I’ve got everything all setup for my lowrider. Haven’t had a chance to test any cuts yet as I was called back to work early (I work out of town). I’ve taken the time to configure Estlcam per Ryan’s instructions and as far as I can tell, should be ready to start cutting when I get back.
I’m just starting to play around with Estlcam. Most of it is pretty straightforward. When it comes to the project, I laid everything out in Inkscape on a sheet of the same dimensions as the plywood sheet I am cutting from. In Estlcam I’ve nominate which paths are parts and which are engraved. I’ve automatically created the parts and holding tabs.
Now when it comes to cutting the actual parts out, if I don’t have a part with a nice square corner at 0,0 it looks like I have to designate that point. If there is nothing there, I need to draw two intersecting lines to designate 0,0. All of my parts thereafter are laid out relative to that point. For example, if I were cutting a 5 pointed star, I don’t want the 0,0 on one point of the star or another point will potentially off the sheet. Is this correct?
Thanks for the help! I’m hoping that my stupid questions now will save some time when I get back.
The 0,0 is the way you tell the machine where to cut everything out. It is a place on the workpiece you can easily find. Let me give you the two most common examples:
You’re cutting out parts, amd you don’t care which part of the material they are, just that they fit. Use the lower left of the cuts, and then when setting up the machine, you’ll go just a little into the material on the lower left.
You’re engraving a design on an existing object. Set the 0,0 to the center of the design and when setting up the machine, make 0,0 the middle of where you want the design to go.
You can also move the origin in EstlCAM by moving everything (it’s easier before you do your parts and holes).
Lastly, if you’re using a dual endstop setup, you can make the origin in estlcam the 0,0 on your machine. That’s more advanced though.
So really, what I understand is that Estlcam treats that more as a starting reference point than a true 0,0. If I just use a random corner of one of my parts though, there’s a chance that one of the parts may go beyond where my machine can move to though correct? I guess I could always put a little 1x1 square in the corner of my sheet and nominate that as 0,0 but then delete the part in Estlcam.
That is not estlcam that is the firmware. Non-Dual endstop firmware is set up this way, dual needs to be homed first. Most people do not need a precise home just a vague starting point. In CNC you typically face if depth is important, and your stock is larger than your piece so it is never usually important.
You can make a path that traces the outline of your job in the air as a first move to verify you are safe if you ever work in the far corner.