I am not sure how you can get that to work. You will need control software to go with it. When we talk about a touch plate we are usually referring to the Z axis only. The dual endstop firmware and work offsets can handle the X and Y in a much more accurate way.
The item you linked is for locating the work piece precisely (but not squaring the machine), usually that doesn’t actually matter because you are cutting something out of a larger chunk. Without a double tap in more than one place that could still not locate the material correctly (it could be rotated).
Have a look at the post on the homepage with the watermelon pic if you need more accuracy than the standard setup.
Ahh - so now we can control each of the 2 stepper motors on an axis independently - that’s cool.
I have a cutting area just over 34" square and I’m trying to align a ton of holes accurately within a sheet that is 34" square. Parts won’t be cut from the sheet, it will be the final part.
Mounting it square isn’t that tough since I’ve used a 3/4" bit to resurface the spillboard down 2mm. I can mount the sheet with spacers against that cut.
Sounds like you really like the benefits of the new setup. I’ll look into it.
Thanks Ryan -
Sorry - duplicate post due to my user error.
I just got this cheap and simple item from amazon that has worked very well. It’s almost exactly .75 in high, which is the dimension of most of my stock (and if it isn’t I just numerically adjust the touch point).
As described, it’s wired to the min S and “-” terminals and the clip is attached to the end mill. I’ve been using Octopi and am very happy with it. I have a custom control to set the XYZ origin, but the use the “home” button on the Z axis control to seek and set the Z axis using the puck.
If the stock is a different thickness, I home the Z axis, then move it to the known stock thickness using the Octopi controls, and then set the Z origin using a different custom control. This has made setup a lot easier and much more consistent for cutouts, milling etc.
In addition, I’m able to use it to do tool changes. It is probably obvious to everyone else, but I found that if I move the carriage to a change area off the work area, change the bit and reset the Z axis without ever turning off the servos, then I get right back to original coordinates. The puck solved the major problem with the tool changeover; resetting the tool’s Z point. I have not done any two sided projects, but think I’d need to have the endstops to get that to work.
Screen shot of the movement and origin controls on Octopi attached.
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