First time to set up and use machine. I am unable to zero the z axis after homing the machine. My plan was to v-carve a design on a 15” diameter round blank 1” thick. I zeroed my x and y axis in the center of the blank. Tried to zero z from center of blank and it’s a no go. Help please.
What exactly is not happening that you think should? Are you using the manual paper method?
The machine homes just fine. I have a 15” x 1” diameter round blank i wish to carve on. To start, i am zeroing x and y from center of blank (not sure if this is correct). should i be zeroing x and y from blank edges? Z axis will not zero. it shows either under or over. i am using the paper method to zero z axis at this time.
To start the machine homes just fine. i have a 15” x 1” round blank i wish to v carve on. i am zeroing x and y on center of blank. ( not sure if this is correct). i am using paper method at this time to zero z axis and it shows under or over and just wont zero. I am also using v-carve desktop as my software. desktop version has a 25” x 25” limit for workspace. Do i need to make sure that my workpiece is within those dimensions from the lower left of spoilboard?
Dawn, See if this helps. Onfinity CNC for Beginners Episode 1 Setting Home vs Zero - YouTube
Read and watch this in it’s entirety. The z is zeroing, but it’s telling you your z toolpath is out of the cutting area.
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It is if that’s the way you’ve setup the project home in VCarve. For something like round blanks, the center makes sense to use as there’s no real “corner” unless you place it in a jig.
No. VCarve is just restraining the project to 25x25 (I thought it was 24x24 but I have VCarve Pro and it’s been a long time since I looked at the restrictions for VCarve basic). If you try to design a project that’s 30" wide for instance, VCarve will throw an error before you can generate the GCode.
When you set the project 0,0,0 on the 1F you’re just matching it with the VCarve start so the GCode commands will be correct relative to your workpiece. But if the project won’t fit in the 1F’s workspace (say you’ve got 7" of carving to the right side of center but you put the material shoved way over to the edge of the machine) you’d get an Over/Under warning for the X-axis.
When you home the machine you tell it where the lower left corner is. It then knows based on the machine setup in the controller how to calculate the other 3 corners. It knows (on my Journeyman for instance) that it can go 48 inches to the right and not bump into the other side. You can home somewhere else, like the center of the spoilboard but that will mess up the calculations. In my example, I’d be at X24 but telling the machine it was X0. It would still think it could go 48" to the right except this time it would smash into the Y rail after only going 24" to the right. If your project doesn’t need to travel more than 24" then you’d never notice because it wouldn’t crash but you really have to be thoughtful about that when homing somewhere other than the lower left.
Thanks for the info. I was able to figure out what was wrong. Now my next question is how do I change my bits for each tool path when onefinity pauses? I wasn’t able to jog my machine over away from project to get bit out of router. The machine was then looking for a probe which I don’t have. I am using the paper method to zero my z axis.
Tool changes are an advanced thing… Save yourself a lot of headache and confusion and save each toolpath to it own file… Some software like vcarve can group by tool so you can save on number of adjustments.
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my software is vcarve desktop
When saving toolpaths at the top of the panel are options for splitting it up
separate each tool into it’s own file.
When I save as separate files and run them individually do I have to rehome machine or can I just re-zero and continue with carve process?
You literally just pick the new file… Change bits and rezero only z
Thanks for all the help. Much appreciated. Confidence level is getting better lol.
Hey Dawn,
This was already answered when you asked it for the first time.
Either
- you avoid programs with bit changes, i.e. you split all your programs into little pieces, one for each bit (Onefinity Support method)
or
- you enter something that lifts Z in order to be able to change your bit into the ‘tool-change’ field in “General Configuration” Tab in your Controller, as is explained here (Buildbotics suggested method / @Raziullah007 method).
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I’ve just recieved my 1F journeyman yesterday & setup & having same problem. I’ve read the 1F support post, but still cant work out what i’m doing wrong here. Have rebooted, homed & zero’d on test material numerous times & keep getting this!!!
Help me before i totally lose my shit
Am just trying to run the 1F test file before moving on
Picture shows you never homed the machine. (State would be green). Check the (under over) post in the forum faq.
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Yep, as i said, homed, zero’d & went thru the under/over thread, cant work it out. though am currently running a small test file i did in Vcarve & seems to be working ok at this stage. I will rehome & try the 1F test file again
the ‘1f’ test file isn’t for use for the end user. It has a probe command in the beginning. Never run gcode you did not create.
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