Is there any way to change what the canvas sees as the X and Y axis? At the moment the X axis increases the workspace in the ‘horizontal’ direction and the Y in the ‘vertical’ however on my machine the Y axis is the horizontal (across the bed) and the X is the vertical (down the bed). At the moment I’m just swapping the values but it would be nice to be able to set up the canvas orientation for things like choosing the correct raster setting for grain orientation. Have I missed an option somewhere or is it just how it is?
I think that’s just convention.
What machine do you have?
It’s a bobscnc E4, the build space is a 24" square so it doesn’t really matter but when I lay the wood down the bed that’s X for me and Y for Easel. Unless I’ve attached the stepper wire to the wrong place…I guess technically I could just swap those wires and have the x port control the y motor. Just wanted to see if there was a ‘click here to swap axis’ button, no big deal if there isn’t.
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AFAIK the Bobscnc E4 uses the GRBL v3 CNC-shield which is can be used with 3 or 4 drivers.
I assume it use 4 drivers (A-axis is slaved to the Y)
If so, I think you can solve your idea this way:
- Instead of running the A-axis slaved to Y, redirect it to X
- Connect the wiring over accordingly, so you are running X1-X2-Y-Z instead of X-Y1-Y2-Z
Axis orientation would rotate 90deg
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I agree that you’d probably want to, if possible with your setup, swap the wiring to have the machine coordinates match that of all the CAD/CAM software.
@HaldorLonningdal I know this is a very old thread, but would you be able to speak in more detail on how to make the wiring changes you mentioned? I’m not understanding how to redirect the A-axis to X and what exactly you mean to make it run X1-X2-Y-Z.
@HaldorLonningdal I actually believe I correctly adjusted the wiring, however, my machine will no longer home. It will move almost all the way back to home position and right before completing an error that an unexpected command was completed by the controller and machine freezes up.
You’d also need to swap the Y and X limit switches’ plugs.
AND swap the settings for $130 & $131
@SethCNC
So just a straight swap of those two? z limit switch plug goes where the y was and y where the z was? And can you explain how to swap the settings for $130 & $131? I’ve attached my board as it is now where the axis are switched but haven’t messed with limit switch plugs and a screenshot of the code I think you’re referring to with the $130/$131 part. Thank you.
Yes. And it looks like your machine uses identical settings for $130 and $131 so no need to edit them… if the work area was more rectangular then the values wouldn’t be identical and would need swapped, but since yours is a square they are the same values…
When you try to home, do you get an alarm number?
@SethCNC I made the limit switch swap, however, switching the z out to the why doesn’t allow the router to register when it raises upward and the machine kept trying to spit the motor upward through the tripped limit switch.
Here’s a screenshot of the error code. I also switched the y and x access limit switches to see if that would work but got the same error.
The changes should only effect the X any Y axis. this change does not involve the Z axis.
@SethCNC yes that’s what I’m going for just a swap of X and Y. You mentioned that I needed to switch the Z and Y limit switches though which made my Z axis fail to home. Did you mean to switch the X and Y limit switch plugs?
Yes, sorry about my typo. only X and Y would need to be swapped.
@SethCNC Ok that does make sense. I’ll give that a try this afternoon. My biggest concern is that the arduino is going to need to be reprogrammed if switching the limit switches doesn’t fix the issue. There are two X axis switches so the gantry can align itself which has been my real struggle. I’m not a coder so that seems like a daunting task.