[SPEEDRE]

Maybe the wrong place for this, but. Now that I know how to build one, how does it work. I mean, if the plate is 1/8th inch thick and the cutter touches it what does it mean. Is that where the cutter will stop, before it cuts through the material?. Or, is that so all the cutter changes are the same length, in relation to the material you're cutting? Please explain this tool, or suggest a site where I can get a primer on it. I never learned about that in school, too old I guess.

[ger21]

In most cases, you want to set your Z zero position to the top of the workpiece.
That's what the auto zero plate does. It touches the plate, and if your plate is 1/8" thick, then it sets the Z position to 0.125" at the top of the plate, which makes the workpiece top at Z zero. (the plate is placed on the workpiece to auto zero.)

[SPEEDRE]

Thank you. The plate sets all the different cutters to the same level above the work piece, therefor all depths for all work done by that cutter are consistent, correct?.
Thank you the simple straight explanation.

[Kenny Duval]

There are some great videos over at the Calypso Ventures site that discuss touch plates and TLO's that I think you would find informative.

Calypso Ventures, Inc.

He does a pretty good job of explaining how it all works.

[coherent]

SPEEDRE: ger21 has developed a great screenset for Mach3 called 2010. He didn't want to blow his own horn, but do a search for it. If you use Mach, the screenset contains routines for touch plates, etc that really simplify things. I highly recommend it. If nothing else, his web site has some video tutorials and info on setting it up that may answer a lot of questions regarding use of a z height touch pad with Mach.