Starting with circle stock

Hey guys, looking for some input on starting with circular stock for a sign project. Is this possible? if so how would I zero on the circle and is there a way to make the product dimensions within carbide create reflect the same. Thank you!

Yes, I did this with a plate project I did a while back.
The main issue is holding the stock. I had a bit of an issue planning stock flat. it wanted to spin. I ended up using cam clamps using more pressure with the standard clamps.
I have a rail on the left and front of my waste board squared to the machine. Set the X&Y zero using a square board to the front left of the machine, then placed the circle in and set everything up in Carbide Create as a square with a circle in the middle touching the edges.
Might have been the hard way but it worked.


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Thank you for the response!

Within Carbide Create are you using the “rails dimensions” for the size of your stock? I think I understand how you did this now with the pictures!

The plate was 12" so I used a 12" square.
I believe I placed the files on CutRocket.

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did you use a bitzero and if so, did you place it on one of the rails edges or placed a square board in the left front to then zero? Sorry for all the questions

Yes, I used BitZero on the lower left corner of a square board, then mounted the circle.

Thank you so much for the help!!

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Another way may be to use a circle jig.
Follow this link to another post in the community. Link Here.

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For finding the center of a circle, you can use a “center finder”, which is commonly found in combination squares. Here’s a square they sell at harbor freight. The 90 degree thingy in the middle, thats set at 45 degrees is the center finder. Place your circle against the 90 degree and use a pencil to mark the 45 degree line. Then rotate the circle and repeat the steps. It doesnt matter how much you rotate the circle, your 45 degree lines will always cross in the middle of the circle. Then mount the workpiece however you want in the CNC and zero the X and Y over your midpoint.

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For those wishing to probe manually, a circle (or the inside bore as well) is rather nice to probe in a simplistic fashion:

Strictly speaking the Y axis probing doesn’t need to be on the centerline either and can be arbitrary as well, but once you have found the center X value I think there is no reason not be be on that line.

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