Just curious how you guys set your z zero when using the sheet of paper method to achieve the most accurate results? Zero off just as the endmill starts to scrape the paper but still have a little paper movement, or bringing the z down so theres no movement to the paper?
Either way you’re within a tenth of a millimeter. I usually err on the side of scraping the paper with flat endmills and just ripping through the paper with v-bits.
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I usually go until I can’t move the paper without tearing, but 0.1 mm isn’t critical on most of my projects.
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In the old days, they used cigarette paper. You could do that, or use aluminum foil. I think the cheap foil is about 0.0008"; the heavy duty expensive stuff is about 0.001".
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I place my 24 pound bond paper cut into strips under the bit and wiggle it back and forth while jogging down. When the paper stops moving I stop. I have a V1 BitZero and that is very accurate so I seldom do the paper method anymore. When I got my SO3 the BitZero and BitSetter were nonexistent so I learned the old school way to zero on X and Y and the paper method with Z. As @neilferreri mentioned I usually use a vee bit because I use the center origin about 95% of the time. Also I use the bottom of material about 95% of the time. Everyone has different work flow but that works for me. Using the center origin does not work with the BitZero for setting X and Y. With the sharp point on a vee bit I get a perfect center origin.
Thanks for everyone’s input. The only reason i ask is i sometimes notice my cuts, usually vcarving, goes a little deeper then expected. At least compared to what is shown in the CC simulation. I’ve just been going over my workflow seeing if i’m doing anything wrong.
A simple vcarve tries to touch both sides of the lines. It is usually best to set bottom of material or the “t” when doing a simple vcarve. Limiting the depth of a vcarve can have unexpected results. The difference between a simple vcarve and an advanced vcarve is a simple vcarve goes down the center between two lines and an advanced vcarve simply goes around the outside of a line. If you are clearing with a flat endmill the new option allows you to do the vcarve first and then the clearing. The normal behavior before this new feature is the clearing was done first and then the vcarve around the lines was done second. Some people got chipping along the edge of the flat endmill clearing and by doing the vcarve first that seems to be resolved.
Using the bottom of the stock or the “t” can go deeper than you want because the vee bit tries to touch both sides of the lines. So on thin material you can over cut but that is the nature of a vcarve when you have varying sizes of line thickness.
Another thing to keep in mind, I have a SO3 with the z-plus and I have to make sure I only use one direction for setting the z (downward), because if I come up after going down I lose some accuracy due to slop (backlash). When I first got my z-plus I was freaked out by this, but I have been told my unit is within spec and this is expected so I have learned to predict it.
Of course, YMMV…
I have a bunch of .001 shim stock. As with the paper method, I lower the bit till there is a little friction.
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