0:22

in this video we're going to talk about

0:24
coordinate systems and homing coordinate
0:27
systems is probably the number one
0:29
support question from new people getting
0:32
into the CNC hobby or for people
0:35
starting up with a controller their
0:37
first time there are two coordinate
0:40
systems you need to be concerned with
0:41
the first is this button machine
0:44
coordinates when the red LED is lit you
0:47
are showing what the machine thinks is
0:49
the distance from the home switches
0:52
you'll notice mine says zero which means
0:53
my machine thinks it's sitting right
0:56
beside the home switches if I turn it
0:58
off I'm at the work offset work offsets
1:03
are also referred to as G 54 G 55 G 56
1:09
G 57 8 and 9 G 59 has a further
1:14
parameter call which can turn on any of
1:16
another 254 offset systems you have a
1:20
grand total of 254 offsets in the system
1:24
but for most users you're going to be
1:26
concerned with 2 only at first as you
1:28
get more advanced you could look at the
1:30
third and maybe a fourth and a fifth I
1:32
doubt that most would go beyond five
1:34
however you do have immediate access in
1:37
the program with a button to select up
1:39
to six of them so first thing to be
1:43
considered when we talk about machine
1:44
coordinates is what do they mean in
1:47
relation to your table well we have a
1:49
button here called display mode which
1:52
will switch me to look at my table
1:55
you'll notice when I pushed it I now
1:58
have a large red box which is no longer
2:01
displaying the outline of my program
2:04
extremes it's showing my table extremes
2:07
my table is programmed into the program
2:09
right now to be 100 millimeters wide and
2:12
100 millimeters in the Y so this is
2:17
showing me a distance of 100 millimeters
2:19
across the X and 100 millimeters across
2:22
the Y that incidentally is programmed in
2:25
the homing and limits configuration
2:28
right here as my soft minimum and soft
2:31
maximum you'll see my X is programmed to
2:35
100
2:35
it's maximum zero as its minimum 100 and
2:39
zero for the y and you'll see the Z is a
2:42
little different it's maximum is zero
2:44
its minimum is minus 200 this is because
2:48
the Zed on this theoretical machine has
2:50
a 200 millimeter movement starting at
2:52
the top most people home their Zed to
2:55
the top this is not true of plasma users
2:58
but for everyone else it's very typical
3:00
to home the Zed at the top of its run
3:03
which becomes Machine coordinate 0
3:05
because 0 in Machine coordinates means
3:08
next to the home switch so make sure
3:13
that when you're setting up your soft
3:15
limits that you set a maximum of 0 for Z
3:19
and minus 200 or whatever your throw is
3:22
for your Z typically your minimum in the
3:27
Z is your full stroke movement in the
3:31
minus direction so I have set those soft
3:35l
imit minimums and maximums so my system
3:38
when I hit display mode will toggle from
3:40
showing me the job with the red box
3:43
showing the minimums and maximums of the
3:45
g-code that's currently loaded to
3:47
showing me my mill where my item is
3:51
sitting on the mill and my job you can
3:55
see if i zoom in on this that there's my
3:59G
4:00
there's my G code roadrunner and it's
4:02
sitting very small near the center of or
4:07
very close to the home switches on my
4:10
table most people would not want to cut
4:13
a job at that position however they
4:16
would want to cut a job maybe by
4:18
throwing the material into the center of
4:20
their Mills table because of that we
4:22
need another coordinate system the
4:24
machine coordinate system is not going
4:26
to do it the Machine coordinate system
4:28
simply cares about two things where is
4:30
the home switch here in this position in
4:33
the bottom left-hand corner and what is
4:36
the size of your table these are the
4:38
things that the Machine coordinate
4:40
system takes care of they're very
4:42
important that they never get changed so
4:45
there is only one way to change machine
4:46
0 and that is by homing
4:50
referencing your system to the homes
4:51
which is the only thing which will
4:53
change the Machine coordinates so let's
4:58
take a look at our secondary system by
5:00
turning this off we're still on a tool
