Ok, maybe I’m just too new or haven’t looked at enough on here already, but why is the BitSetter on the right of the machine (SOP5) but the material is set up for bottom left (and then people put their material towards the bottom left of the machine in most pics)?
I prefer to use bottom right and I place my material as close to the right front of the machine as possible? Why, well less time for intial zero and every tool change. Why make the machine travel even an inch farther than it needs to, to get the job done. Carbide Create is optimimized for the least amount of travel to make your creation so we should we also minimize machine movement in our setup and use in my opinion…shouldn’t we?
The machine origin is at the back top right because that is the traditional position for it — this means that for a typical right-handed operator standing at the front-left of the machine, positive moves should be “safe” in that they will be away from the operator (X, positive == right, Y, positive == back, Z, positive == up).
Similarly, the BitSetter being on the right of the machine keeps it out of the way, and means that movement towards it is usually “safe”, which is to say away from the operator.
Not to mention that the wiring bundle is on the right side of the machine. You could extend your wiring & put the BitSetter anywhere you want. Although CM may still force the toolchange position to the front right?? I personally prefer the front center for toolchanges. And I don’t mind so much the extra motion at initialization as it warms up the axes and spreads oil on the ways & worm gears, and let’s me see that the machine is operating smoothly.
If the initialize macro was accessible, I would probably set it up to 1) back right corner to set machine zero, 2) move to extreme front left corner 3) move to front center for toolchange 4) measure the reference tool (if bitsetter enabled).
Also, the fact that the Zero point on the job is usually lower left doesn’t mean the toolpath is going to start near that point. Your jogging to set the zeroes will be in that area.
I had made a request a while back - to allow the bitsetter and bit change position to be configurable.
At that time, my Shapeoko was sitting against a wall on it’s right side (with the back open so long pieces could flow through). I was doing work that required Tiling and the front of the board was often hanging off the front of the unit, and it was impossible to reach the bits to change them. That situation would be even more of an issue with a large bed like a S5pro.
I don’t think that request was ever considered seriously - but it would make all of these questions go away.