Steve Robertson wrote: > Hey Guys, > > First a little introduction. My name is Steve Robertson and I live in the > mountains of Western North Carolina. I have always been fascinated by > "robots" and industrial machines but, until now, have never had the > opportunity to work/play with one. > > I am a newby to CNC and machining so, forgive me for any stupid questions > that I might ask. I have read many of the posts in the forums and found the > info there to be invaluable. > > I am crrently building a fixed gantry 3 axis mill that will be used > primarily for drilling and routing of PC boards. The major construction is > finished and I am ready to put the finishing touches on it. > > At this time, all three axis move smoothly but, both the mechanical and > software components will need some tweaking. While not "professional" in > appearance or function, I am still proud of the machine and expect it will > perform adequately. > > So to my questions: Where is home? Does it matter? > > > From what I gather the X-Axis is generally considered the movement of the > tool from left-to-right. The Y-axis is considered to be movement toward and > away from the front of the machine. The Z-axis is of course, the up-down > movement. > Correct. One thing to note is that the motion is based on the tool, not the machine. Assuming you're standing in front of the machine, -X means the tool moves to the left, +X means the tool moves to the right, +Y means the tool moves away from you, -Y means the tool moves towards you, and for Z motion +Z means up and -Z means down. That can be counterintuitive - moving Z negative cuts away more material. These shouldn't be an issue since you have a gantry - on a mill where the spindle is fixed (like a Bridgeport), the table moves in the opposite direction. > > From what little I understand, the Z-axis would be homed when the tool is > moved away from the workpiece. In the case, fully retracted "upwards". Is > this correct? > Yes, that generally makes sense, since it would retract the tool from the workpiece. > In my machine the tool moves left and right. Which direction is "home"? When > the tool is moved fully to the left? Or when the tool is moved fully to the > right? > You can pick any location for the home location, any location for the zero point, and any location for the home switch (provided that the switch is on when the tool is to the left and off to the right (or vice versa)). Usually, X zero will be on the left or in the center. It's up to you how you want to do it. There are settings that tell EMC2 where the home switch is and where to go after finding it - they don't have to be the same place. > In this machine the workpiece is mounted on slides that move it towards and > away from the front of the machine. Is the home position when the table > (workpiece) is moved forward (towards the front) or when the table is moved > rearward (away from the front)? > Ah - here's one of those reversed axes :) When the table moves toward you, that means that the tool is effectively moving away, or +Y. Like I said, you can mount the home switch on either end. You just tell EMC2 that the home switch position is at the 48" mark or wherever. These settings are described in the "homing" section in the manual. > Lastly, I am very impressed with EMC and expect to spend many happy hours > playing with my new toy. > Indeed. Enjoy. :)
- Steve ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Download Intel® Parallel Studio Eval Try the new software tools for yourself. Speed compiling, find bugs proactively, and fine-tune applications for parallel performance. See why Intel Parallel Studio got high marks during beta. http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-sw-dev _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
