Z Zero Plate

[Chuckb]

I use a plate to zero my Z axis but I switched to much thicker stock and when I run the macro to zero my z axis the last move it makes is to raise above the z zero 3 inches which trips my limit switch. Does anyone know where the macro is stored and what it would be called so I can edit it so it raises only about 1 inch.

[cnckeith]

hello. please provide more information as there are about 10 different ways to do what you are describing.

1.) to which macro are you referring?

2.) post a fresh report.zip file here so we can see your cnc configuration

[Gary Campbell]

Chuck...
Is this the same issue I responded to via email today?

[Toaster]

This is how I do it:

https://youtu.be/nW_7iHxc0QM

I power the machine on and I zero X, Y and Z. Z0 is all the way up. Then I go zero out my tools to the spoilboard. My main spindle is saved as tool number 1. When that tool is selected, it has a negative value, let's say 5". So tool number 1 is -5" tall in my tool library. That means that from the top of my Z travel to my spoilboard the tip of the tool needs to go 5" before it hits it.

Most of the work that I do I zero off of the spoilboard, and then in my CAM software I spec the material thickness.

If I do want my zero plane on the top of a piece of material for some reason, I wrote the script in the video. Essentially all it does is set a Z offset in a positive number for whatever work coordinate system I'm using.

If this is at all helpful I can share the script with you.

I should also add that one of the reasons that I do it this way is that no matter where I zero my Z, for rapids it always jogs up to machine Z zero, which is at the TOP of my Z travel. This makes it so theres no way ever for any code generated by my CAM software to command a move that exceeds my Z travel.