5:03
path display showing my entire mill if
5:07
we were to jog you can now see me
5:08
jogging across my mill table now by
5:12
zeroing at a particular spot by pressing
5:16
the zero buttons and then regen the tool
5:20
path you'll see my crosshairs are
5:23
showing zero position is right where my
5:26
Road Runner is now located off-center
5:29
from the home switches and where I
5:32
placed it on the mill this is a very
5:34
typical way of cutting you put a piece
5:36
of material on your mill table you jug
5:39
until your until your tool actually
5:42
touches your piece of material you jug
5:44
your Z down so it touches the material
5:46
and then you zero all of the items you
5:50
were then when you regenerate the tool
5:53
path you'll notice my tool path is now
5:55
further on to my table and I'm zeroed
5:58
right at it's right at the start point
6:01
or the origin of that piece by hitting
6:03
the machine coordinates button we see
6:06
some numbers appear these numbers are
6:08
the distance from the home switches so
6:10
in this case my Z is seven millimeters
6:13
down from its top of stroke and touching
6:16
the piece my X&Y is 39 and 41
6:20
millimeters from here to here normally
6:24
you'll only look at Machine coordinates
6:26
if you're trying to figure out where you
6:28
went wrong normally that led is off
6:31
because you know you want to be at zero
6:34
zero when you're at the left hand corner
6:37
of your material if I switch my display
6:39
mode to job control you can now see my
6:42
crosshairs are at zero and I'm ready to
6:44
cut my piece most people will leave
6:46
their display in this position now all
6:50
that having been said let's take a look
6:52
at reference switches and homing I'm
6:56
going to switch back to table display so
6:57
that we can see the entire table and see
7:00
what's happening
7:01
I'm also going to make sure that I have
7:04
my home switch is turned on under input
7:07
signals we have an X home switch set for
7:09
port 1 pin 10 and a Y home switch for
7:13
port 1 pin 11 minor are set for active
7:17
high because that's the way I have my
7:19
switches set yours would normally set be
7:22
set for active high as well if you're
7:26
using a safe method of connecting your
7:28
switches active low would mean that when
7:32
your switch gets hit it grounds the wire
7:35
thus active when it goes low that is a
7:40
possible way to run it's safer to go
7:42
with active high which means that the
7:44
switch is always connecting the wire to
7:46
ground except when the table hits it
7:48
that is an active high signal it's safer
7:52
because if one of those wires should
7:53
break you'll immediately have a problem
7:55
it's best to find those kind of problems
7:57
immediately rather than waiting until a
8:01
homes which just doesn't work and then
8:03
axis slams into an end stop active high
8:08
is the safest setting for a limit switch
8:11
or for a home switch so we've got them
8:14
turned on we're going to hit okay we've
8:16
reconfigured so we have a nice top so we
8:19
reset the system now we're going to do a
8:21
reference all before I do a reference
8:25
although and before any of you do a
8:27
reference all go to your Diagnostics
8:29
page and hit your home switches your
8:32
screen should look like this with none
8:34
of them lit at the moment until you push
8:36
a home switch and you can see mine just
8:37
came on I release it and it goes out
8:40
same thing with the X m1 is motor one
8:43
motor two motor three etc so that is the
8:45
X 1 that is flashing here now and the Y
8:49
which is flashing here now that we've
8:51
confirmed that the switches work that
8:53
when they're pressed they light up we're
8:56
free to try a reference so let's hit
8:58
reference all you can see that something
9:01
is wrong my y-axis is now moving in the
9:04
plus direction that is not proper you
9:07
should always home to the negative
9:09
direction so we're going to stop the
9:12
movement by hitting the Escape key in
9:13
this case
9:14
and now it switches over to reference
9:17
the X and again the X is wrong it's
9:19
moving in the positive direction so I'm
9:22
going to hit the Escape key to stop that
9:23
movement now we have to correct it we
9:27
know that both axes are moving in the
