Homing switches & 'methods of working' (Mach3)

[Robin Hewitt]

so you could set up a fixture in the center of the table then using the offset go to the exact same start position every time.

Andy hit the nail on the head. Homing switches are useful if you are working with a fancy metal clamping jig bolted down at a known location on the machine bed.

I don't use MACH because as soon as you start working from G code you lose touch with the original drawing and cannot refer back to it when you want to align tool to metal.

I locate by circles on the drawing, circles with a zero thickness do not cut but I can still see them.

I pop the drawing on the screen and every circle has a little pick box dead centre. Left mouse button on a pick box moves the tool to the circle centre, right button sets the mill XY co-ordinates to the circle centre.

Drilling holes becomes a doddle on my mill/drill, alignment is all sorted at the drawing stage.