One quick question… If I increase or decrease the size of my stock but I do not change the size of my design, do I have to save my toolpaths again???
Yes you do. If you have stock that is 3 inches high and 8 inches width and you set your origin at lower left corner. You have a single hole that is 1/4 inch in the center of the project.
Now you change the stock to 4 inches high and 9 inches width and do not resave your tool path your hole will not be in the center of the stock it will be in the center of a box that was 3x8 inches and not 4x9.
When you save the gcode the origin is calculated and the stock size is considered. So if you change stock size and do not resave the gcode the calculations will be off.
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Thanks for the quick answer… New to CNC and learning
This is probably bad practice on my part, so I won’t recommend anyone else does this, but on a few occasions (I haven’t done anything other than test pieces and small stuff so far!) I’ve used boards larger than the project size itself, as I’m cutting them out of a larger board.
I thought, if the origin is the same, the design doesn’t change and there’s enough material to cut it out of, this shouldn’t be an issue - but I’d be pleased to be corrected!
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In this situation, recalculating the gcode is required. However, if you have stock that is 3 x 8 and you’re cutting out a design that is 2 x 6 and centered in that 3 x 8 box, you’ll be left with 1/2" all around. If you change the stock size to 4 x 9 and don’t recalculate you’ll still have a 2 x 6 design, but now you’ll have 1/2" on the bottom and left but the top and right will have 1 1/2". So, it really depend on what you’re machining. If you want something centered in the stock, then yes, you need to recalculate. But if it doesn’t matter where it is in the stock, then you don’t need to recalculate. I’ve done this many times.
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