Zeroing the bits on two-stage carve

1

I’m new to CNC and have probably a terribly simple question, but when zeroing my bit for a carve (and especially for a two-stage carve), I’m wondering what would be the proper zero position. I’ve carved quite a few signs so far but nothing so detailed that I messed it up, and not a substantial change in bit size. So I don’t know if I’ve just been lucky or what. But which of the below is correct, with green being the roughing bit and red being the detail.

I have beeing doing the far left and haven’t experienced much trouble, but I’m about to start a larger carve starting with a 1/4" bit and then a 1/16th bit, and then doing a 3rd pass with a 60 degree v-bit and don’t want to screw it up.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Zero
Zero1542×552 27.3 KB

2

The 3rd one is correct. Search for Charley Thomas and order his touch plate www.Triqueta-cnc.com
It will get all 3 axis lined up

3

When you do a two stage carve in easel you can say use last xy zero position and just rezero z. But you have to be careful that you don’t move the carriage while changing bits.

4

Your 3rd illustration is correct for Xand Y zero. However Z zero can be done anywhere on the surface of your material.
When doing a two stage carve think ahead and pick a location that will not be carved by your first bit. That way you can set Z zero for the 2nd bit at that same location. As both both bits should be Z zeroed at the same location for best results.

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5

Thanks everybody for the feedback. I got sidetracked on some other stuff and completely forgot to reply until today. I think I’ll invest in the Triquetra soon. Luckily up to now I haven’t done anything so detailed that it ruined the piece or it became noticeable. Thanks again!

7

What if the Bits are two different Lengths? Does ‘Uselastlocation’ figure this in?

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8

Well, ideally one is probing Z zero… and if you have probing activated then you get 2 pages for the setup, one where you can probe the new (longer or shorter) bit, and then on the next page for X,Y you can still select “use last” and you’d be good to go… the issue comes in when not using a probe… and for this, I’d suggest not using easel as the sender, but instead a better software that still allows the user to set X,Y,Z independent of each other… my preferred sender for this is OpenBuilds Control.