Question a/b zeroing in middle of stock for engraving

I want to engrave some shapes and I’m wondering - can I zero the machine in the Center of the stock, and do the same in the CAM, and will this mean that it will engrave from that Center point? I’m looking for a way to not have to guesstimate where the bottom left etc of my stock is since these shapes aren’t square.

And if so, is the process to set x and y on the widest part of the shape? And then z in the middle?

Darren, jog the cutter to the left edge of your stock and zero the X coordinate. Jog the cutter to the right edge, and in the Zero screen note the X coordinate, divide by two and click in the X readout and type in the new value. Go back and do the same for Y. Then jog the cutter to X0 Y0 and touch down to the stock for Z0.

In MeshCAM you can use Set Program Zero to center the gcode on the stock as you’ve defined it. MeshCAM defaults to “shrink-wrapping” the stock on your geometry so if your actual stock is at least that big all around you’ll be safe in centering the MeshCAM coordinates.

Even beyond engraving, it’s a useful way to cut a workpiece from an odd cutoff of material without having to square it up carefully and register from the edge.

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