Hello again! I am wondering if it is necessary to reset the z axis if I change my stock thickness for the next project?
Short answer is “YES”!
Any change of material or new project, it is a good practice recheck the Z axis.
Ok I see hence bitzero thanks again
“It depends”.
If you use top-of-stock as your Z Zero, then yes, you MUST reset Z Zero.
If you use the wasteboard as your Z Zero, then no, BUT you must ensure that the stock thickness is correct in your design file.
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Is it commen to z off of the waste board?
Zero off wasteboard is often used if you are cutting entirely through the stock - it’s much easier to NOT cut into the wasteboard that way, or at least minimize how much into the wasteboard you go. If your measurement of the thickness of the stock is off slightly, then the first pass is just a bit different DOC than programmed.
If you use top-of-stock, AND your stock thickness is not measured exactly, then you’ll either end up with a very thin layer of uncut material, OR you’ll cut into the wasteboard. That’s what it’s there for, but the less you cut into it the longer it lasts.
The flip side is that for something like a VCarve, it’s much more common to zero off top of stock. If your stock thickness isn’t exactly correct, then for a VCarve it doesn’t really matter. If you zero off the wasteboard, and the stock thickness isn’t exact, then a VCarve won’t have the right depth.
It all come down to “What surface is the most important surface / reference for this cut?”. For a VCarve, it’s the top surface. For a through cut, it’s the bottom surface.
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I’ve gotten into the habit of using the wasteboard as a reference surface.
If the origin is not set at the bottom of the stock in the file, what I do is:
- use the BitZero to set the origin at the wasteboard
- jog up by the defined thickness of the stock
- verify that the stock is a close match
- set the Z-axis origin at that height.
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By “Z-axis origin height” are you referring to “Stock Thickness” in CC?
If not, I am not following your process.
Yes.
Jog up by the stock thickness from the file, set Z-axis zero at that height.
So if I am following you correctly, in the Job Setup on “Stock Thickness” this is set to “Zero” for being the waste board and Zero Height is set to the bottom of the stock, then the Z-axis Zero is set to the Stock thickness?
No.
Origin is set to top of stock in the file, and the thickness is set to match the actual stock as closely as possible.
Zero is set twice on the machine, first at the wasteboard, then one jogs up by the stock thickness, then one resets zero there.
Why twice? That seems a bit redundant.
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