Quote Originally Posted by John11668 View Post
I suppose we all have differences in the way we need to set up . I had not considered this when I originally posted . And it is not surprising that the woodcarvers have different needs to The Heavy metal brigade
Mine is a milling machine of course.

And it had not occurred to me either that having a profiling tool run past zero (obvious once pointed out) could be useful in milling an external profile too, but I suppose that applying an offset overcomes that need.

My next need is to allow for a touch of backlash on my Z motion . Its not much but I would like to figure out how to apply it .
I have ball-screws on X and Y but for my Z axis I am driving the quill through mechanical gears with a 6/1 reduction. As I say it is not a massive amount as there is little wear but If I understand how to cater for it it will assist my next project.
Will backlash be a problem in Z as I would have thought the weight of the spindle would always keep the tool at the lowest position possible thereby eliminating backlash?