9:28
wrong direction to home so if we go to
9:31
configure homing in limits we can see
9:34
that there is a checkbox for home in the
9:35
negative direction most people would
9:38
have this checked for x and y-axes but
9:43
not for the exit of the z-axis as that
9:47
axes usually homes positive direction to
9:50
the top of the column and stops so this
9:52
would be the normal connection and we'll
9:56
hit okay now if we hit reference all we
10:00
can see the y axis is moving in a
10:02
negative direction towards its homes
10:04
which which is down here somewhere and
10:09
when it hits the switch it's going to
10:11
stop movement reverse direction and move
10:14
until it moves slowly until it comes off
10:17
of the switch when the switch opens back
10:19
up again the system will take that as
10:21
its home position so we'll just wait for
10:23
it to get down to the zero position
10:27
needs it's safer to hit your switch
10:30
slowly and more accurate as well now
10:33
we're going to hit our switch the switch
10:35
went active we change directions and it
10:37
just moved off the switch when that
10:39
occurs the x axis begins its movement
10:42
towards its home switch now I have a
10:45
simulated table here so I'm free to
10:46
press the home switch whenever I like so
10:49
I'm going to press the home switch now
10:50
the axis reverses direction and the home
10:53
switch releases and we're now home and
10:56
you'll notice that the lights are green
10:58
green means that you have successfully
11:01
home the control hitting regen toolpath
11:05
will show the toolpath at its new
11:08
location because the home has changed
11:10
and it shows our crosshair is away from
11:15
zero this is because our work offset
11:18
system was not zeroed only the Machine
11:20
coordinates were zeroed and if we look
11:23
we can see that they actually did not
11:25
zero this is again my fault
11:28
a Miss configuration and if we look at
11:30
configure homing and limits you'll see
11:33
there is an auto zero checkpoint these
11:36
for most users should be checked for all
11:38
axes that you're using this will zero
11:41
the coordinates of the Machine
11:42
coordinates and stop you from getting
11:44
confused about how to zero so we say
11:48
okay to that and let's resume our system
11:50
the Y begins to go to the switch comes
11:53
off of it and stops the X goes to its
11:55
switch and when it hits it it reverses
11:58
direction and stops and you'll notice it
12:00
instantly flicked back to zero our
12:03
system is now zero in Machine
12:05
coordinates if I regenerate the tool
12:08
path here we are zeroed again now we
12:12
have our secondary system let's say we
12:15
jug away from zeros we've got a piece of
12:19
material on our table so we're going to
12:21
jog up to it we're going to move our Z
12:24
down now we're touching our material
12:27
which is out here somewhere and we now
12:30
zero our axes when I switch to machine
12:36
coordinates you can see that we have a
12:37
display showing how far away from the
12:39
home switches we actually are but if we
12:43
turn off machine coordinates we see the
12:45
result of our g54 offset system has
12:48
zeroed us if we regenerate the tool path
12:51
which you must do after playing with
12:54
referencing and zeroing you can now see
12:56
our road runner is going to be cut
12:58
somewhere in this area of our mill table
13:01
at a zero coordinate on our g54 system
13:05
nd that coordinates 32 37 16 in our
13:09
machine coordinate system now I can
13:13
switch with the display mode button to
13:15
go back to show us our work a coordinate
13:18
system only so the red box now indicates
13:21
the size of our drawing and not the size
13:24
of our table so we're cutting it there
13:27
and this is what we're cutting now
13:31
you'll notice that even though I said
13:32
raffle I have a green light on my Z this
13:35
is because I have not programmed a home
13:37
switch for Zed if you don't have a home
13:39
switch programmed into your system
13:41
pressing raffle will reference where it
13:45
is at any axis without a home switch
13:48
this means that the Machine coordinates
13:50
for that axis will immediately go to
13:52zero if you have Auto zero selected and
13:55you won't move for people without home
