MultiCam Z=0 at Wasteboard

Woodshop
#1

When using the MultiCam normally Z=0 is the work material top and a maximum cut depth is set to the wasteboard. In other words, cuts are relative to the top of the work material going down towards the wasteboard. This gives precise cut depths regardless of the work material thickness.

I’m about to cut a tongue (as in tongue-and-groove). So, instead of a precise cut depth I need the opposite: precise material remaining.

With the MultiCam, is there a way to work in the opposite direction? A way to set the wasteboard to Z=0?

I know how to do that in VCarve (Edit / Job Size and Position / Material Z). But that is not enough. The MultiCam has to also be told the work material bottom / wasteboard is Z=0.

#2

I haven’t tried this yet, but I’ve been reading about it for an upcoming project:

In v-carve set the reference surface to be the bottom of the material

On the machine, set the z0 to be the spoilboard. Set max depth (if you want to) to also be the spoilboard. This assumes that the plane of the top of the table is equivalent to the plane of the bottom of the work piece.

Be careful when running a dry run, it’s not entirely clear to me yet if z will retract above the calculated work piece + the typical 1ish inch or if it will retract the 1" above z0 and then crash into your work piece.

Definitely something I would try on some scrap first.

Here’s a good thread I found awhile ago about it: http://forum.vectric.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=23261

#3

I use top reference on my CNC most of the time. Just set Z to top in your job setup. Then make your measurements from top down.

#4

There should be a way to manually set the max depth on the pendant (just don’t drill into the table) but you should be able to set your sheet to go from Z0 to the height, but I would top down but I would do it based off your actual measured material thickness.

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#5

Is this covered in the CNC class? When is the next CNC class?

#6

I’ve been holding off on teaching another CNC class as we have an outside vendor that will be hosting a 3 day seminar on v carve. I along with a few other trainers are taking the course and hope to update our course with what we may learn. I will try to put 2 CNC Classes on the calendar soon which will hopefully be my final ones as we move to noodle. 3D fan class was recently updated and it’s about 95% done now.

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