Start position for engraving

As I understand it… I move my spindle/cutter to where I want it to start cutting on my workpiece (just a papers thickness above the workpiece), this will position the spindle/cutter to what equals the + position of the ESTLCAM diagram, I do this movement with either the controls of the LCD or the manual controls in the repeater host program .1st question do i need to pull the power on the LCD/Board to identify this as X0 Y0 Z0? Or Do I need to insert the command, G92 X0 Y0 Z0 , in Repetier gcode before the cut starts. Or just hit run in RH

If you reset the machine, it will reset these coordinates. If you send G92 X0 Y0 Z0 it will also reset the coordinates. If you add G92 X0 Y0 Z0 to the top of your gcode (there is a way to add that in estlcam), then it will do that before moving (the test crown has this at the top).

So yeah, any of those.

Jeff Thanks for reply, by reset the machine you are talking about unplugging and re plugging? and is this something I should do each time i set the spindle to its start position?

Yeah. Reset can be by unplugging and replugging, or the screens have a reset button.

It is up to you. I don’t prefer the rest option, because the motors will start disabled. I don’t like putting it at the top of the gcode, because I like to have it set, then jog the Z up a few mms, then start the router and run the code. I send G92 myself and I often do just the X or the Y and then the Z. :man_shrugging:

It is your machine and there are lots of good solutions. If you don’t want to worry about it, just put it at the start of the gcode. That is the easiest, IMO.

Ok sounds like no matter before the code runs need to make X0 Y0 and Z0,

Definitely. I did make some notes about it. See if this clears things up:

https://docs.v1engineering.com/learn/coordinates/

As said there are plenty options. I started adding the G92 X0 Y0 Z0 in the start gcode. It works but the downside is that is not so comfortable to power on the router while you start milling.

So I decided to send that code manually and remove it from the start gcode.

The first time I did it I totally forgot to run the code so I destroyed the workpiece :frowning:

Pay attention and don’t do my error please :slight_smile:

@Kevin1 Are you engraving with a router? I’m finding some dead ends on my end in getting this accomplished. My issue is the quote I want engraved (engraving bit in router - a 1mm (or less) point with a 7.5` bit angle) isn’t looking good - in fact, I thought I made the depth of the cut only 2mm and the bit is diving into the test piece a lot more than 2mm! Into my spoil board in one or two spots on my 19mm test piece.
What’s your set up? I’d like to do some engraving - but estlcam seems to only bring .png items into the CAM as carving toolpath - not engraving. I even did text in a CAD program and brought it over as a .dxf but the CAM claimed it had nothing to offer in the .dxf to make toolpath from. Frustrating.

Yes! I ran into a similar problem in my opening runs. I thought I had manually zeroed the xyz but the router dove into the part and broke my bit. So I added this snippet of code into the top of the run and now it runs great!

Thanks all