13:58
switches they almost never have to push
14:01
the zero buttons unless they just want a
14:03
zero one axis pressing graph all will
14:06
zero their axes on the spot so if we jog
14:11
to a new location and we say this is
14:13
actually where we want to cut our piece
14:15
we can do so just by zeroing the axes
14:18
and hitting regen and there we are
14:20
you'll notice it looks the same as
14:22
before we hit regen but there's an
14:24
important difference if we look at our
14:26
table control it has now moved slightly
14:28
to the right and slightly upwards the
14:31
system to cut safely should always know
14:33
where you're cutting what you're cutting
14:36
so sometimes it's a good idea to take a
14:38
look at your display mode and make sure
14:40
that that square look the job that
14:42
you're cutting actually looks like it is
14:44
in that location on your table again to
14:47
get this screen to be accurate and to
14:50
display this way make sure that your
14:52
soft limits are set properly that you
14:57
have hold your system and after changing
15:01
any soft limit settings restart the
15:04
software if you don't this display will
15:07
not work properly it needs to start up
15:10
the program with valid soft limits
15:13
you'll see the soft limits light here is
15:16
on you don't have to use soft limit
15:19
safeties I like to if I am to if I was
15:23
at this point to jog because the system
15:25
knows where my home switches are if I
15:28
was to jog towards a home switch my axes
15:32
will slow down as I approach zero and
15:34
you can see that the system just stopped
15:37
telling me that the movement was aborted
15:40
because I hit the zero point if I look
15:42
at my machine coordinates I jugged it to
15:44
zero but the system will not let me jug
15:46
past zero it just simply stops me that's
15:50
stopping is automatic and works on all
15:55
home limit
15:55
all axes that have a soft limit enabled
15:59
and as long as your soft limits are
16:02
hooked up properly you'll know it by
16:04
being able to select your display mode
16:07
button otherwise your display mode
16:09
button will show you a nonsense image
16:11
which really doesn't mean much so let's
16:15
look at what other fixture offsets could
16:17
be used for if you look at your offsets
16:20
table you can see the current work
16:22
offset is g54 this is normal at startup
16:25
and will always be g54 unless you
16:29
specify a different fixture offset let's
16:32
say for example that you wanted to put
16:35
something into the g55 offset there is a
16:39
work offset table here and if we go to
16:43
g55 let's for the heck of it type 50/50
16:48
and 0 in the Z and save that you'll
16:54
notice that now my g55 shows what I've
16:57
got entered in the table 50/50 and zero
17:00
we're not going to use it yet however
17:03
we're going to go back to our g54 which
17:07
we have used for jogging about and
17:11
zeroing the system to our table at this
17:15
position currently because I just
17:16
rewrote it at a different location we
17:18
just moved our job again but let's say
17:20
that you always wanted to cut this road
17:22
runner at 50/50 on your table because
17:26
you have maybe a jig here which holds
17:28
your board securely to do that would be
17:32
pretty easy all we'd have to do is home
17:34
our system so that we know that we're
17:37
accurately at home and again I'm going
17:39
to cheat the system by telling it there
17:41
we hit our switch and now the X has hit
17:44
its switch and now everything is zeroed
17:46
I'm going to regen this and you can see
17:48
that our machine coordinates are zero
17:50
because we've honed but our Road Runner
17:56
is being cut up here but our jig is at
17:59
50/50 that's no problem we can go to the
18:02
offsets page say that we wish to use our
18:05
g55 offsets which we have permanently
18:08
stored 55
18:09
d we go back to program run and we say
18:12
regenerate the toolpath our roadrunner
18:14
has just appeared at that 50:50 jig now
18:18
as long as you never press the zero
18:20
buttons while in this g55 offset system
18:23
you'll know it will never change
18:25
therefore any time you start your table
18:27
you could home your system it'll go to
18:29
its switches you then go to offsets and
