I would like to suggest a new option for Carbide Motion to determine where the Touch Probe is located on the work piece for probing. This option could be similar to the one in Carbide Create that tells the CNC where the origin point is. This option in Carbide Motion would tell the Shapeoko where the probe is located (Bottom Left, Bottom Right, Top Left or Top Right) and provide the proper spindle movements to correctly probe X,Y and Z.
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Hey Judd - someone could correct me if I’ve mistaken, but when setting the Toolpath Zero in Carbide Create, the coordinates for the toolpaths are all relative to that origin, where Carbide Motion simply reads the loaded gcodes. Given this understanding, if you had a standard stock shape, say a square, and you have a zero corner, say bottom left, then what you’re looking for is something like a macro to rapid move to your zero corner (Toolpath Zero in CC) then prompt a BitZero operation?
It seems like it would be quite difficult for CM to identify where the BitZero is from programmed rapid commands when you place your stock in different places.
Actually, maybe I wasn’t exactly clear in my thought. Just like you jog the spindle to the lower left corner to set the X,Y and Z location, I was thinking of having the same ability to do it on another “corner”. This would come in handy for the instance when you can’t use the lower left corner as “home”. Right now, if you try to use another corner, the default method Carbide Motion uses to determine the X, Y and Z moves the spindle in the incorrect directions.
Ohhhh ok I understand now. It always goes left-to-right for X-zero’ing and down-to-up for Y-zero’ing, doesn’t it? Yeah I’ve definitely found myself scratching my head holding the BitZero (i.e. when my stock is cantilevered off the front and there’s not enough travel to zero in the bottom left-hand corner).
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Yes, thats exactly it.
You can send probe commands through the MDI to do what you want. You can probe any direction you want as long as it’s a straight line.
Just make sure that your actual work zero matches what you set in your CAM program.
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Neil, I would expect it would require multiple commands to be entered and then the values would need to be stored in Carbide Motion. Since the core code is already in Carbide Motion, it would be cleaner to have an option to change the probing location, at least in theory.
Yup. It’s a pretty edge use case though. I don’t think you’ll see it added. Maybe the ability to add custom macros?
Are you trying to set zero at a different corner too?
Yes, the request is for the ability to set and measure the X, Y and Z at a corner besides the current bottom left default.
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