I am using MeshCAM to write the G-code and Easel to carve my project.
When I set machine to home, I am assuming this is 0,0. (X,Y)
Why then, when I set my program zero in MeshCAM is the SW corner -0.4497, -0.6511…?
If I intend to use the machine’s home as my program zero should I have my MeshCAM program zero set to 0,0?
Thanks in advance to any of you big brained animals that can help resolve this issue.
When I draw my parts, the bottom of my part centerline is X0, Y0 and I use the" top of the part" as Z zero. Then on stock size I click on " fit to geometry". Then I use Universal Gcode sender to machine the parts.
Checking it out now in Meshcam, it appears you may want to click on the " Move Geometry" button, which on my screen is directly below the " File" button. Then click on "Make geometry positve X and Y.
That would make the home switch position the X0, Y0 in your Gcode I believe. The machining margin which is a bit larger than the object drawing may throw you into some negative space in the gcode though. There is also the Custom XY translation in which you could enter some measurements. I haven’t tried that at all but wonder if that would do the trick?
Looking at it some more, you can click on the program zero button ( the one with the green black and red arrows) and select the lower left corner of the part as zero just like in Easel. Trying it out, even that puts the machining margin into negative space at the lower left corner. So it sounds like you have to take that machining margin into consideration not to enter negative space.
Playing with it some more, I think if you are really accurate in defining the machining region to all positive space, you’ll get all positive Gcode, as it doesn’t seem to come up with a machining margin warning if you click on the object. Hope this helps a bit. It is useful for me to try new things in Meshcam as I do the same tasks over and over the same way.
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This was incredibly helpful, thanks! I’m making guitar bodies and using locator pins for two-sided carving. If I use the x and y from the top as the x and y for the bottom it comes out perfect.
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My main use of the X carve are guitar components. I draw in Rhino and Cam in Meshcam. As I said, the centerline at the bottom of the part has been my procedure all along. That way, parts get flipped over and are in the same spot. With UGS, I normally home the machine, then jog to my centerline zeros, and then disconnect and reconnect without homing. With a zero reset, both machine zero and work zero are all zeros. In some cases where I had to change bits a lot, I will draw with my centerline x10y1 inches from home, so if for some reason I have to start over. I can just home it and jog to those locations each time.
If you aren’t familiar with this website, you’ll like it for the drawings.
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I really appreciate that. I also use rhino/meshcam thanks to Chris from highline
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