[szavoda]

This could be less of a problem and more of a lack of knowledge on my part, but I am having troubles using the auto touchplate from Avid on my Pro 4896 (the square one with corners on one side). I am using Mach 4 - the one provided by Avid.

My issue is that I am having parts milled in different locations than expected. Here are two basic questions that will probably drive me to a solution.

1. Should the X and Y zero be on the edge of the bit or the center of the bit. Mine always seems to be the edge of the bit.
2. Should I have to re-zero the X and Y between tool changes? It seems like with the orientation in question #1 I would have to. Going from a 1/2" to a 1/8" bit leaves the bit quite far from the corner of the work piece.

I can get some pics if that helps...

Thanks in advance.

Shawn

[szavoda]

I think I figured out the bulk of my problem - when I was zeroing out, I had not been changing the tool diameter in the Mach 4 dialog that appears. Now, I think that Mach 4 changes the diameter based on the g-code that is loaded, but often times I was doing the zero before I loaded a new set of code. I am going to experiment a bit and see what happens

[ger21]

1) Zero is to the center of the bit.
2) No, you shouldn't.

Unless you are using Cutter compensation (G41/G42), which I doubt, the tool diameter shouldn't have any affect on your cutting.