.

Keeping zero position

Original/PRO Series (Buildbotics) (Gen 1)

349iq2345 March 26, 2023, 5:21pm 82

Hey Dave,

PS: @JDog in fact suggested this too here:

Would you buy 1F again

Brand new to CNC, looking for what is really needed

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Keeping zero position

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