Multiple X,Y (0,0) presets

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I frequently do flip over-work, and quite often use a jig or fixture to hold each part in place while it is being machined.

Currently, I re-zero the X,Y relative to the corner of each jig, then do the machining op.

Often I have several things on the go at once, and I leave several fixtures attached to the bed of my XXL. But it is a somewhat time consuming process to rezero each time I need to switch to another jig - it doesn’t take forever, but it does take time.

What I would like it to be able to store (like radio station presets) the (0,0) of each jig - say call them Home position A, B, C etc.

Then I could leave several jigs fastened to the bed, then just hit the “rapid travel” to B position - and load the program I need to run.

Any thoughts? Are there any other ways of getting around this? Are there any tricks I’m missing?

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That’s a great idea, and like to how many folks work, and G-Code actually has a system built-in for that, “Work Coordinate Systems” — see: https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/G-Code#Using_the_Work_Coordinate_Systems

Unfortunately, Carbide Motion doesn’t afford access to those — my work-around for that is to use the various rapid position points it affords as origin points for various jigs and fixtures.

There are 3rd party tools which provide access to the various Work Coordinate Systems, but Carbide Motion uses at least G54 to record state information, so they are not compatible, and one shouldn’t switch between them without at least restoring state for Carbide Motion using https://docs.carbide3d.com/support/carbideupdater/#carbide-motion-v4

For a couple of my fixtures I’ll record on the fixture an offset from a particular coordinate, e.g., x500, y300, and will use the MDI to manually move the machine to that offset (G0 X500 Y300) and then set zero there.

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As @WillAdams says, Gcode has this built in. Other senders will give you access - UGS for example.

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Rather than copy/paste, I’ll link to an earlier reply on the same topic.

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Thanks @neilferreri - some great info there.

Yes, I may need to look at moving away from Carbide Motion. I do like its clean look and simplicity - just wish you could dive in deeper if you wanted to…

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