Position Question

[randybot]

Are the coords listed in the position window local or global?

[srwtlc]

I guess you could call them local, but also global depending on what you are doing or have done.

If you start up your machine and do a C3 to home it, when it's done, your at 0,0 and that is your table base coordinates 0,0. If you move anywhere from there, the DRO's are showing global coordinates (table base coordinates). If you move somewhere and issue a Z2, this location is now 0,0 and when running a file, the DRO's will read as local or based off the new 0,0. The same happens when you run a file in 2D offset (although this is a temporary change). The location that you start running a file in 2D offset is now considered 0,0 and the DRO's will reflect that, but when the file is finished, the DRO's will revert back to table base coordinates.

If you have done a Z2 at some place on the table, making that your new working 0,0 and you want to revert back to table base coordinates, type in the ST command to reset to the base coordinates.

[randybot]

OK I know what happened now.
I did a zt then moved to 2,2 and then z2
So there when I issued a move command I thought it would be from 2,2
but since I did it from the command line the z2 was lost and the move was from
table base 0,0, which I think of as the global origin (in 2d that is)
I'll try this in a file and see if I get the results that I expect..

[randybot]

My file doesn't work.I get run time error 5, bad parameter when I run the following file
It happens on the zt command. What happened?
Position window and consule disappear !!

REM test
REM test a
m3,0,0,0
zt
m2,3,2
z2,0,0
m2,3,2

[adrianm]

Wouldn't you be better with relative moves (SR) instead of absolute moves? I don't like resetting the absolute base co-ordinates to anything other than true zero.

[randybot]

I read in the manual they prefer SA.
Anyway, I am just testing to see if I understand how the zeroing works.
I think base coords. are hard wired so I cannot mess that up.
I should get two connected lines and not two radial lines. No?

[srwtlc]

Randy,

ZT is not supported within a file and that's why you get the error. Instead of REM, you can just us a ' and save some typing. Z2 is all that is needed, you don't need the 0,0.

What ZT does (when just keyed in at the console), is reset the table base coodinates to the current location, but the DRO's aren't reset to zero unless you do a ST to set the machine to table base coordinates. So, ZT changes the table base system and ST sets/resets the current location (and DRO's) to match the table base coordinates.

ZT is/would be seldom if ever used unless you have a special setup needed. ST would be used often for resetting to table base coordinates after issuing a Z2 somewhere else on the table or on a jig and when done working at that location, you would do a ST to set it back to table base. I run a work offset system in this manner and can save as many locations as I want and quickly & easily move to any one of them or back to table home.

SA is used mainly, but SR can be used for special situations or in a file when needed, but you need to remember to set it back to SA or you can get messed up easily.