I am attempting to resurface my wasteboard but my z-axis does not bring the cutter down to the board. The program is set to zero z and I am using top of the board for reference. Help!
What is the length of the endmill you are using?
How are you setting zero?
1 inch surfacing bit. 1.5 inch long. I set zero to center of board using a engraving bit to be as centered as possible. I zeroed all Axis at this point. When I run it the bit is about 1/8 of an inch above the surface. I do have the surfacing bit inserted all the way into the collet. Should I lower it so it is longer
By “all Axis”, you are including Z here?
If so, the surfacing bit will stick out of the collet a different length to the engraving bit you zero’d Z with unless you have amazing skills 
How are you compensating for the difference in tool length for the bit you zero’d with and the bit you want to cut with?
Edit: The question was more of a thought exercise than a real question. When you set the Z-Zero you are telling the Z axis how far it should go downwards from its home position before a logical Z==0 is reached. Everything on the Z axis is fixed in position until the bottom of the collet. Everything beyond that point is arbitrary. If you change the size of something from the end of collet downwards (put in a new endmill, change the height of the stock) the machine doesn’t know about it, and when told to go to z==0 the machine will just put the bottom of the collet where it was when you set Z zero.
yes,set all three axis to zero. after this i run the project and shapeoko asks me to insert the surface bit for the previous bit and it resets on the bit-setter. it then runs the project. the resetting of the endmill used and the fact that it resets on the bitsetter tells me the program has made the variance between the v-carve bit and the surfacing bit?
I think my problem might be that my machine is at the lowest travel of the z axis and the surfacing endmill is not protruding far enough out of the collet to reach the wasteboard ??
Possibly, which was why I asked after what endmill was being used — if you’re setting zero using the surfacing endmill, and it is then able to move as much further down as necessary to make the cut it should work.
I didn’t realize you had a bitsetter.
That should be fine so long as the engraving bit put into the machine when you are prompted for a bit, or it was in there from the time you turned on the machine.
I lowered the surfacing bit in the collet and ran the wasteboard surfacing file and it ran 100%. Thanks for your input.
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