Wiring a Corner finder and height control

[D-man]

Yeah its defiantly my fault. I just don't understand why after the second touch it goes down rather than up to clear.

You ain't even got time to quickly whip the plate from under it so it don't hit the plate.

[Ger21]

Yeah its defiantly my fault. I just don't understand why after the second touch it goes down rather than up to clear.

As I said:

Your plate thickness is 16mm. The bottom of the plate is Z = 0. Your clearance plane is Z=3, resulting in the tool plunging 13mm into the plate.

[D-man]

But shouldn't it rise 3 mm. To get the plate out and then drop 19 mm to Z 0 when goto zero is pressed or am I grasping this thing all wrong?

(16+3=19. Go to zero -19 in the positive direction)

And then for an example if an offset of say 5mm is set, then it would offset from Z zero 5mm

Is it possible that the plate is too thick for the settings/script? Reason i ask is when a clearance of 20mm is entered it then goes up. But then plunges too far

[Ger21]

Thanks firetrappe fpr helping to sort this out. I think we've got all our answers now.

But shouldn't it rise 3 mm. To get the plate out and then drop 19 mm to Z 0 when goto zero is pressed or am I grasping this thing all wrong?

(16+3=19. Go to zero -19 in the positive direction)

No, the Clearance Plane is not an offset amount. It's the Z level where all rapids are performed at, in Work Coordinates. The manual explains in a little more detail on what it should be set to (Page 11). It MUST be a larger value than the plate thickness. If your fixed plate is higher than your movable plate, the Clearance plane needs to be higher than that plate as well.

for starters my plate thickness is not 16mm! i cut a 5mm pocket where it sits on the corner of the workpiece!! so in actual fact it is 11mm!!

And now we know why the Material Offset was not set correctly.

Strangely enough that worked!

Not strange at all had you followed the instructions in the manual.

however, when i press "go to zero" the tool plunges into the material around 0.2mm

Because your plate is probably 10.8mm thick. Do you have a caliper or micrometer you can measure it with? Also, with such a large plate, it's important that it's perfectly flat, and is lying on a perfectly flat surface.

shall i use the "offset" to counter act that?

NO!!! If your plate thickness value is set correctly, your Z zero will be set correctly. Trust me, this works for thousands of other users.

Read the manual for an explanation of what the Material Offset can be used for.

[D-man]

Thanks Gerry. I DID read the manual, however i think ive just been a little confused as to what some things mean...

For example:

I thought that the "clearance" was that above the PLATE not from the bottom of the plate and then some.

Plus the fact i may have been thinking too much about my steaks lastnight!!

I appreciate it guys thank you very much! even tho its made me look as thick as pig s***

[Ger21]

I thought that................

Thinking always gets people in trouble.

[Clive S]

Thinking always gets people in trouble.

I have that trouble as well. Glad it is now sorted for you. ..Clive