Just got my first commission and also have a question for those that have been using vectric longer than me. So on my shapeoko 5 pro, I did the z zero off same side for a two sided machining job. So when I flipped it for the two sided machining, it was the thickness of the material off. Meaning, it was 1.2 inches too high when it started trying to cut.
Is this a shapeoko issue? Any ideas? I fixed it by just zeroing again off the bed. I should also mention I am using carbide motion for the control software. Maybe that is the issue? Maybe UGS or gsender wouldn’t have this issue?
When you said zero off the same side did you mean physical side or top of material?
The same pics side would be top of material on side one and machine bed on side 2. If you did that did you reset zero to the machine bed before starting side 2?
I did one with top of material for both sides but I know the other is an option.
Check your setup in Vcarve and there is an indication in red I think which surface is used for which side. Sounds like you did the latter but didn’t rezero initially.
Yes, I did same side so it was top of the material on one side and machine bed when I flipped it. So did I misunderstand that I needed to zero off the bed after I flipped it? I assumed it would know that it needed to go down 1.2 inches further since that was the size of the stock. Is this not the case? Totally new to this, so not a problem if I misunderstood.
Would I not need to zero again if I used top of material for both?
The Vcarve software knows in a sense I guess but the machine and Carbide Motion don’t know. Zero from a machine perspective was still top of material so that is where it started. It thought that was the machine bed though and the gcode told it to raise material thickness above that point to start the cut.
If you had kept it at material surface for both sides then you wouldn’t need to rezero between sides assuming your thickness measurement was very accurate.
I think people use the “same side” method to eliminate minor issues in the thickness measurement. If it’s slightly off then the second side cut either starts a tiny bit high or a tiny bit low but the two sides meet where they are supposed to.
Also, be super careful on width measurement if you are using an L bracket instead of dowels when you flip. I was off by 1/32 of an inch on my width and that turned into a 1/16 apparent shift (I think) between sides that I had to sand out.
As a user of vetric with carbide motion and having done several 2 sided jobs. One thing that I do is zero from the top on each side. Never changing my x/y just my z. I have tried using the bed for a constant z however that would mean you have to have a perfectly trammed machine and baseboard, I use a sacrificial wasteboard so zeroing from the baseboard is isnt consistent. Furthermore the homing switched can have up to 1/64th differences on my machine 3XXL, not sure about 5 pro as they are different to my knowledge. Glad to hear u do the dowels that is the easiest and most consistent I have found. I hope that helps.
Yes and inconsistencies in my wasteboard potentially as well as the homing switches so it is super easy to leave x y alone and manually do z to which i use a feeler gage vice the paper method since i dont use a bit zero.
