X and Y Orientation

Hi there,

I’m sure this has been answered, but while trying to search I got conflicting info, so thought it easier to just ask.

My X was set to my on rails axis, moving away from my when positive, and my Y moving right along the table when positive.

I believed this to be the correct setup for the LowRider, but when doing a test print, it was inverted…

I also noticed that estlcad had X on the horizontal and Y on the vertical axis, which made the starting point all flipped.

So I swapped my X and Y, and now it starts from the origin point I want, and using a pen holder, draws what i wanted…

So I am just wondering, is this going to be an issue, or is that actually the correct orientation all along?

Cheers

Kirt

The machine was designed so that Y would be the wheels, but moving left. Then, imagine standing on the right end of the table. You would be looking at it from the perspective of estlcam.

But what you have is fine too. That’s how I have my machine set up. The important thing is that it follows the right hand rule. Which is a common way to describe compatible coordinate frames.

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Ahh, that makes sense, because the orientation estlcam displayed it, boggled my mind, I’m just use to the Y plane being the longer plane.

The way I have it now, means I can have my starting point bottom left, and it just makes more sense in my mind, and all test so far have been working OK (Ising Pen for testing).

I had to put this project on hold for a couple of years and I have basically had to lean it all from scratch again.

Cheers mate :slight_smile:

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Generally for the low rider, Y should be the longer axis, keeping the rails suspending the router shorter.

People have done it the other way for space reasons, or because they wanted that “landscape” orientation, but the machine will be at its best with the wheels down the longer axis

“Landscape mode” doesn’t change the position of the wheels, they are still on the longer axis.

Sorry, I was referring to estlcam in this instance, the way X is the horizontal plane and Y is the vertical.

I couldn’t find any way to rotate this, but as Jeff mentioned, this is by design, as if you were standing from the right side of the table.

It was just hard for me to wrap my head around that orientation, as i’m use to the horizontal plane (Y in most cases) being the longer plane. This is probably what I should have said.

Cheers all. I’ve done some cable management and more test pieces, and I am happy with where i’m at, just waiting in the router to ship, and working on a bracket to use as a quick square, then i’m good to finally make chips :slight_smile:

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This is the way that it is in pretty much every graph or cartesian coordinate system that I’ve ever seen. though I’ve seen a few systems that put the origin at the far left corner having the Y being horizontal… Which still agrees with the machine viewed in landscape orientation.

X being horizontal and increasing from left towards right, Y being vertical and increasing from bottom to top is how your CAD program is going to work when you’re drawing. At least it most certainly is in the ones I’ve used, and in the professional packages that I’ve seen.

Anyway, once you’re doing a lot of design work, that’s the way that you’ll want to get used to, since changing all of the tools to a different system is anywhere from difficult to impossible

In computer science, there are many many coordinate systems. Images usually has the Y get larger from top to bottom. Opengl uses a left handed coordinate system. And there are a lot of case where a transform from two different coords is needed and one of them will not be oriented that way. I am pretty sure fusion can change it however you like. Other 3D CAD packages can easily rotate the view. Same with my slicer. Estlcam or any explicitly 2D cad programs are probably going to put +Y to the right.

I try to be less strict and just say, you want a right handed coordinate system with +Z up. As long as you can imagine standing somewhere around the machine where positive Y goes right and positive X goes away from you, you’ll be fine.

I do wish the LR coords were rotated, but it is too much work now to change it and never important enough to for any given week/month.

Yeah, agreed 100%. It has been a very long time since I did graphics, and it was all done in paper mostly when I learned in school, and AutoCad was only just starting to become the normal, X was always the horizontal landscape plane on the sheets we used.

But like you said, a lot of programs do it different ways. Usually they allow you to rotate anyhow.

I had honestly never heard of the right hand rule, googled it, abs it makes perfect sense, so I really appreciate that advise, i’ll take note in the future :slight_smile:

Cheers

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I learned the right hand rule in Physics 1. I distinctly remember the first test. The proctor (a grad student) helped students whenever he saw them using the left hand.