Zeroing on the spoilboard

[Mark Johnston]

Ok I'm feeling a little lost right now. For over 10 years I was running Mach 3 on my old Camaster 4848 CNC and it seemed so easy.
I now have a bright and shiny new Stinger 1 with Wincnc. I can't get my head around setting the Z zero on top of the spoilboard instead of on the top of the cutting material.
So can someone please tell me if there's any training material that discuses setting the zero on the spoilboard? I know where the options are to tell the program where to set the top of the zero.
I've looked for training information on Wincnc and have the manual on my computer, but the Wincnc process seems so different at the moment and I haven't found any training tutorials yet.

Sorry if this seems so elementary to everyone.

Mark

[Jim Becker]

It's pretty easy...put a tool or a rod in your collet, lower the tool to just touch the table top (use the finer movement selections on your remote or screen so you don't jam the tool into the table and with your hand rotate the tool slightly while you approach the surface until you feel resistance. That's your intended Z-zero. Press the button on the screen to set it. This is a one time operation until you clean your spoilboard.

[Mark Johnston]

Thanks Jim but I guess I didn't make myself clear. I'm not talking about setting the Z zero to cut I'm talking about setting the Z Zero position to the material surface or the machine bed in the Job setup screen in Aspire.
I've never used the machine bed always the material surface.
Now if I use the material surface setting I'm getting a lot of Z+ or Z- machine boundary errors. I thought I should start using the material surface on most job so I want to study the effects of doing that.

Thanks for the fast response though.

Mark

[Xray]

I have never used the spoilboard to Z in my life, don't see why you are feeling forced into it.

[james mcgrew]

If I am cutting panel thru profile cut outs, I use the Machine bed (Spoilboard)

If I am cutting precise 3d or depth work i cut from the top of the materials

Sometimes i just use the math and leave the z at the spoilboard.

Not sure i understand why anyone would feel "Forced" to do anything. the same would be true no matter which controller one uses ?

[gtgmarine]

Are you using the FTC? If so, use the "calibrate" button after setting the bit height as Jim described in post 2 then use "machine bed" in the job setup. Of course you'll want to use the tool change PP also when using the FTC.
BTW, the steps are in the CAMaster pdf docs that came with your PC.

[Jim Becker]

Are you using the FTC? If so, use the "calibrate" button after setting the bit height as Jim described in post 2 then use "machine bed" in the job setup. Of course you'll want to use the tool change PP also when using the FTC.
BTW, the steps are in the CAMaster pdf docs that came with your PC.

^^ This, plus when using the top of spoilboard for the reference (which I do 995 of the time with the FTC) be sure you precisely measure your material thickness and set that in your material specifications, too.

[Pete marken]

I use the single tool post processor and put the touchoff plate on top of the material when I use the material surface to set Z.

[Pete marken]

Here is a procedure for setting the FTC to the top of the material. FTC Instructions.pdf

[Mark Johnston]

Thanks everyone for the help.
Thanks, Pete, for the PDF FTC instruction.
I do have an FTC, but it’s not been activated yet. I want to get a handle on running with out it first which is what Camaster suggested.
I’m running with a “CAMaster Single Tool Inch tap” file now which is what Camaster recommended to start with.
I’m not being forced to do anything.
I just want to get use to WINCNC so I can understand what’s happing.
Example:
One of the things I’ve done for a long time is to make a template to fasten to the spoilboard and to be able to drop in a partially finished piece to lineup the piece and run a program to add names to a partially finished piece. Not sure if that makes any sense. My wife is a realtor, and I made a bunch of pizza peals without names of her potential clients on them. I then put the pizza board into a recessed area on the template to line up and carve names in them. This made it easy to give her a finished gift to give a client very fast. I did this with several things as well.
So, if I add a template usually ¾ inch to the spoilboard then add the semi-finished piece into the template, it’s like adding 1 ¼’ added to the spoil board surface. Now setting up the program settings to Z Zero position to the machine bed and zeroing the cutting bit to zero on the top of the material will this help? I’ve always set the Z Zero position in the program to the material surface.
What happening now when I start the program, I get an error Softlimit exceeded Z+ I also got Boundary errors exceeded Z- on some runs. None of the machine stops are being tripped.
Mach 3 didn’t care at all how High or how low the Z was going but what I read so far is Wincnc.INI file does, it has low z limits which will stop the programs from cutting to low. So, I’m thinking if I set the Z Zero off the machine bed in the programs will that help me?
I had Camaster add a riser on the gantry so I can cut thick pieces.
I read a pretty good post on changing the low limits in the Wincnc.Ini file but I’m not ready to do that yet until I understand what’s going on.
Any thoughts?

[gtgmarine]

I understand the template idea and use the same approach for some jobs like the one you mentioned.
However, if you don't have your FTC setup then I suggest you stick to having Z=0 at the material surface.
When you want to use the FTC call support and ask for a session where they enable it for you by updating your WinCNC file.
The soft limit exceeded errors might be something different but hard to diagnose through forum posts.
I suggest initializing your machine and using the touch plate off the surface to set z=0 for your job.

[sscooter]

Mark;

I sent you a PM. WinCnc is just begging you to use the FTC.
Since I am local to you I can help you with this. WinCnc just blows Mach3 away once you learn it

Chuck Andries aka sscooter

[Mark Johnston]

Hi Chuck,
I sent you a PM with all my Info on it.

Thanks for the offer to help.
I can sure use it right now.

Mark