I have never ran a CNC machine that let you tell it where to go to after homing… home is home… But I do believe that you have use one of the G54, G55, etc… To set up a permanent offset to accomplish this… I have never used it but… Typically in mach3 for what it is being used for in langmuir, you only use g54. But you could setup G55 to always have your 2" off set from home position, so when you go into that alignment, you would be at -2,-2… Someone else will have to chime in, like I said, I don’t use it, have never used it…
I wondered what those were for, right before I deleted them while adding my pierce counter, and modifying my screen. I now have something else to look at getting what I want, like you said earlier, more than one way to skin a cat.
I just use soft limits, and I just manually home the machine on startup. I see no need for physical bump stops on this machine, they will reduce your travel.
I am not comfortable doing videos, but maybe one of these days I will make a short series on my work flow and settings. The one video I found on setting up soft limits was to long, about 30 minutes if I recall.
On cnc mills g53 or e0 is your home location and g54 plus are your work offsets. Is there anything in mach3 with a g53? On funuc controls iv used you can set your home however you like as a distance from g53 and on fadal controls you can set your e0 to be what ever you like to work comfortably. I have no plasma experience at all and am enjoying this discussion as limit switches are something I want to add to the pro when it arrives.
Mach3 uses G53 (machine work coordinates) and G54-G59 (Work coordinate offsets)
You either need to setup soft limits and manually home your machine each time you start it, or install and setup limit switches.
But unless you install a z axis, I do not see much use for G53 on a plasma table if you have the water tray. After each cut, the torch keeps blowing air for a few seconds. And if it is directly over the water, it will splash water all over the place. If I am at the machine when a part is finished, I just manually jog the torch over solid material until the air stops. Then I hold shift, and press the up key to fast jog it away.
Mach defaults to G54 if no work offset is called, so thats all I use since I do not have any repeatable fixtures setup.
SheetCam has a tab under job options called ‘Parking’ and SheetCam will send your torch there at the end of a run. I generally park over a solid section away from the cut piece, in case of tip ups.
I also manually remove the dwell after the last cut so the torch is moved away ASAP.
Thank you all for your suggestions, tips, and knowledge, after all that I’ve read it sounds like I need to learn how to use the fixture tabs to accomplish what I am looking for. With still less than 6 months of cnc anything I have and continue to learn more from this forum than any other I have visited.
Thank you all for your input. Sorry this ended up hijacking this thread.
Not hijacking at all! I love reading the questions, the answers, seeing peoples projects, etc… Type away! I get bored when there are no new posts!!! One of my favorite forums!
I used sheetmetal screws from the back side and ground off the part of the screw that protruded. The screw heads are still on the back side. Thats how I attached all of the silver to the red backing. You can still kinda see it, but it still looks good…
I finally started building a stand for my laptop. I have just been using a shop stool, as I kept putting off designing a stand.
Everything is cut out of 11 gauge steel. The main pivot is just a 1/2-13 bolt and some 3/4 11 gauge tubing. Its a little sloppy, but I think it will work just fine. The laptop tray has a center pivot, but no vertical angle adjustment.
Here is a early cad model of the stand, I’ve made a few changes.You might notice I have extended the Y axis tubes in my model, which I plan on machining after I design a Z axis assembly and machine torch holder. I made sure the tray will just clear the tubes once I extend the Y axis.
Whoa! That’s a great price! The quality is good enough and the existing screws are four start?
Is the SS tubing ‘ready to go’ as an axis beam or does it require some machining to smooth the surface?
I haven’t tried the lead screw yet, but for that price I figured its worth the gamble. The quality looks good.
And I know others have modded their crossfires with stainless tubing, I don’t think they did anything other than machine the holes. The stock tubes are just standard steel tubing that has been zinc platted.
