I’ve had 2 or 3 projects ruined by the whole design being pushed up and to the right of the material. Just now I threw away 23" of Poplar because it ran out of room at the R end of the material and kissed the top edge while leaving 6 inches at the L end and plenty of space at the bottom. It is always lined up well inside the dotted lines on the screen in Easel. Is it something I’m doing wrong? Should I select the whole project and click center to material every time as the final step of layout? Is it a function of setting “work home”? This is really Really REALLY aggravating.
Thanks in advance
This is a new X-carve 750 by the way
Is your material size in Easel the same as in your actual workpiece?
Every time except for the once I lied to easel and put in 1" less than actual size which didn’t help
Should I maybe put on the dust boot before setting work home to avoid the possibility of bumping it after setting x-y home?
If you think you’re bumping it, you might want to check your settings. Basically the motors should hold for stuff like putting on a dust boot. That wouldn’t explain being 3" off, though.
Are carves otherwise ok?
Otherwise carves are coming out perfect
Just to make sure, do your axes move the same amount (travel) as commanded during jogging?
Like command a 10" jog and each axis move the actuyal 10"? (Use shorter distance for Z)
A screen shot of your Easel file, or shared Easel file will also provide us with many more clues.
Here’s a share. Although I have not tried moving and measuring I have squared x and y in the last week or so. I’ll try the move and measure thing though.
http://easel.inventables.com/projects/zQCdnz05UxFGVtEiBWphOw
You need to click “Save” on your project when you generate the URL for it to work. 
I do however suspect work flow error, mainly how to set work zero correctly relative to work piece/machine.
I have yet to find a save button anywhere which always spooks me but work always seems saved anyway.
I have read in other, unrelated, posts that work home can be anywhere. Have I misunderstood that? That being said however I always set it very close to the bottom left corner of the material although never precise but never off by more than a fraction of an inch. In fact I always start every job by homing the machine then moving it just far enough into the L lower corner to fit the Z probe then bringing it back left and down a couple clicks to set x-y home. I always use the buttons in Easel to move it never by manually moving the carriage.
Work zero can be anywhere - that is true.
It need to match the design and physical material to stay true.
Will a 10" jog command result in 10" of actual travel?
Here it is again. I thought you meant save the project in Easel.
http://easel.inventables.com/projects/zQCdnz05UxFGVtEiBWphOw
I made some tweaks to the project prior to saving it as shared. The main thing was I highlighted the whole project and clicked center to material and it visibly shifted down. It was visibly centered within the dotted lines before but it makes me wonder.
You have listed your material as 23,5" wide, do you have that travel available to you with the Xcarve 750?
Specs list workable area = 550x550mm which is 21.65"
Yes 23.5 was too wide which is why I shrank the project to fit workable area. In hind sight I should have lied to easel about the width but that did not cause the push up and to the right as the same thing has happened at least twice in 6x12 jobs. I did not want to cut the piece because I had already prepped it with polycrylic and rounded over the edges on a router.
Note that the Machine -> Work Area and Material Type X/Y/Z dimensions are for visualizing only. They can be anything but nothing here will affect alignment issues. (disregarding Z in this instance)
The only thing that matter is the Easel home position (work/material zero) match the design zero, so they are indeed aligned.
With a premade blank I would find its center, and jog my bit centered over it and use that as Home position (work/material zero)
The design need to be centered aswell, see image for an example:
(Everything will be carved, not only what is visible in the right preview)
You cannot lie to Easel about material size then tell it to center design to material and then expect the carve to be centered.
If you want design to be centered you need to set material size accurately.
I lied about size because the design was not centering accurately. By lying I had an extra inch or more at both x and y that Easel didn’t know was there so, in theory, would not attempt to carve. Had I done that in this case I may not have a ruined project.
Are you saying to use the center of the material as work home? Does the home position in the shape tab automatically match the x-y home I pick after clicking the carve tab or do I need to coordinate them? I have yet to do anything with the shape tab.
“The only thing that matter is the Easel home position (work/material zero) match the design zero, so they are indeed aligned.
With a premade blank I would find its center, and jog my bit centered over it and use that as Home position (work/material zero)”
