harryball
11-07-2006, 05:13 PM
I find myself fighting with the software, Part Wizard and VCPro, on zeroing Z. Maybe I'm just not getting it but the software seems lacking.
When I'm carving or milling on the surface I want to zero z to the top of the block. However, for profile cuts I want to zero to the table. I've taken care of the physical part with a touch block at bed height. Anytime I am not cutting through I zero on the material, when I am cutting through I zero on the bed.
My issue lies with the software. It doesn't make it easy at all to choose where you want to zero z by toolpath. It's global to all toolpaths. When I go change the zzero method in VCPro I get a warning and it seems to behave. I can just calculate the paths desired and save them. I get no indication, however, of the current state so it's sort of dangerous.
In Part Wizard when I change the zZero method it changes the start depth of the toolpaths to the thickness of the material.
My question is this... could someone advise me on the "professional" way to handle this situation? Does better software allow you to zzero by toolpath instead of globally?
I love the method at the table, it works great and my spoil board thanks me. It is just cumbersome on the software side for something that would seem to be simple.
Robert
When I'm carving or milling on the surface I want to zero z to the top of the block. However, for profile cuts I want to zero to the table. I've taken care of the physical part with a touch block at bed height. Anytime I am not cutting through I zero on the material, when I am cutting through I zero on the bed.
My issue lies with the software. It doesn't make it easy at all to choose where you want to zero z by toolpath. It's global to all toolpaths. When I go change the zzero method in VCPro I get a warning and it seems to behave. I can just calculate the paths desired and save them. I get no indication, however, of the current state so it's sort of dangerous.
In Part Wizard when I change the zZero method it changes the start depth of the toolpaths to the thickness of the material.
My question is this... could someone advise me on the "professional" way to handle this situation? Does better software allow you to zzero by toolpath instead of globally?
I love the method at the table, it works great and my spoil board thanks me. It is just cumbersome on the software side for something that would seem to be simple.
Robert