Thread: Using Vectrics software

You select the button indicated in the picture below and all will be revealed

Warrick

Hi Warren
Thanks for that. However, although that will give me an origin of X and Y at the top left corner, when I move to the right, Y becomes more negative and I want it to be more positive for both X and Y.
Is this possible?

Sorry I can't help with that

Warrick

this might sound weird , stand on the other side of your machine , or 180 deg spin your machine around ??? clutching at straws here?????? in mach 3 inverse your direction for each

My machine is 900 mm wide and 1800 mm long.
The computer and general control area is at one end of the 900 mm wide bit.
The Y and X are the 900 and 1800 respectively.
I have always thought of the far left corner of the machine as being X=0 and Y=0 and when I move away from either of those positions I do so in a positive manner. So, Y moving along the gantry from the left to the right should be an increasingly positive number whilst X moving towards me at the end of the machine should also do so positively.
I can reverse the whole thing and make the corner closest to me the X0Y0 by selecting the lower L/H corner when initialising the work piece, but this is wrong and puts the gantry right in my face and hides the rest of the table whenever I am at 0,0.
When using VCarve, with the top left hand corner being set as 0,0 all Y numbers are negative at any place on the drawing. I don't like this and find it difficult to work with.

On ours, and all others I've worked with, the lowest right hand corner of the router bed is (0,0).
For a normal X,Y orientation, you have to stand along the long right hand side-the long X axis. Y is the short width at the front.

We always stand at the short end (Y) & load material from there-and just rotate the layout in our mind. Set the page in the software for landscape orientation, 0,0 = lower left corner then which is the correct place for it, and all movements are positive.

Hope that's not confusing!

Hi Stewey
No, that isn't confusing.
Now, start up a copy of Vcarve and set the point of origin at the top left corner; that SHOULD be X0,Y0. However, all movements down the screen along the left hand edge are moving from X0 to X more positive whilst all movements across the screen from left to right become 0 to Y more negative.

I am willing to change to a degree, but I want to be able to have one corner 0,0 point on the table from which all other points get more positive.

I cannot simply change this around in my mind because the G code that Vcarve produces does not agree to my doing that. So now when I run the code and set the point of origin to the 0,0 position, it runs all over the wrong place.

Try this with Vcarve and you may see what I mean.

What control software are you using.
I mach the you would have to home in the corner you want and configure Mach in the
homing and limits. This is not a vectric software problem but the way that your machine is configured, Hope this helps.
WJF

Hi WJF

I am using Mach3. Using Mach 3 I have the table arranged as shown.
The Vectric software does not allow me to have the X0.Y0 in the corner I want it to be in.
It seems to me to be a quite reasonable setup but the only way that Vectric will get near it is to make the bottom left hand corner the 0,0

Edit: Hmm looks like I should have saved that graphic as a vector graphic

Hi Bob, I am not sure why you need to work in an unconventional manner but you must have yourv reasons.
I was going to simulate what you are trying to do,but was afraid of upsetting my own machine. I am fairly certain that you would have to have Mach set up with the limit switches in the top lefthand corner of your machine and Homing and limits set accordingly.. Mach measures all movement from the limit switches. You can choose whichever corner or the centre of the work piece in Aspire that you want. But it does not know if your machines is moving positive or negative. That is a function of Mach control.
I would suggest that you post on the Vectric forum and maybe even Artsoft forum.
Artsoft has a good video on homing and limit setup that may help.
I run my router with home negative too the near left corner, and a mill with home on the far right corner. That is where the limit switches are. Mach zero's the axis when it hits the limit switches.
know this does not define a solution but hope this helps in some way
WJF