Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

KJNC wrote: ↑Sun Jan 03, 2021 9:20 pm Hello I've recently converted an OEM Avid CNC NEMA 23 controller over to Centroid Acorn (Mach 4... Why is it even sold?) and everything works rather smoothly (100khz seems to work fine with the Leadshine stepper drivers).
However, up until now I've always used LinuxCNC and did all of my tool height offsets manually so I'm not understanding everything perfectly.

I work with wood that I flatten in a planer before CNC and the thicknesses vary some.
Therefore, since my work requires somewhat consistent results I used the spoil board to touch off (IE offset it by how thick the stock is supposed to be), to set tools, and so forth.
Since I use an ER collet system I have no tool holders and must setup everything manually every tool change.

Do I insert my longest tool first, touch off with a conductive or mechanical switch, and then set WCS however I want?
Most examples use two tool setters or a movable switch--but I'm hoping to use a single stationary one, and set my work coordinates manually.
I realize I will need to set an offset of some sort so I only have to enter in stock thickness into WCS and there's some details that I'm not clearly seeing.

My username info mentions how I use CNC12 and a few other details--it's just a simple 3 axis router but I'm from the dark ages on some things as you can see.

KJNC wrote: ↑Sun Jan 03, 2021 9:20 pm Hello I've recently converted an OEM Avid CNC NEMA 23 controller over to Centroid Acorn (Mach 4... Why is it even sold?) and everything works rather smoothly (100khz seems to work fine with the Leadshine stepper drivers).
However, up until now I've always used LinuxCNC and did all of my tool height offsets manually so I'm not understanding everything perfectly.

I work with wood that I flatten in a planer before CNC and the thicknesses vary some.
Therefore, since my work requires somewhat consistent results I used the spoil board to touch off (IE offset it by how thick the stock is supposed to be), to set tools, and so forth.
Since I use an ER collet system I have no tool holders and must setup everything manually for every tool change.

Do I insert my longest tool first, touch off with a conductive or mechanical switch, and then set WCS however I want?
Most examples use two tool setters or a movable switch--but I'm hoping to use a single stationary one, and set my work coordinates manually.
I realize I will need to set an offset of some sort so I only have to enter in stock thickness into WCS and there are some details that I'm not clearly seeing.

My username info mentions how I use CNC12 and a few other details--it's just a simple 3 axis router but I'm from the dark ages on some things as you can see.

kentonsj wrote: ↑Wed Feb 03, 2021 3:14 pm

KJNC wrote: ↑Sun Jan 03, 2021 9:20 pm Hello I've recently converted an OEM Avid CNC NEMA 23 controller over to Centroid Acorn (Mach 4... Why is it even sold?) and everything works rather smoothly (100khz seems to work fine with the Leadshine stepper drivers).
However, up until now I've always used LinuxCNC and did all of my tool height offsets manually so I'm not understanding everything perfectly.

I work with wood that I flatten in a planer before CNC and the thicknesses vary some.
Therefore, since my work requires somewhat consistent results I used the spoil board to touch off (IE offset it by how thick the stock is supposed to be), to set tools, and so forth.
Since I use an ER collet system I have no tool holders and must setup everything manually for every tool change.

Do I insert my longest tool first, touch off with a conductive or mechanical switch, and then set WCS however I want?
Most examples use two tool setters or a movable switch--but I'm hoping to use a single stationary one, and set my work coordinates manually.
I realize I will need to set an offset of some sort so I only have to enter in stock thickness into WCS and there are some details that I'm not clearly seeing.

My username info mentions how I use CNC12 and a few other details--it's just a simple 3 axis router but I'm from the dark ages on some things as you can see.

The router version comes with a tool touch off option for setting your WCS Z zero height. The magic happens in the mfunc6.mac and there are plenty of examples in this forum of how people have modified it to suit their needs. If you like a fixed location, you can have the mfun6.mac go to that location and probe for Z zero in your current WCS. Each time you change a tool, the z zero will be re-measured with the fixed tool touch off location. In your application with a stationary switch, just adjust the offset for the thickness of your touch probe to make Z zero where you'd like it to be (Assuming your probe isn't at the spoilboard level). Each time you change bits and re-probe, the Z zero will be at the same relative height.

I like to zero to my spoilboard when I'm using sheet goods and cutting dados. The plywood sheets can vary in thickness but with a zero on the spoilboard, I know that my dados are always the correct depth from the finished side of the plywood. I also probe to the top of the workpiece, occasionally. I usually do this for V-carving where you aren't as concerned about the finished thickness but you want the depth of the engraving to be spot on. I have my mfunc6.mac set up with a couple of probing options, one is to use the zero that is already set, the other is to jog the machine over to a location and place my tool setter at that location and probe for zero and the last is to use a fixed tool touch off location for subsequent tool changes. I use a wireless tool setter and it functions as my moveable and stationary tool setting probe. I would caution against changing the WCS to allow for the thickness of the workpiece. I would recommend probing for zero on the top or bottom of your workpiece and using the correct material thickness in your CAM to ensure you don't have any Z height discrepancies. I would be more than happy to share my mfun6.mac with you if you'd like. I could probably film my router in operation and demonstrate each example. I would need a few days to accomplish this.