I use light burn and run all my jobs from center. I am making a clock and i want to cut out a 3 inch square for the clock parts. I cut a piece of cardboard the same size as the circle wood, and when i make the box, it is perfect in carveco, but when milling if is off center. Can i make the center of the wood, and just have the program run from center instead of front left? I would think i could do this by doing a manual zeroing with out the metal block. Would love a video if any one has one.
1/ Home (if from fresh boot)
2/ Move the router to the center location manually
3/ Zero out X & Y using UI
4/ Probe Z using metal block at the center location
Not sure what CAM software you’re using, but it goes without saying that the zero needs to be set to the center of whatever you’re carving there, before export the gcode.
If you’ve been able to work from center with laser, it’s the same for cnc’ing.
It’s even easier to work from the center with a laser than the router: fire the laser at very low power. As Alex suggested, you move the machine until the laser points to the center of the wood (which you can find by drawing the diagonals).
I use two different machines, the CNC Onefinity with carveco, and a co2 laser with Light burn. I have no issues with the laser. I tried what Alex stated, but it does not seem to work. I want to make a pocket in a circle for a clock. As a test got placed a 5inch square on my CNC, and tried to create a 3 inch pocket in the center. Found center and used Alex’s suggestion. When running it goes to the upper right hand cornet and is nearly near the center. Is this a matter of the CNC or carveco? Would love some help.
I very commonly (like 98% of the time) program & run my jobs from the center of the part. It’s just how I’ve always done it, without giving it a second thought. About the only time I run from the corner of a part is if I’m cutting out a profile and don’t feel like measuring/marking the part center. Simply set your working coordinate zero where you want it, and you’re off to the races!
No, not at all, we’re all here to learn & share.
I usually always put some sort of circle in the center of what I’m working on (in CAD) so that it’s easy to select the zero point in Estlcam. All my fixtures have a 1/8" hole in the center that I use for a zero point. Then whatever I program has a center zero that coincides with the fixture hole zero.
The white fixture is a coaster fixture where I can do either 3.75" or 6" coasters, zeroed on center.
The black fixture is for diamond drag engraving aluminum tags, with the zeroing hole on center. The bottom pic is a typical Estlcam program. The large outer circle is just for reference to set zero.
A tip for setting Z height when there is little or no original material, as in a pocket for a bowl…
Once I set the Z for the first tool bit, move the spindle to a clear area on the spoilboard and lower the spindle to Z zero, then set 123 blocks and solid metal shims so that I have a reference height, when i do a tool change, I can bring the tip of the tool down to my metal block(s) and reset that as the new zero. Takes longer to explain than to do.
