Moves in the wrong directions??

[myxpykalix]

Ok i'm confused, I think I might have some wires crossed? Ok when i call up the keypad to move the carriage in X or Y here is what i see. If you look at your keypad you will see the arrows oriented in a N,S,E,W position or Up, down, left ,right. Well when I want the carriage to move up or down the X axis I have to hit the left or right arrow (east or west) to travel. If i want the Y carriage to move across its axis I have to hit the Up or down (north, south) arrows (not to be confused with the smaller up/down arrows for the Z axis).
This is confusing to me because i'm usually standing at the end of the machine looking down the X axis and that should be the up/down axis and the Y should be the left/right axis. Or is the side of the machine considered the front?

[gerald_d]

If you lay your keyboard on the table, with the long axis of the keyboard parallel to the long axis (x) of the table, then the four arrow cursor keys should match x and y directions of the cutter.

Don't know what "smaller up/down arrows for the Z axis" you have? We use PageUp and PageDown for the Z.

[thewoodcrafter]

I just went though this and read a resent good post on the subject of direction.
The front is the X (long side) with the wire hoop attached to the far side. From that perspective lower left is 0,0. Press the up arrow (Y) and you should get positive value for Y moving away from you. Pressing the right arrow, you should get positive value and movment to the right. This seems to be the most common way to set things up.
But - you can change all this anyway you want. You just need to have the software set for your setup. I would think changing from the standard may get confusing.
(try turning your computer sideways)

[myxpykalix]

As you can tell by the pic the way my table is situated in my shop I have about 1 ft walking space on either of what is considered the front or back. The computer sits on that bench in the back of the pic (thus adding to the confusion) because i have to turn my back to the table to use computer. I have a rolling cart i'm going to put computer on to face table. I also ordered a Logitech rumblepad 2 wireless controller. Where i will stand to do most of the work will be between the table and the bench looking back at camera. So looking down the table (down X axis) seems the most logical for me to be the up and down and the Y to be left and right. Will this be a problem when i start to design or cut things, or does this only matter in the manual moving of the carriage?

8691

[gerald_d]

Jack, forget the table for a while...

The CAD/CAM process starts on your computer screen. We mostly have the bottom horizontal of the screen as the X, and the vertical left side as the Y, with 0,0 at bottom left. And our keyboards match the screen.

You will battle to find software that treats your screen any differently. We simply superimpose the screen (and keyboard) to the table.

A keyboard extender cable could help a lot....

[bcammack]

We have a FlowJet waterjet cutter and the PC is mounted behind the unit, while the keyboard, mouse, and monitor on in a rolling "kiosk" in front of it. I was getting ready to order spares for the thing, so I checked the kiosk. Seems that they use some sort of Mouse/Kbd->Cat5->PC converter to get some serious, reliable distance between the PC box and the user interface components.

[dhunt]

Jack, I'm taking one look at that photo of yours
and I'm seeing a Disaster Area waiting to happen, guy!

Apologies for the frankness,buddy..
but you need yourself LOTS more space than just 1 foot all around your machine,
becoz there are times when you'll need to scramble yo' axx around the other side in a HURRY
and how are you going to do that, with all that clutter surrounding your machine??

Suggest you have yourself a Grand Clear-Out(ask the wife to help!)
and acquire some extra spacious real estate in there.
You'll be glad you did, honestly.

Having s-p-a-c-e around your machine is(to me,at least) an imperative.
Or do I have it wrong again?

Further... by the time you mount the rails,
and then place the big X gantry on those rails,
with its motors hanging off the ends,
you are literally going to have to suck yer gut in
to squeeeze past the machine along its X-sides!
You need ROOM.

[myxpykalix]

"Only a fool resents constructive criticism" (that sounds like something charlie chan would say) Yes you are right about space requirements, I have it all mounted and running, that was the only pic i had handy to illustrate my post. I have been contemplating adding a 20X50 addition to the house for a shop but for now I'll have to wait till next spring. I will do some more clearing as you suggest.