Thought I would share this project with you. We are having a dinner party and I thought I would use my X Carve to make some Name Place Signs. I have been struggling with keeping the X and Y coordinates when tool changing and during this project found a near perfect solution for my needs after reading many threads on this forum. First some pics of the signs.
Because I was trying to use a 60 degree V bit to chamfer the edges and wanted my v carve design to me precisely central to the sign it was very important to realign the machine after tool changes.
My process:
- Insert required tool.
- Home the machine $H
- Secure my piece of blank oak
- Jog to the bottom left corner of the blank
- Make a note of the X (123) and Y (138) positions for inserting into my gcode tool replacment script:
$H
G21
G91 G0 X123 Y138 Z-70
G38.2 Z-50 F76
G92 X0 Y0 Z0.1
G90
G0 Z10
The X and Y positions do not have to be precise as long as they are close to the corner ± 1mm is fine. This code homes the machine then moves to approx 30mm above the work piece (Z-70). I have replaced my z axis with a taller, stiffer version so you will need to change your Z value appropriately. I have then used a probe attached to a 0.1mm feeler guage which the bit moves down to and stops on contact. I then set the work position to X0 Y0 Z0.1 and move the bit up to Z10
Each time I want a new tool in, I just swap it and rerun the script with the probe attached to the new bit. This will work with all the bits I use, flat, v bit and ball nose.
Quick video to show tool swap script running. (example only, didn’t secure the work piece)