I've been wondering how most people align their work to their X and Y work coordinates. I've got two techniques that I use (neither of which I am really thrilled with). I will measure the distance from my home position to the 0,0 on my work piece and put an offset in. For the second method, I have a 1/4" rod with a point on the end. I jog this over to where I want 0,0 on the work piece and zero X and Y.
I've seen options using laser cross hairs and also a usb camera mounted on the spindle mount.
I know that some work just needs the X and Y zero to be close, while others need it to be spot-on. So far, the work I've done falls into the close category, but I foresee needing to be spot-on with some future projects.
Thanks for any input you can give me.
Rick