G'day mates!
I just got a generic '3018 pro' and I've been playing around in Fusion 360 and UGS. I think I've got the X and Y axes under control but Z is doing my head in a bit.
All I'm trying to do with this first project is engrave a simple design into a plastic jiffy box that's 30mm high.
My cunning plan was to zero the Z axis too high for the first pass, then tweak it down in increments until I'm happy with the result. My design is a few circles, lines, and text, all of which are paths which I'm 'tracing', no variation in depth.
Truth is I don't really understand the following:
1. how/where to zero my Z axis, both in real life and in the model;
2. what my model should look like in terms of origin and clearances etc;
3. whether there's a better way to sneak up on the cutting depth in successive passes?
After a few failed attempts to get any sense using a full 3D model I resorted to a 2D model. I managed to get the Z axis to zero on the top surface of the workpiece, but when I run it it wants to track across the surface to the start point, then lift up before plunging back down. From then on it looks like it would be successful.
I realise that someone could probably just tell me how to tweak my gcode to clear the workpiece at the start, but I'd rather learn what I should be doing to get this right in the first place?!