18:32
select g55 you go to program run and say
18:37
regenerate and your job will always
18:39
appear right on top of that fixture
18:41
you're ready to cut anytime and you'll
18:44
notice we save minus 50 and minus 50 on
18:46
our dr OS that's telling us that
18:48
currently this job which is being
18:49
displayed is 50 away from our home
18:56
switches so we're free to start cutting
19:00
even even though we're currently at zero
19:02
zero so we're currently here but because
19:05
we selected our g55 system which has a
19:10
50 offset the system already knows that
19:13
I don't need to zero to the corner of
19:15
this board it already knows where it is
19:17
so if I were to hit cycle start at this
19:20
point the system could move and cut that
19:25
piece you'll notice we just got an error
19:28
soft limit system movement aborted well
19:32
if we look at the G code it's telling
19:33
the Z to go to plus 0.2 well right now
19:37
our machine coordinate Zed is zero as
19:40
well as our work offset system so Zed
19:43
cannot move to plus two we've told the
19:45
soft limit system Zed will never go
19:47
above machine coordinate zero which is
19:49
its home switch so the reason we got
19:51
this error is that when we set our
19:53
offsets we set a zero in the Zed and
19:57
when you set a fixture offset because
20:00
you have a jig attached to your table
20:01
you're also going to know the height of
20:03
your material so you would have set a
20:05
value in here telling the system how far
20:08
down to move the Zed so let's move the Z
20:12
down to minus 20 so now in terms of
20:18
Machine coordinates and you always look
20:21
at your settings of these fixtures in
20:23
terms of machine coordinates we are 50
20:25
away from the home switch in the X 50
20:28
and the Y and 20 down in the Z from the
20:31
home switch to this particular jig that
20:34
you have on the table and whenever you
20:36
change something like this you can see
20:38
that it just appeared in my work offsets
20:40
table but I have to select this to save
20:42
it to be safe
20:45
so now if I regenerate my tool path
20:48
nothing changes we're still at the same
20:50
location but you'll notice that my Z now
20:52
says that I met plus 20 but I'm at zero
20:57
in my machine coordinates let's
21:02
reference everything so we're starting
21:04
fresh because I'm sure at this point you
21:05
may be getting a little bit confused
21:07
we're going to 0 our y 0 are x and our z
21:13
automatically 0 is because we don't have
21:15
a home switch hooked up this means that
21:18
now in relation to our fixture that we
21:21
have set were 50 away from home 50 away
21:24
from home and 20 higher than what we
21:27
need to be so when we when it hits the
21:31
first line in G code telling it goes
21:32
zero zero and point two it's going to go
21:35
down to the proper level so let's rewind
21:38
this file and let's see what happens
21:41
when we tell it to start as you can see
21:44
the Zed is now moving down to get to the
21:46
top of the material and now the job cuts
21:49
normally even though it started from the
21:53
home switch so that's what an offset
21:55
system is handy for you can program
21:57
different fixtures on your table which
22:00
hold material program them for the
22:02
absolute coordinates the only rule to
22:04
remember is once selecting offsets to a
22:08
non-word do not push the zero button or
22:11
you invalidate those offsets because
22:13
pressing the zero button changes
22:15
whichever fixture offset is in effect
22:18
when you start the system you're in g54
22:22
so let's stop this job I'll show you the
22:25
you cannot change the display mode while
22:28
a job is running so you can't really see
22:31
what's going on here so let's stop it
22:32
rewind the program regenerate the tool
22:36
path
22:37
flick to the display now we can see that
22:39
it had cut a little bit of this
22:41
Roadrunner when we stopped it but let's
22:44
take a look at what happens when we
22:45
press zero on something let's go to our
22:48
offsets page and select G 54 because
22:51
again we don't want to affect what we
22:53
have entered for this fixture so
22:55
whenever we're going to play around with
22:56
zeroing let's use G 54 for now our G 54
23:00
offset currently is fifteen point nine
23:03
58 and minus sixteen if I jog to a
23:07
position on the screen and zero my
23:10
controls and go back to the offsets page
23:14
you'll find that these numbers have
23:15
changed we're now 56 56 and minus 20
23:19
that's because what you store in a
23:22
fixture offset is always the distance
23:24
from your home switches that's what all
23:26
of these fixture offsets are is distance
23:29
from home switches so in G 54 the
23:34
distance from the homes which is what
23:36
we're telling it dynamically when we jog
23:39
around our table and tell it that we
23:41
want to zero at that position we zero
23:44
and we have just changed our offsets to
23:48
reflect the distance from the home
23:50
switch and we can see that easily by
23:52
pushing machine coordinates the numbers
23:55
here are identical to the numbers here
23:58
because machine coordinates is telling
24:01
you the exact same information as a
24:03
fixture offset it is telling you the
24:05
distance from a home switch at all times
24:09
and again the Machine coordinates are
24:11
inviolable you cannot change them except
24:14
expressly referencing the system is
24:18
careful about two things in particular
24:20
one is the value of your machine
24:22
coordinates the other is the value of a
24:26
dro the Dro s are kept separate from
24:28
mach3 and code of their own when you see
24:31
a count in a Dro
24:33
it means the system has put out that
24:35
number of pulses it's a very important
24:38
debugging and troubleshooting tool for
24:40
me when someone tells me that their dro
24:42
indicates they have moved one inch but
24:45
they have only moved half an inch
24:47
I know what the error must be because I
24:49
know that
24:50
DRO is always accurate it's code is not
24:54
attached to Mach 3 in any way in terms
24:57
of how it changes add ero changes only
25:00
if pulses have gone out the printer port
25:03
unless you have referenced that is the
25:08
only thing which will change a machine
25:10
coordinate so with that having been said
25:13
I think you understand a bit more about
25:15
home switches how to activate them when
25:19
they should be active high and low and
25:21
what all of it means when you select an
25:24
offset system and remember the most
25:27
important rule of all if you set a
25:30
fixture offset because you have a jig
25:32
attached to your table or you know that
25:34
at 50 50 minus 20 will be the top part
25:38
of a piece of material you're going to
25:39
cut a thousand times never press the
25:42
zero buttons once you're in those
25:44
fixtures always go back to fixture
25:47
offset number one if you're going to jog
25:49
around and do jobs at an indiscriminate
25:52
point simply by hitting zero and
25:56
recutting the job this display mode tool
26:00
can be a valuable way to see where you
26:03
are in a particular offset system here
26:06
in g54 we know that we're going to cut
26:09
this job at this location and this
26:13
location can be seen by checking the
26:15
Machine coordinates button if we select
26:18
a different offset system g55 which we
26:22
programmed to be 50/50 from the home
26:24
switches we can go back hit regen tool
26:27
path and we can see that the job is now
26:30
going to be cut 50 and 50 away from the
26:33
home switches it's that simple it does
26:36
take a little while to wrap your head
26:38
around this and because of that I'm not
26:41
going to go any more complicated in this
26:43
video there are several things that you
26:45
can do with offset systems and there is
26:48
a third offset system which can be
26:50
applied to the previous two and that's
26:53
the G 92 system one of the reasons I
26:56
don't recommend using G 92 is simply
27:00
because it can cause confusion
27:02
to newer users users that know what
27:06
they're doing can use G 92 I heartily
27:08
recommend that they to so but it is not
27:11
something I'm going to explain to your
27:13
average user as yet I think there's
27:15
enough power in the knowledge of how
27:19
Machine coordinates work how the offset
27:22
systems work and how they can use them
27:24
that I think that that will do pretty
27:27
much everything everyone needs to do at
27:30
this point in time for homing
27:40
you